See what five years in a CD actually earns.
Rate is quoted as
5 years
Common terms
Compounding frequency
$25,000.00 in a 5 years CD at 3.80% APY, compounded daily, grows to $30,124.98 — that’s $5,124.98 of interest, averaging $85.42 per month.
Balance over the term
| Month | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| At opening | $25,000.00 | $0.00 | $25,000.00 |
| 1y | $25,000.00 | $950.00 | $25,950.00 |
| 2y | $25,000.00 | $1,936.10 | $26,936.10 |
| 3y | $25,000.00 | $2,959.67 | $27,959.67 |
| 4y | $25,000.00 | $4,022.14 | $29,022.14 |
| 5y | $25,000.00 | $5,124.98 | $30,124.98 |
Calculated in your browser using A = P(1 + r/n)nt. Nothing is sent to a server. Figures are before tax; confirm exact terms with your bank.
Formulas and content last reviewed . Bank rates change frequently — confirm current rates directly with your institution.
The short answer
A 5-year CD is the longest term most banks offer as standard, and it exists to sell one thing: a rate you cannot lose for half a decade. A $25,000 deposit at 3.80% APY earns $5,124.98 and matures at $30,124.98; $100,000 matures at $120,499.92. Over five years compounding contributes $374.98 more than simple interest would have, so the effect is finally material rather than decorative. Two considerations dominate the decision. Rolling one-year CDs at today's 4.25% would produce $30,783.67 — $658.69 ahead — so on current pricing you are paying to lock in, not being paid to. And the early withdrawal penalty at this term is typically a full 365 days of interest, $950.00 on $25,000, which means an exit in the first two years hands back most of what you earned. Take the five-year term when you are confident about both the money and your view on rates.
Formula & method
A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt), t = 5
Five years of compounding. At 3.80% on $25,000 it adds $374.98 over what simple interest would have paid.
Convert the 60-month rate to a decimal and divide by n.
Raise (1 + r/n) to the power n × 5.
Multiply by the deposit for the maturity value.
Subtract the deposit for the total interest across five years.
Multiply the deposit by the rate to approximate a 365-day early withdrawal penalty.
Guide
Type the amount or drag the slider. Five years of interest is enough to push a large deposit past the $250,000 insurance limit — check the maturity value against it.
Use the rate quoted for the five-year term. On an inverted curve it will usually be below the one-year rate; that is expected, not an error.
Five years is the first term where the curve visibly bends away from a straight line. That bend is the compounding you are buying.
Multiply the deposit by the rate for an approximate 365-day penalty. If that number would be unsurvivable, the term is too long for this money.
Examples
Inputs
Result
Compounding adds $374.98 across five years — about 7.9% more interest than a simple-interest account at the same rate. This is the term where the effect stops being a rounding difference.
Inputs
Result
Two years in, the penalty takes nearly half the interest and cuts the realised return to about 1.95% a year — below what a savings account would have paid with no lock-up at all. The penalty does not just cost money; it retroactively makes the whole decision wrong.
Methodology
The rate is fixed for all sixty months and interest compounds inside the CD.
The penalty example uses a 365-day interest convention, which is the most common at five years. Some institutions charge 540 days on terms this long — check the disclosure.
The rolling comparison holds the one-year rate at 4.25% for five consecutive years, which is a scenario for contrast rather than a prediction.
Figures are gross of tax and of inflation. At 2.5% inflation, a 3.80% nominal return is roughly 1.27% in real terms.
Conventions follow Regulation DD (12 CFR 1030), which governs how US institutions disclose APY on deposit accounts. Deposits at insured institutions are FDIC-protected up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category.
Primary sources
Details
Five years is the standard maximum term. Beyond it, availability thins sharply and the rate premium usually disappears entirely — which is why a ten-year CD is a specialist product rather than a longer version of this one.
The penalty at this term is typically a full year of interest, $950.00 on $25,000 at 3.80%. Federal rules allow the shortfall to come from principal if the CD has not earned that much yet, so an exit inside year one returns less than you deposited.
Interest is taxed annually as ordinary income. Five years produces five 1099-INT forms and five tax bills on money you cannot access without triggering the penalty.
A five-rung ladder using 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5-year CDs earns close to the five-year rate on average while freeing a fifth of the money every twelve months. For most savers it is the better version of this decision.
No-penalty CDs exist but pay materially less. If there is real doubt about the horizon, the lower rate on a no-penalty product is usually cheaper than the penalty risk on this one.
How it connects
Applications
If your view is that rates fall from here, five years at today's level is the trade that expresses it — and the $658.69 you appear to give up against rolling is the premium on that insurance.
A known figure on a known date, insured to $250,000, with no market risk. For the stable sleeve of a retirement plan the five-year CD does a job no fund can quite replicate.
Read the penalty example before committing. Five years is a long time, and the term punishes changed circumstances harder than any other standard CD.
Related tools
FAQs
At 3.80% APY, $5,124.98 in total — maturing at $30,124.98. Compounding contributes $374.98 of that; a simple-interest account at the same rate would have paid $4,750.00.
Security & privacy
Uses the same compound interest and APY conventions as banks under Regulation DD.
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See the compounded maturity value and exactly what breaking the CD early would cost you.