Tripling Time Calculator

Written by:
PK

How long until your investment triples? This tripling time calculator tells you how many periods it takes for a quantity to triple given a constant growth rate.

Tripling Time Calculator

Using the tripling time calculator

Enter your expected Rate per period as a percentage. The calculator instantly shows how many periods it takes to triple.

The period can be whatever timeframe matches your rate: if you enter an annual return, you get years; monthly return, months.

The tripling time formula

The formula for tripling time is:

\text{tripling time} = \frac{\ln(3)}{\ln(1 + r)}

Where r is the rate per period as a decimal (e.g., 10% = 0.10).

Example: tripling at 10%

How long to triple an investment growing at 10% per year?

t = \frac{\ln(3)}{\ln(1.10)} = \frac{1.099}{0.095} \approx 11.53 \text{ years}

The Rule of 115

Just like the Rule of 72 for doubling, there's a Rule of 115 for tripling:

\text{Tripling time} \approx \frac{115}{\text{rate \%}}

At 10%, money triples in roughly 115 / 10 = 11.5 years. At 8%, about 115 / 8 ≈ 14.4 years.

Why 115? Because ln(3) × 100 ≈ 109.9, and 115 is a rounder number that still gives reasonable estimates.

Tripling vs. doubling

Tripling takes about 1.58× as long as doubling at the same rate – that's because ln(3) / ln(2) ≈ 1.585. So if doubling takes 10 years, tripling takes about 15.8 years.

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PK

PK started DQYDJ in 2009 to research and discuss finance and investing and help answer financial questions. He's expanded DQYDJ to build visualizations, calculators, and interactive tools.

PK lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and dog.

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