Emergency Fund Calculator

Understanding emergency funds

An emergency fund is a cash reserve intended for unexpected expenses or periods of reduced income. A common planning approach is to relate the target to essential monthly expenses rather than total spending.

What this estimate assumes

This calculator assumes your essential expenses and monthly contribution remain constant. It does not account for investment returns, taxes, inflation, withdrawals or changes in your income and expenses.

How the emergency-fund target is calculated

The target equals essential monthly expenses multiplied by the number of months of coverage selected. The amount still needed is the target minus current savings, with a floor of zero. The timeline divides the remaining amount by your monthly contribution and rounds up to a whole month.

Example: 3,000 in essential monthly expenses and a six-month target produce an 18,000 target. If current savings are 9,000, the gap is 9,000; at 500 per month, the simple estimate is 18 months.

The timeline assumes no interest, no withdrawals, unchanged expenses and consistent contributions. The right reserve depends on income stability, dependants, obligations and access to other resources; the calculator cannot determine the right personal target for you.