Calculator · Foundation

The buffer that turns a crisis into an inconvenience.

Before investing, before optimizing — a real cushion of cash. Punch in your monthly essentials and what you can save; the calculator shows your target, where you are now, and roughly when you'll cross the finish line.

Background Read the insurance guide

Sample numbers below — edit any field to make them yours.

Monthly essentials rent + food + utilities + insurance + minimum debt Only what you'd still owe if your income paused. Not Netflix or restaurants — what the bills require.

Target cushion Three months covers most layoffs; six months covers the harder ones. Higher if your income is irregular.

months

High-yield APY A high-yield savings account at a credit union or online bank — typically 3.5–5%. Big-bank checking pays nothing.

% / yr

Already saved in cash / savings What's in savings or checking that you could draw from tomorrow without selling anything.

You can save Be honest — the number you'll actually transfer every month, not the one you wish you could.

$ /mo

3 months of $2,400 essentials = $7,200 target. Saving $250/mo gets you there.

A real cushion turns a crisis into an inconvenience. Without it, every setback rolls back the rest of your plan.

Target balance —

Currently saved —

Still need

—

At —, you'll be fully funded in — — around —.

You'll cross the $1,000 deductible-buffer floor in — — enough to cover most common deductibles and stop a single bill from restarting credit-card debt.

Fully funded. Move new monthly savings into investing — start with the 401(k) match, then a Roth IRA.

With $0 monthly savings and current APY, you'll reach the target only via interest growth — slowly. Add even $50/mo to make this a real timeline.

Enter your essentials and what you can save each month to see your timeline.

Estimates only. Monthly compounding at the APY you enter; assumes the rate holds steady (real APYs change). "Essentials" excludes discretionary spending — the point is what survival costs if income stops, not your full lifestyle. Park the fund in a high-yield savings account, not investments.

How big should it be?

Three tiers, depending on your life stage.

The right number isn't fixed — it scales with how stable your income is and how many people depend on it. Start at the smallest milestone and climb. Each tier buys you a different kind of calm.

$1,000 deductible buffer. Covers most common insurance deductibles — stops a copay, a flat tire, or a phone screen from becoming credit-card debt. $1,000 is the floor; if your health-plan deductible is higher, aim for that. In months, not years.
1 month of essentials. Covers a missed paycheck, a slow freelance month, or a job change with a brief gap. The first real safety net.
3 months of essentials. The default for most stable W-2 jobs. Enough to absorb a layoff while you take a careful — not desperate — job search.
6 months of essentials. For variable income, single-earner households, or specialized roles with longer hiring cycles. Also a good ceiling once you're investing aggressively.

Plain English

"Essentials" means what survival costs if income stops — rent, groceries, utilities, insurance, minimum debt payments. Not concerts, not subscriptions, not new clothes.

Where to keep it

Liquid and boring is the whole point.

An emergency fund's job is to be there on the worst day of the year, not to grow. The right home is a high-yield savings account at an FDIC-insured bank. Don't park it in stocks — emergencies have a habit of arriving on the same day the market drops 20%.

High-yield savings (HYSA). Currently ~4–5% APY at most online banks. Liquid in 1–2 business days. The default answer.
Money market account. Similar APY, sometimes with check-writing. Fine alternative — same tier of safety.
Checking account. Only the first $500–1,000 lives here for instant access. The rest earns more in HYSA.
Not for the emergency fund: brokerage accounts, crypto, CDs longer than 3 months, anything that could be down the day you need it.

Order of operations

Where the fund fits in the full sequence.

Building this isn't all-or-nothing. Most people layer: cover the deductibles first ($1,000 floor, your real deductible is the target), capture the 401(k) match, knock out high-interest debt, then finish the full 3–6 month cushion. Skipping the match along the way leaves real dollars on the table.

Step 1. Deductible buffer — cash equal to your highest insurance deductible ($1,000 floor).
Step 2. Capture the full 401(k) employer match — see the employer-match calculator for what skipping it costs.
Step 3. Pay off high-interest debt (above ~7% APR) — run the payoff calculator.
Step 4. Finish the 3–6 month emergency fund (this calculator).
Step 5. Open a Roth IRA (and HSA, if eligible) and contribute up to the annual limit.

Caveats

Where this estimate is rough.

APY drifts. Savings rates move with the Fed. The number you enter is today's rate, not a 5-year guarantee.
Essentials change. A move, a kid, a new car payment — re-run this whenever your fixed costs shift.
"Emergency" is narrow. A vacation isn't an emergency. A new couch isn't an emergency. Replenish the fund every time you actually use it.
Healthcare is a wildcard. A high-deductible health plan with a pending deductible may justify a slightly bigger fund — or a separate HSA buffer.

Next read

Once the fund is full, the match is the next dollar.

A 401(k) employer match is the highest-return move available to most people — and it disappears if you don't claim it. See exactly what under-contributing costs over a decade.

Try the match calculator → Or: see compounding