Emergency Fund Calculator

How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be?

The calculator adds up your essential monthly costs and multiplies them by the months of cover you choose. With the defaults (housing $1,800, food $600, transportation $400, insurance $300, minimum debt payments $200 and other essentials $300), essential spending is $3,600 a month, so six months of cover is $21,600. With $5,000 already saved, the gap is $16,600: $1,383.33 a month closes it in a year. Count only what you would still have to pay after losing your income, so leave out savings contributions and the subscriptions or restaurant meals you would cut.

Employment Insurance softens a job loss but does not replace an emergency fund. Regular EI benefits pay 55% of your average insurable earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026, after a one-week waiting period, and Service Canada aims to send the first payment within 28 days of your application. Self-employed people who opt into EI get only the special benefits (sickness, maternity, parental, caregiving), not benefits for lost work. That is why the self-employed, single-income households and people with seasonal or commission income are usually told to hold six to twelve months.

The money has to be available within a day or two without losing value. A high-interest savings account at a CDIC member (insured up to $100,000 per depositor in each eligible category) or a cashable GIC fits; stocks and non-redeemable GICs do not. Holding the account inside a TFSA keeps the interest tax-free, and any amount you withdraw is added back to your contribution room on January 1 of the following year, so rebuilding the fund after an emergency costs you no room.