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Emergency fund planner
The fund's job is to stop a bad week becoming debt, and a market dip becoming a forced sale. Set your essentials, pick your months of cover, and see the date it is done.
Rent or mortgage, food, energy, transport, minimum debt payments. Not your full lifestyle: the fund buys survival time, not business as usual.
Three months is a floor. Six is the standard advice. Twelve if your income is irregular or one salary carries the household.
Keep it in an easy-access savings account earning real interest, not invested: this money's job is to exist on a bad day, not to grow. In the UK the personal savings allowance means most basic-rate taxpayers pay no tax on the first £1,000 of interest. Build this before you invest; it is the thing that stops a car repair becoming credit card debt, and stops a market dip becoming a forced sale.
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Educational information, not financial advice. Figures current as of July 2026 where dated; allowances and rates change, so check the source before acting.