€6,600
3 months × €2,200 fixed monthly costs.
Verbraucherzentrale (Germany's consumer advice centers): 2 to 3 monthly salaries, and the source itself calls that a rule of thumb; applied to the amount you entered, that is €4,400 to €6,600 · Verivox: 2 to 4 net monthly incomes, applied to your amount, €4,400 to €8,800.
Your target sits inside the quoted ranges.
No reserve entered yet.
Missing to target: €6,600.
Where to keep it? The Verbraucherzentrale names the German equivalent of an instant-access savings account (Tagesgeldkonto): no yield promises, access at any time. Which provider, we deliberately do not say.
What your result means
The big number is your own chosen target: desired months times fixed costs. Below it stand the two ranges the well-known recommendations actually support, with names attached: Germany's Verbraucherzentrale recommends a cushion of 2 to 3 monthly salaries and writes in the very next sentence that this is a rule of thumb. Verivox frames it at 2 to 4 net monthly incomes. More precision than that does not exist in the sources, and anyone quoting you a single "correct" number invented it.
So the calculator keeps three things separate: your target, the quoted ranges, and your current position. Set a target below 2 or above 4 months and it still computes, while telling you that you have left the quoted rules of thumb.
Where the numbers come from
Both sources are quoted verbatim on this page and archived as copies. Verbraucherzentrale: "Gut ist es, wenn sich Laura einen Puffer von zwei bis drei Monatsgehältern zulegt, um solche unerwarteten Ausgaben jederzeit stemmen zu können." And immediately after: "Dabei handelt es sich um eine Daumenregel." (a rule of thumb, by its own description). Verivox: "Der Rahmen für den Umfang des Notgroschens liegt zumeist bei zwei bis vier Nettomonatseinkommen, wobei die persönlichen Einflussfaktoren zu berücksichtigen sind." We know of no empirical study establishing a specific size; the ranges are advisory practice, not research.
How the calculation works
Four multiplications, in the open: target = months × fixed costs. The source ranges arise the same way from 2, 3 and 4 months. Your coverage is reserve divided by costs, rounded half-up to one decimal. Months to target is the gap divided by your saving rate, rounded up to whole months, because saving knows no partial month. Without a rate, the calculator deliberately shows no date.
It computes on fixed costs rather than salary: in an emergency you cover bills, you do not replace income. The sources phrase their rules in salaries or net income; to mirror that, enter your net income as the amount.
Two examples
Example 1: family, 3,200 euros fixed costs, target 4 months, 6,400 euros set aside, 300 euros monthly. Target 12,800 euros, the reserve covers 2 months, 6,400 euros missing, reached in 22 months. The target sits at the top of the Verivox range and above the Verbraucherzentrale range; both limits are shown right next to it.
Example 2: 1,800 euros costs, target 3 months, 900 euros set aside, saving rate 0. 4,500 euros are missing, and the calculator shows no target date, because without a rate there is none. The half month of coverage (0.5) is still shown honestly.
Three honest notes
First: an emergency fund is insurance, not an investment; its price is missed returns, its value is calm. Second: fixed costs change, so revisit after a move, a child, a job change. Third: if you dip into it, refill it first before other saving continues, otherwise it was not a reserve but a detour.
Frequently asked questions
How big should an emergency fund be?
There is no evidenced single number. Germany's Verbraucherzentrale recommends 2 to 3 monthly salaries and itself calls that a rule of thumb; Verivox names 2 to 4 net monthly incomes. Applied to a monthly amount of 2,200 euros, the two ranges span 4,400 to 8,800 euros, depending on which one you follow.
Is there a study behind these numbers?
No, and this page says so plainly. The ranges come from consumer-protection and finance-editorial practice, not from empirical research. That is exactly why the calculator shows named ranges instead of one supposedly precise figure.
Monthly salary or monthly costs, which one counts?
The sources phrase their rules in salaries or net income. This calculator deliberately computes on your fixed costs: in an emergency you must cover your bills, not replace your salary. If you prefer the salary framing, simply enter your net income as the amount.
What if I want more than 4 months?
The calculator computes it just the same, and flags your target as outside the quoted ranges, because from there on it is your own rule. There can be good reasons, say volatile self-employment; we are just not a source for it then.
Where should the money sit?
Both sources land on the Tagesgeldkonto, Germany's instant-access savings account: the Verbraucherzentrale because you can reach your money at any time; Verivox, a German comparison portal, argues from safety and quick availability, meaning no dependence on price swings and no long notice periods. We deliberately make no product or provider comparisons; this calculator gives no investment advice.
Does my brokerage account count as an emergency fund?
Not in the logic of the quoted guidance: the cushion should be available at any time without loss risk. Money in securities fluctuates and takes settlement days, so this calculator only counts what you can grab immediately.
My saving rate is 0. Why is there no target date?
Because there would not be one. Without a monthly rate the gap never closes, and an invented date would be reassurance without substance. Enter a rate and the calculator shows the months to target, rounded up to whole months.
Sources
All sources retrieved September 11, 2026 and archived in the project. Verbraucherzentrale: Zwei bis drei Monatsgehälter gehören für Notfälle aufs Tagesgeldkonto, as of February 12, 2026. · Verivox: „Notgroschen: So wichtig ist die eiserne Reserve“. The number-by-number mapping lives in our verification record.
Published September 11, 2026 · Last updated September 11, 2026 · Wild Garden Editorial Team · Last verified September 11, 2026 · Calculation tested against an independent reference implementation (16,427 test cases, 0 mismatches) · 20 of 20 anchor values confirmed · 8 of 8 source citations verified verbatim against archived source pages; all runs in the verification record. Our editorial standards · Spotted an error? redaktion@wildgarden.io
Rules of thumb from consumer-finance guidance, not study evidence, and not investment advice. Targets below 2 or above 4 months sit outside the quoted source ranges and are flagged as such.
More from the garden
You can find every calculator under Tools. Once the reserve stands: the FIRE calculator shows what your saving rate means in years. For context: How rich am I? compares your net worth against Bundesbank data. And to make saving a routine: the habit calculator.
