Emergency Fund Calculator
How it works
The target amount is just monthly essential expenses multiplied by the number of months you're aiming to cover — a $2,500-a-month household aiming for 6 months of coverage needs $15,000 set aside. Months currently covered runs that the other way: current savings divided by monthly expenses, which is how long those savings alone would carry the essentials with no income coming in at all. The amount still needed is whatever gap remains between the target and current savings, floored at zero once savings meet or clear the target.
Frequently asked questions
Why 3-6 months? Is that a hard rule?
It is a common guideline, not a universal rule. It comes from a rough idea of how long it can take to replace lost income — find a new job, recover from a medical issue, absorb an unplanned repair. How much of that range fits a given person depends heavily on things this tool cannot know: how stable the income is, how many people depend on it, and how quickly it could be replaced if it stopped. Someone with very stable income might reasonably lean toward the low end; someone with irregular or single-earner income might want more than 6 months. Treat the number here as a starting point to think from, not a target to hit exactly.
What does "months covered" mean when it's a fraction, like 2.4?
It is simply current savings divided by monthly expenses — the number of whole and partial months those savings alone would carry the essentials before running out. 2.4 months means a little under two and a half months, not "round up to 2" or "round up to 3": the fraction is there on purpose, since the gap between just past 2 months and almost at 3 is real progress worth seeing.
Does this count all my spending, or just essentials?
Just monthly essential expenses — the bills that keep going whether or not there is income coming in: housing, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum debt payments. Discretionary spending (dining out, subscriptions, travel) is intentionally left out, because an emergency fund is meant to cover survival, not your normal lifestyle. Use your essential-only monthly total here, not your full monthly budget.