Emergency Fund Calculator
How large an emergency fund needs to be and how long it takes to build. Sized on essential spending rather than total spending, which is the distinction that matters.
Also called: how much emergency fund do i need, rainy day fund calculator.
$21,000.00 covers 6 months of essential spending. You have $0, leaving $21,000.00 to build. About 27 months at $800 a month.
An estimate, not an offer or a guarantee. Projected returns assume the rate you entered holds for the whole term, which no market does.
This is what the calculation gives for the numbers you entered. It is an estimate, not advice, and it knows nothing about your situation beyond those numbers. Rules for United States change on a published schedule; the effective date is shown on every rule-based tool.
How this is calculated
The fund is a multiple of what you must spend, not what you do spend. In an emergency the discretionary half of a budget goes away. Three months is the usual floor for a stable salaried income and six or more for variable or single-earner households.
fund = monthly_expenses * months_of_cover- E
- Essential monthly expenses (currency)
- m
- Months of cover
Frequently asked questions
- How many months of expenses should an emergency fund cover?
- Three to six months of essential spending is the usual advice, and the right end of that range depends on how replaceable your income is. A dual-income household in demand can sit at three; a single earner in a narrow field or with variable income is closer to twelve.
- Should the fund be based on income or on expenses?
- Expenses, and essential expenses at that. The fund exists to cover the outgoings that continue when income stops, so discretionary spending inflates the target without making it safer.