How much should your emergency fund be, and when will you have it?

How much should an emergency fund be?

Your essential spending for one month, times the number of months you want the fund to cover. How many months is your choice: official guides do not agree on one number.

• “A good target is to have enough in your emergency fund to cover three months of expenses.”

  Moneysmart, from the Australian regulator ASIC, Save for an emergency fund (checked 19 Sept 2026)

• “Ideally, you should try to save the equivalent of 3 to 6 months of your regular expenses.”

  The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Setting up an emergency fund (checked 19 Sept 2026)

• “The amount you need to have in an emergency savings fund depends on your situation.”

  The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, An essential guide to building an emergency fund (checked 19 Sept 2026)

More months make a larger target, which takes longer to reach and lasts longer when you need it.

What if your savings are in another currency?

If you are paid in one currency and spend in another, or keep savings in the currency of a country you used to live in, the fund you need is counted in the currency you spend, but the money sits in a different one. So the calculator converts the target into your savings currency at today’s exchange rate, and counts the months from there.

That converted target moves with the exchange rate, even in a month when you add nothing and spend nothing, so check it again from time to time.

Hundo keeps each account in its own currency and still reports one net worth figure in the currency you think in. To add up what you hold across currencies here, with no account, use the multi-currency net worth calculator.

How does the worked example add up?

You work for a US company and are paid in dollars, but you live in the euro area, where rent, food, bills and transport cost you €2,000.00 a month. You want 6 months covered, so your target is €12,000.00.

Your savings are in dollars. At the example rate of 1 EUR = 1.162791 USD, the target is $13,953.49. You have $5,000.00 saved, so $8,953.49 is still missing. Adding $750.00 a month, you get there in 12 months.

How is it worked out?

With the target in the currency you spend, and the rest in the one your savings are in:

The rates are one table based on the US dollar, so a pair such as pounds to euros goes through the dollar. Every amount is rounded to the smallest unit its currency uses, as it is shown, before the months are counted. The count starts with your first addition one month from now, and it leaves out interest and future changes in the rate.

Questions

How much should my emergency fund be?

Your essential spending for one month, multiplied by the number of months you want the fund to cover. Official guides differ on the number of months. Australia's Moneysmart says a good target is enough to cover three months of expenses, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada suggests 3 to 6 months of regular expenses, and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says the amount depends on your situation.

What counts as essential spending for an emergency fund?

The spending you would still have to pay if your income stopped: rent or mortgage payments, food, utilities, insurance, transport and minimum debt repayments. Leave out what you could stop for a while, such as holidays and eating out. A figure from your own records of what you spent is better than a guess.

My savings are in a different currency from my spending. How does the emergency fund calculator handle that?

Put each amount in its own currency. The calculator works out the target in the currency you spend, then converts it into the currency your savings are in at today's exchange rate, so you see how much the savings themselves need to reach. Exchange rates move, so that figure moves too: check it again from time to time.

How does the emergency fund calculator work out when I get there?

It divides what is still missing by what you add each month and rounds up to a whole month, counting the first addition one month from now. It assumes you add the same amount every month and leaves out interest and future changes in exchange rates, so treat the date as a plan, not a promise.

Is anything I type into the emergency fund calculator sent anywhere?

No. The page downloads the day's exchange rates from Hundo once, then works everything out in your browser. The amounts and currencies you type never leave it.

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