Emergency fund calculator
How many months of essential spending your savings actually cover, and how long it takes to close the gap to a cushion you can rely on.
Runway you hold
3.6 months
You are €5.200 short of a 6-month cushion. At €350 a month you close the gap in 1y 3m — around November 2027.
Target cushion
€13.200
Still to save
€5.200
Fully funded
November 2027
Runway changes every month
Track your cash accounts and this number stays current on its own, instead of being a figure you worked out once and hoped was still true.
Essential spending, not total spending
The most common mistake here is entering your normal monthly outgoings. An emergency fund exists for the situation where income stops, and in that situation your spending is not normal — holidays, subscriptions and discretionary shopping all go.
What stays: housing, utilities, food, insurance, transport, minimum debt payments, childcare. That figure is usually meaningfully lower than your actual spending, which means the target is smaller and closer than it first appears. Overstating it makes the goal feel hopeless and is the reason many people never start.
How many months is right for you
Three to six months is the standard range, and where you sit inside it depends on how quickly your income could be replaced and what happens while it is gone.
Closer to three: stable salaried employment, a long notice period, generous state unemployment support, a second income in the household, skills in demand.
Closer to six or beyond: freelance, contract or commission income, a single-income household, a specialised role that takes months to replace, dependants, or living somewhere with a thin safety net. Anyone self-employed should think in terms of a full year rather than half of one.
Where it should sit — and where it should not
The fund needs to be reachable within days and worth what it says on the tin. A savings account or money market fund qualifies. This is the one pot where the return genuinely does not matter.
It should not be invested in equities. Emergencies and market falls correlate — recessions cause both job losses and share price drops — so the moment you need the money is disproportionately likely to be the moment it is worth least. Selling into that is exactly the outcome the fund exists to prevent.
Once it is full, stop. Cash beyond your target loses value to inflation every year, and the money is doing more against high-interest debt (see the debt payoff calculator) or invested for the long term.
Common questions
Three to six months of essential spending is the usual guidance, and the right end of that range depends on your situation. Salaried work with strong notice periods and good state support argues for three; freelance or commission income, a single-income household, or a specialised job that takes months to replace argues for six or more.
What you would still pay if your income stopped tomorrow: rent or mortgage, utilities, food, insurance, transport, minimum debt payments, childcare. Not holidays, subscriptions you would cancel, or discretionary shopping. Using your full monthly spending inflates the target and makes it feel unreachable.
Somewhere you can reach within days without selling at a loss — a savings account or money market fund. The point is availability, not return. An emergency fund invested in equities is not an emergency fund, because emergencies and market falls have a habit of arriving together.
A small starter buffer usually comes first, so that the next unexpected bill does not go straight back onto a credit card. Beyond that, high-interest debt generally outranks a larger cushion — the interest you avoid is a guaranteed return.
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