Free Tool

Emergency Fund Calculator

An emergency fund is not a round number someone else picked. It is your own bills, multiplied. Put in what the month actually costs to keep the lights on and the car running, and this works out one, three and six months of runway, plus how long it takes to get there at the rate you are saving. Nothing is sent anywhere: the math runs in your browser.

Your month

What it costs to keep going

Essentials only — the bills that do not stop if your income does. Leave out dining out, subscriptions and anything you would cancel in week one.

The number

What one month costs you

Essentials per month
Of that, the car

Targets

One, three and six months of runway

1 month
3 months
6 months

No interest is counted here, on purpose. At these amounts and over these horizons a savings-account return moves the answer by less than a month, and a calculator that quietly assumes a return is telling you something you cannot check. The build times are the amount still needed divided by what you save each month, rounded up. Same arithmetic as how much emergency fund you actually need.

Next step

Turn the target into a habit

Knowing the number is the easy half. Forgenta tracks what you are actually spending each month, so the essentials figure above stays honest instead of a guess you made once, and shows the fund filling as it goes.

Related reading: how to build an emergency fund · how much do you need · where to keep it · credit card interest calculator · debt payoff calculator