Emergency Fund Planner

Who this is for

An emergency fund target from your own costs. List the monthly outgoings you could not stop, choose the months of cover, and the target and shortfall are worked out.

Anyone building or checking a reserve for a lost job, a broken boiler or a car that will not start, who wants the target based on their own bills rather than a figure from someone else.

What this helps you track

• Which costs are essential — the ones that continue whatever happens
• The monthly total of those essentials, which is the unit the fund is measured in
• The target for the number of months you have chosen
• What is already saved and the shortfall still to close

How to use it

1. List every monthly cost that would continue if your income stopped: housing, utilities, food, insurance, minimum debt payments, transport. Leave out anything you could cancel.
2. Enter the amount for each; the essentials total at the foot is what one month costs.
3. Write the number of months you want the fund to cover. That is your decision — the sheet does not suggest one.
4. Enter what is already set aside and where. The target, the shortfall and the months currently covered are worked out in the browser and workbook; on paper, multiply and subtract.
5. Write where the money is kept and a date to review the figures — costs change, and the target should change with them.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How many months should the fund cover?

The sheet leaves that to you. It depends on how secure your income is, what other support you would have and how quickly you could cut costs, none of which the sheet knows. Enter a number and the target follows.

What counts as essential?

Anything that would still have to be paid if you had no income: rent or mortgage, council or local charges, energy, water, food, insurance, minimum debt payments, the cost of getting to work. Subscriptions and leisure are usually the first to go, so leave them out.

Where should the money be kept?

Somewhere you can reach it within a few days without penalty. The sheet has a line for where it is; the choice of account is yours.

What does months covered mean?

The amount saved divided by the monthly essentials — how long the current fund would last at the essential rate of spending.