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How big should my emergency fund be?

A target built from your own costs and household, the month you reach it, and how long you would manage if your income stopped — with what unemployment insurance pays where you live.

Worked out on this page. Nothing you type is sent or saved.

For what consumer bodies there advise, and what unemployment insurance pays.

Rent or loan payment, food, bills, transport, insurance: what must be paid whatever happens.

Not investments or pensions, and not money already set aside for bills.

Assumed until you change them: 3 months to cover, €900 for a sudden bill, and no other income in the household.

  1. 1 · Quick answer
  2. 2 · More accurate
  3. 3 · Exact, in Fyncora →
Your emergency fund target€6,300€900 for a sudden bill + 3 months of the €1,800 a month your household would be short

You have €3,000: 48% of the target.

Still to save€3,300
Your savings cover1.2 monthsof your shortfall, after a sudden bill
You reach it in1 year 2 months
The way there
Month 14Your savings€6,300Target€6,300
  • Your savings
  • Target
Hover or tap the chart to read a point
Show the numbers
MonthYour savingsTarget
Today€3,000€6,300
1€3,250€6,300
2€3,500€6,300
3€3,750€6,300
4€4,000€6,300
5€4,250€6,300
6€4,500€6,300
7€4,750€6,300
8€5,000€6,300
9€5,250€6,300
10€5,500€6,300
11€5,750€6,300
12€6,000€6,300
13€6,250€6,300
14€6,300€6,300

What consumer bodies advise

  • Slovenia — Zveza potrošnikov Slovenije (ZPS)3 to 12 months of costs
  • Germany — Verbraucherzentrale2 to 3 months of income
  • Austria — Finanznavi (BMF, OeNB)3 to 6 months of income
  • France — Banque de France2 to 6 months of income
  • Netherlands — NibudAn amount for sudden bills, worked out for each household. It tells people to save for a loss of income separately.

They do not count in the same unit, and most say the right figure depends on your family and your work. Yours here: 3 months of your shortfall, plus the sudden bill.

If you lost your job

What unemployment insurance would pay, and how long your savings would then last.

Ireland: about what it pays

  • Months 1–3€1,200 a month
  • Months 4–6€1,100 a month
  • Months 7–9€1,000 a month

Before tax and contributions: a little less arrives. Paid for 6 to 9 months, depending on your record and your situation.

Ireland: the steps shown are for 5 or more years of contributions. With 2 to 5 years it is half your pay for 26 weeks. Leaving without good cause can block it for up to 9 weeks.

Official page

Starts at the estimate, where there is one. Change it to your own figure.

With today's savings you would manage about4.6 months
Savings left at the end of each month
Month 1€2,350 left · €650 taken from savings
  • While the benefit is paid
  • On savings alone
Hover or tap the chart to read a point
Show the numbers
MonthSavings left at the end of each month
1€2,350
2€1,700
3€1,050
4€400
5€0
With no benefit at all1.7 months
With the full target7.3 months

Keep this plan

Create your account and Fyncora sets it up for you: an emergency-fund goal with this target. You check every number first.

Kept on this device for 7 days, until you sign up. Nothing is sent before that.

Options you may not know

  • Keep it where you can reach it

    An instant-access savings account, apart from the account you spend from. Not investments: they can be down on the day you need the money.

  • The fund first, or debt first?

    A small buffer first — the sudden-bill part. Then expensive debt, such as a card or an overdraft. Then the rest of the fund.

  • What is already covered

    Sick pay, unemployment insurance and home or car insurance already cover some shocks. Check what you have, so you don't save for the same thing twice — or find the gap too late.

  • If the income does stop

    Register as unemployed at once: the deadlines are short and a late claim can shorten the benefit. Ask your bank to pause or lower loan payments before you miss one. Then cut what can wait.

Level 3 — exact, in Fyncora

A fund you can see, in the account it sits in.

Fyncora keeps the emergency fund as a goal tied to a real account, reads what your household actually spends, and tells you when the target should move.

Start 30 days freeSee it with sample data30 days free, then from €2.50 a month, billed yearly
How this is worked out
  • The target is the sudden-bill allowance plus the months you set, times what your household would be short each month: essential costs minus the income that continues.
  • Three months is where most consumer bodies start. One more when someone depends on your income, two more when it is not steady — up to six. You can set any number.
  • The way there adds what you put aside each month. No interest is counted.
  • The benefit figure is an estimate from one pay number and each country's published rule for 2026. The real amount depends on your record, your age and your family: use the official calculator before you rely on it.
  • How long savings last: each month, the shortfall minus the benefit is taken from savings, until the benefit ends and then until the savings do.
  • Guidance, not financial advice. The same calculation runs inside Fyncora on your real numbers.

Sources