How much should I have in an emergency fund?

A widely cited guideline is three to six months of essential expenses, rising to nine or twelve months if your income is irregular, you are self-employed, or you are a single earner. This calculator multiplies your itemised expenses by the buffer you choose so you get an exact figure rather than a rough rule.

Which expenses count as essential?

Only costs you would still have to pay if your income stopped: rent or mortgage, food, utilities, transport to work, insurance, childcare and minimum debt payments. Leave out holidays, subscriptions, eating out and other spending you could pause in a real emergency, because padding the figure inflates your goal.

How is my fund goal calculated?

Fund goal equals total essential monthly expenses multiplied by the number of months of cover. For example essentials of 2,400 over 6 months gives a 14,400 goal. The shortfall is that goal minus what you have already saved, never below zero.

How does it work out when I will be fully funded?

It simulates your balance month by month. Each month it adds any savings interest on the running balance, then adds your monthly contribution, and stops the first month the balance reaches the goal. That accounts for compounding, so the date is slightly sooner than a plain shortfall-divided-by-contribution estimate when interest is above zero.

Does savings interest make a big difference?

For a fund you build over one to three years the effect is modest but real. At low single-digit rates interest typically shaves a month or two off the timeline and is shown separately as interest earned along the way, so you can see exactly how much the account rate contributes versus your own deposits.

Where should I keep my emergency fund?

In an instant-access, low-risk account such as a high-yield savings account or money market account, where you can withdraw same-day without penalty. The priority is availability and capital safety, not maximising return, so avoid locking it in investments or long notice accounts.

Emergency Fund Calculator

An emergency fund is the cash buffer that stops a job loss, a broken-down car or a surprise medical bill from turning into expensive debt. This emergency fund calculator does two jobs at once: it sizes the fund you actually need from your own itemised budget, and it builds a concrete, month-by-month savings plan that tells you the exact date you will reach it. Instead of a vague “three to six months” rule of thumb, you get a number rooted in your real essential spending.

How it works

Start by listing your essential monthly expenses — the costs you would still have to pay if your income stopped tomorrow. The tool adds them into your monthly burn rate. You then pick a target buffer between 1 and 12 months: three months is a lean cushion, six months is the common standard, and nine to twelve months suits irregular, self-employed or single-earner households.

Your fund goal is simply that burn rate times the buffer. Subtract what you have already saved and you get the shortfall still to close. The calculator then simulates your savings month by month: each month it first credits any savings interest on the running balance, then adds your monthly contribution, and keeps rolling forward until the balance crosses the goal. Because interest compounds on the growing balance, the funded date it reports is slightly sooner than a flat “shortfall divided by contribution” estimate — and the tool shows you exactly how much of the total came from your own deposits versus interest earned along the way. A doughnut chart shows how much of the goal is already covered, and a line chart projects your balance against the goal line so you can see the finish point at a glance. Everything is currency-agnostic — pick your symbol or run it with no symbol at all.

Formula note

The goal is goal = monthlyExpenses * targetMonths. The funding timeline is a monthly recurrence: balance = balance * (1 + r) + contribution, where r is the annual interest rate divided by 12. The first month this balance reaches the goal is your funded month, and that month count is converted into a friendly date.

Worked example

Suppose your essential expenses total 2,400 a month and you want a 6-month buffer. Your fund goal is 2,400 × 6 = 14,400. You have 1,500 saved, you can add 400 a month, and your savings account pays 2% a year.

Metric	Value
Monthly essentials	2,400
Fund goal (6 months)	14,400
Already saved	1,500
Shortfall to close	12,900
Monthly contribution	400
Time to fully funded	about 2 years 7 months

Without interest, 12,900 divided by 400 is roughly 32 months. The 2% account compounds on the rising balance, trimming a little off that and contributing a few hundred in interest by the finish line. Drop the buffer to three months and the goal halves to 7,200, which you reach far sooner — the calculator updates instantly so you can compare scenarios.

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