Skip to content

Calculator

How much emergency fund do I actually need?

Work out how big your emergency fund should be from your real monthly essentials — and exactly how much is left to save.

Rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum debt payments, transport — the bills that don't stop if your income does.

Three months is a solid floor; six is sturdier if your income is variable or one income covers a household.

Cash you could reach in a day or two — not retirement accounts.

A 3-month emergency fund at $3,200/month in essentials is $9,600. You have $1,000 — $8,600 to go.

Your target fund
$9,600
Saved so far
$1,000
Still to save
$8,600
Months covered nowHow long your current savings would cover essentials with no income.
0.3 months

OneTruth Money holds your emergency fund as a Goal with its own Keep in Account, so the balance you spend from never includes the money you're protecting.

Track it as a goal

How to use the emergency fund calculator

  1. Add up your monthly essentials. Total the bills that don't stop if your income does — housing, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum debt payments, transport.
  2. Pick your months of cover. Three months is a solid floor; choose six if your income is variable or a single income covers the household.
  3. Subtract what you've saved. What's left is your target. Aim a small automatic transfer at it every payday until it's full.

OneTruth Money

Want this to just happen?

OneTruth Money holds your emergency fund as a Goal with its own Keep in Account, so the balance you spend from never includes the money you're protecting.

Get notified at launch

Coming soon to the App Store · Members join free, unlimited

One useful money idea a week

No spam, no doomscrolling — just the plain-English money guides we publish, sent when they go up. Leave whenever you like.