Emergency Fund Calculator

“Essential” means rent, food, utilities and minimum debt payments, not your whole budget. A smaller, honest number here is more useful than a padded one, because it is the number you would actually need to survive on.

• Irregular income wants more months. Freelancers, gig workers and commission-based earners usually sit at the higher end of the 3–12 month range, because income itself is the variable, not just expenses.
• Dual salaried income can sit lower, since a single job loss doesn’t remove the whole household income at once.
• The fund’s job is boring on purpose. It should be reachable within a day, not sitting somewhere that could be down 20% the week you need it.