# Emergency fund: how many months of essentials > How much should an emergency fund be? Size it from essential costs and from how likely, and for how long, an income could stop. - Course: [Personal Finance: Budget, Safety Cushion, Debt and Investing](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance.md) - Module: What if the income stops? - Lesson 5/32, ~18 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/how-big-a-cushion ## What the cushion is for **Alex Tutor:** You're still helping Sam's family, and Sam has good news from payday. **Sam:** Payday went to plan: on the 5th the first 1,000 went to a separate account. My wife asks what it is for. A holiday? A new phone? **Alex Tutor:** Neither. The first job for savings is an **emergency fund**: money for the month an income stops or an essential cost appears out of nowhere. A holiday is a goal with a date. An emergency has no date. **Sofia:** So a broken fridge counts, and a discount on a TV doesn't? **Alex Tutor:** Right. The test: would you have to borrow if this money weren't there? For the fridge, yes. For the TV, you'd simply wait. > **Exercise:** Which of these is an emergency fund **for**? Select all that apply. ## How many months of essentials? **Sam:** People say “three to six months”. Three months of our income is 168,000. That's out of reach. **Alex Tutor:** Not months of income: months of **essential costs**. When an income stops, you cut flexible spending at once; rent, kindergarten, groceries and debt payments keep going. So three to six months of those, more with one income or as a FOP. For your family, essentials were 42,935 UAH in September. **Sofia:** So three months is three times 42,935. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. It is still a big number, and that is fine. A target is a direction, not an entry ticket. The first 1,000 already makes the next surprise a little smaller. > **Exercise:** Sam's family has 42,935 UAH of essential costs a month. How big is a cushion of **three months of essentials**? ## Which income could stop? **Sofia:** But Sam's family has two salaries. They rarely stop on the same day. **Alex Tutor:** Good point. If Sam's 31,000 stops, his wife's 25,000 still comes in. The family needs the cushion only for the gap: 42,935 − 25,000 = 17,935 UAH a month. **Sam:** And if her salary stops instead, the gap is 42,935 − 31,000 = 11,935. Smaller. **Alex Tutor:** Size for the bigger gap, then ask how long it lasts. Finding a similar job can take a few months. Multiply the monthly gap by those months. > **Exercise:** Sam's salary (31,000 UAH) stops; his wife's 25,000 keeps coming. Essentials stay at 42,935 a month. Finding a new job takes **four months**. How big a cushion covers the gap? ## Dana: one income that already swings **Dana:** I'm a FOP, one income, and my summer is thin even in a good year. If my students disappear, nobody else pays the rent. How many months for me? **Alex Tutor:** More than for Sam. One income, no employer, no notice period. Many people in your position aim for about six months. And your essentials include one cost that never stops: the social contribution. **Dataset (CSV):** [Dana's essential costs per month](https://productovi.com/datasets/personal-finance/how-big-a-cushion/dana-monthly-essentials.csv) Personal essentials 21,200 UAH plus the FOP social contribution (ЄСВ) minimum for 2026. - `item`: Cost - `monthly_uah`: UAH a month - `note`: Comment **Alex Tutor:** As of 2026, the minimum ЄСВ for a FOP is 1,902.34 UAH a month, and it is due even in a month with no income. A percentage tax falls to zero with the income. This one doesn't. **Dana:** So a month with no students still costs me 21,200 + 1,902.34. > **Exercise:** Use Dana's table. How big is a cushion of **six months** of her essential costs, the social contribution included? Round to kopiykas. ## Three months or six: who needs more **Alex Tutor:** There's no single right number. More months when there is one income, when it swings, when it takes long to replace, when children depend on it. Fewer when two stable salaries cover each other. **Alex Tutor:** In Ukraine, add the war: a move to another city, a company that closes, several days with no power. That is why both of a couple's incomes can stop at once. **Sofia:** And Sam starts with what, 3 × 42,935 right away? **Alex Tutor:** With a **starter cushion**: enough that the next broken fridge doesn't go on the credit card. Then one month of essentials, then the full target. Small steps that each change something. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** the right cushion for everyone is six months of income. ## Your turn: a cushion for Sam **Sam:** So give me a number for our family. How much, and why that much? **Alex Tutor:** Pick the risk you size for, the months it could last and the monthly amount. Then say what the first step is. **Sofia:** One of the two salaries, or both at once. Each answer gives a different target. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. Either is defensible if the numbers and the reason are there. > **Exercise:** Size a cushion for Sam's family in 2–4 sentences. Say which risk you size for (one salary stops or both), for how many months, the target in UAH with the calculation, and the first step towards it. Use: essentials 42,935 UAH a month; salaries 31,000 (Sam) and 25,000 (his wife). > **Key ideas** > > - An **emergency fund** is for a lost income or an unplanned essential cost, not for goals with a date or for sales. > - Size it in months of **essential costs**, not income: flexible spending is cut at once when income stops. Sam's family: 3 × 42,935 = 128,805 UAH. > - With two incomes, size for the bigger gap: if Sam's salary stops, 42,935 − 25,000 = 17,935 a month; over four months of job search, 71,740. > - One irregular income needs more months. Dana's month without income still costs 23,102.34, because the FOP social contribution is due anyway (1,902.34 a month as of 2026); six months is 138,614.04. > - Start with a starter cushion, then one month, then the full target. **Alex Tutor:** Next: where to keep this money, so it is there on a bad day. - Previous lesson: [Case: Sam's family lives paycheck to paycheck](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/before-payday-case.md) - Next lesson: [Where to keep it: access, currency, several banks](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/where-to-keep-it.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.