Example 1 — Three-month buffer
- Savings: 15,000
- Expenses: 5,000
3 months
Exactly three months of living costs — a common lower bound in personal-finance guidance.
Emergency fund — how many months are covered?
Divide savings by monthly expenses — you'll see how many months your buffer covers. Set a target (say 6 months) and we'll show the cash still missing.
An emergency fund is a liquid cushion for a job loss or surprise bill. We keep the math simple: savings ÷ monthly expenses. With a target (say 6 months), you'll see the gap or surplus. No inflation, no interest — just current expense coverage.
Result
Enter your numbers and hit Calculate — the result shows up right away.
How results are calculated
Months = savings ÷ monthly expenses.
With target T months: needed = T × expenses; gap = max(0, needed − savings); surplus = max(0, savings − needed).
How to use the calculator
- Enter the savings earmarked as your buffer.
- Enter typical monthly expenses (slightly high is safer).
- Optionally set a target number of months.
- Calculate to see coverage (including partial months).
- With a target, review the cash gap or surplus in header currency.
Usage examples
Example 2 — Partial month
- Savings: 30,000
- Expenses: 4,500
6.67 months
Coverage is not always a whole number. 6.67 means a bit more than half a year at current spend.
Example 3 — Six-month target
- Savings: 12,000
- Expenses: 4,000
- Target: 6
3 months
Gap 12,000 to target
You have half the target buffer. Reaching 6 × 4,000 = 24,000 requires another 12,000.
FAQ
How many months of emergency fund should I aim for?
You'll often hear 3–6 months of expenses (sometimes 6–12 with irregular income). We measure coverage from your numbers — you set the target.
What counts as monthly expenses?
Essential living costs: housing, utilities, food, transport, minimum debt payments. Slightly overestimating is safer than underestimating when modelling a job-loss buffer.
Is 6.67 months a rounding error?
No — it's a partial month. 30,000 ÷ 4,500 = 6.67, meaning about six full months plus two-thirds of another.
How do I use the target-months field?
It shows the cash gap or surplus versus your goal. With 3 months of coverage and a target of 6, you see how much more savings the full buffer needs.
Should investment accounts count as the fund?
An emergency fund should be liquid — cash or a short-term deposit. Brokerage holdings and property are poor “need cash today” reserves.
How does this connect to take-home pay?
Estimate net pay first, then enter realistic expenses to see how many months your current buffer covers.
Is inflation included?
No. This is a plain savings ÷ expenses ratio. Over a long outage, purchasing power may erode.
What about a mortgage?
The instalment is part of expenses. If you're sizing a buffer before buying a home, also check the mortgage instalment calculator.