How it works
Use take-home income and include all spending and minimum debt payments in expenses. Weekly costs use 52 occurrences/year, fortnightly 26, every four weeks 13, monthly 12, quarterly 4 and annual 1. These are planning conventions, not a calendar billing schedule. Reserve target is selected monthly expenses × your chosen months. Time to fund assumes all positive surplus goes toward the gap, with no interest or price changes. A zero or negative surplus does not fund a remaining gap. Your reserve target is a choice, not a recommendation.
The formulaMonthly surplus = net monthly income − monthly expenses. Reserve target = selected essential monthly expenses × reserve months. Months to close gap = round up(gap ÷ positive monthly surplus).
Put it into practice
EXAMPLEWith 4,000 monthly income and 3,000 spending, surplus is 1,000. A target based on 2,000 of essential expenses for three months is 6,000; if 2,000 is already saved, four months of that surplus closes the gap.
Good to know
Are these personalized financial recommendations?
No. These are arithmetic planning tools with editable hypothetical assumptions. Actual account terms, taxes, fees, cash flows and lender statements can differ.
Where do my numbers go?
Calculation inputs stay in this page. The finance tools do not place them in links, make calculation requests or save them automatically. CSV and print exports are created only when you choose them. Existing site delivery and performance services still operate; see Privacy.
Which currency and rounding do you use?
Choose a display currency and enter every amount in that same currency. No exchange conversion is performed. These tools use two-decimal money displays. Loan and debt schedules round monthly interest and balances to cents; savings models keep internal precision. Values are bounded to keep calculations reliable.