Emergency Fund Calculator
Find your emergency fund target from essential expenses, track progress, and see how long until you are fully funded.
Everyday Uses
Your safety number
Turn vague "save for emergencies" advice into a concrete target built from your actual expenses.
Progress that motivates
The progress bar makes each deposit visible — 40% funded feels different from "some savings."
Job change confidence
Considering a risky move? Know exactly how many months of runway your savings provide.
Right-sizing for your life
Freelancer? Single income? The 3/6/9/12-month presets match the target to your actual risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big should an emergency fund be?
The standard advice is 3–6 months of essential expenses. Three months suits stable dual-income households; six is the common default; 9–12 months makes sense for freelancers, single-income families, commission-based earners, or volatile industries. The right number is the one that lets you sleep during a job loss.
What counts as "essential expenses"?
What you would still have to pay if income stopped: housing, utilities, groceries, insurance, transport, minimum debt payments, and essential childcare or medical costs. Not restaurants, subscriptions, or travel — in a real emergency those pause. This usually lands at 60–75% of normal monthly spending.
Where should I keep an emergency fund?
Somewhere instantly accessible and boring: a high-yield savings account, ideally at a separate bank from your spending account so it is out of sight. Not stocks (they may be down exactly when you need the money), not CDs with penalties, not mixed into checking where it will quietly erode.
Should I build the fund before paying off debt?
A common approach: first build a small starter fund ($1,000–2,000) so surprises do not create new debt, then attack high-interest debt hard, then build the full 3–6 month fund. High-interest credit card debt usually outranks a full emergency fund, since the card itself is (expensive) emergency liquidity in the interim.