Emergency Fund Calculator

A common guideline is 3-6 months of essential expenses if you have stable dual income, and 6-12 months if you're self-employed, have variable income, or are the sole earner in your household.

Most planners recommend basing it on essential expenses only — housing, utilities, food, insurance, minimum debt payments — not discretionary spending you'd cut back on immediately in an emergency.

Somewhere liquid and low-risk — a high-yield savings account is the most common choice, since you need to be able to access it quickly without losing value, unlike investments that can drop when you need the money most.

Most financial planners recommend building at least a partial emergency fund before investing heavily, so a job loss or unexpected bill doesn't force you to sell investments at a bad time.