BloominEmergency fund calculator
A common guideline is to keep three to six months of essential expenses in an emergency fund. Essential means what you'd still have to pay if your income stopped: housing, utilities, food, transport, insurance and minimum debt payments.
Change the example costs below to yours to see your target, how far you are from it, and when you'd reach it.
The common guideline is three to six.
3 months of essentials
$9,300
$3,100 a month in essential costs.
- 3 months
- $9,300
- 6 months
- $18,600
You're $8,300 short. At $200 every two weeks, you'd reach it on Jun 3, 2028, after 42 deposits.
No interest is added. Every number here is plain arithmetic.
This is a general guideline, not personal advice.
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How the calculator works
It adds your essential costs into one monthly figure and multiplies it by the months you choose. Three and six months are shown side by side so you can see both ends of the guideline. It then takes off what you've already set aside and, if you enter a regular amount, counts the deposits until you reach the target.
Why three to six months
The range is the guideline most personal finance guides give. The lower end is often suggested for people with steady jobs and no dependants, the higher end for single incomes, families or work that varies month to month. It's a starting point for your own judgement, not a requirement.
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Questions
How much emergency fund should I have?
A common guideline is three to six months of essential expenses. If your essentials come to $2,500 a month, that's $7,500 to $15,000. It's a guideline, not a rule: how steady your income is and who depends on it change what feels like enough.
What counts as an essential expense?
What you'd still have to pay if your income stopped: housing, utilities, groceries, transport, insurance and minimum debt payments. Eating out, shopping and subscriptions you could cancel usually aren't included.
Where should I keep an emergency fund?
Somewhere separate from your spending money that you can still reach within a day or two. The point of an emergency fund is that it's there when something goes wrong.
Does this calculator include interest?
No. The target and the date are plain arithmetic on the amounts you enter.