Scenario tools
Emergency Fund
Emergency savings
Figure out how much cash to keep on hand for lost income, medical costs and other unexpected expenses.
Choose a minimum cushion and a more comfortable one. There is no single right number for every household.
Leave out optional saving and investing unless you need those contributions to continue.
Count cash you can access quickly, not retirement accounts or hard-to-sell assets.
Enter your essential expenses, target range and timeline to see how much you may need.
With $3,000 of essential monthly spending, a three-month minimum is $9,000 and a six-month comfortable target is $18,000 before extra buffers. If you have $4,500 now, the gap to the six-month target is $13,500. Reaching it over 18 months takes $750 a month, without interest.
Income that continues during a disruption only offsets the months you specify. If $1,000 a month continues for the first three months, it lowers the six-month target by $3,000, not $6,000.
One-time medical or repair buffers are added to the target. Include them only when they are not already part of essential spending. Planned annual bills need their own budget allocation so the same cash is not promised to two purposes.
The months your existing savings could cover and the months you choose as a target are different measures. Benefits, insurance payments and family help are not guaranteed by this tool; use income estimates you can explain and test a case without them.
Help us understand how the site is used. You can allow or decline analytics cookies, and the calculators work either way. Learn more in the privacy policy.
