Emergency fund target

This tool pairs with "The order money should go in". The standard emergency fund is 3 to 6 months of essential spending: stable job and light obligations, lean toward 3; freelance income or a family that depends on you, lean toward 6 or more. Enter your numbers and it works out the target, and how many months of saving will get you there at your current pace.

Result

Target: 6,000 (2,000 x 3 months). You still need 6,000; saving 600 a month gets you there in about 10 months.

Target amount: 6,000
Still needed: 6,000
Estimated finish: 10 months

Chart: saved balance at a fixed monthly pace, with the target shown as the dashed line. Hold and drag across the chart, or use arrow keys, to read point by point.

Plain arithmetic on your inputs. Not investment advice.

Assumptions & limits

This money lives in a savings account or money-market fund, not in stocks: an emergency fund is about access, not return. The math accumulates a flat monthly amount and ignores interest, because at this scale interest does not change the conclusion. Once the fund is full, the surplus is what becomes investable.