# emergency-fund

Calculates your emergency fund targets based on essential expenses and estimates the timeline to reach them. Useful for personal budget planning.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 411 installs · ★ 101
- Author: openaccountant
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/openaccountant/skills/tree/HEAD/personal/emergency-fund/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-04-09
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/openaccountant-emergency-fund

## What it does

This skill analyzes essential expenses across the past three months, leaving out dining out and leisure spending. It tallies rent or mortgage payments, utilities, groceries, transit, insurance, minimal debt dues, and medical care. The agent then calculates three separate targets: a 3-month baseline, a 4-month standard, and a 6-month buffer.

To inspect account records, it relies on Wilson tools called `spending_summary` and `transaction_search`. They detect transfers to savings over the prior six months to find your average monthly savings velocity. If you operate without Wilson, you will need to export three months of bank records into a CSV file manually.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openaccountant/skills --skill emergency-fund -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/emergency-fund/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openaccountant/skills --skill emergency-fund -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openaccountant/skills --skill emergency-fund -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install openaccountant/skills emergency-fund
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openaccountant/skills --skill emergency-fund -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/openaccountant/skills --path personal/emergency-fund
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openaccountant/skills --skill emergency-fund -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/openaccountant/skills/tree/HEAD/personal/emergency-fund/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- calculate emergency reserve targets for 3, 4, or 6 months
- sum up essential monthly living costs from past transactions
- project the timeline to reach target savings at current rates
- spot non-essential spending categories to speed up savings

## Example prompts
- Calculate my emergency fund target from the last 3 months of spending
- Estimate how many months I need to reach my 6-month emergency reserve
- Review my baseline living expenses and generate a savings progress report

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: bb70d1dc517b64a8.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE bb70d1dc517b64a8
````text
---
name: emergency-fund
description: >
  Calculate emergency fund target and track savings progress toward it.
---

# Emergency Fund Calculator

## Overview
Calculates your emergency fund target based on 3-6 months of essential expenses, tracks your current savings progress, estimates how long it will take to reach your goal at your current savings rate, and suggests ways to accelerate funding.

## Wilson Tools Used
- `spending_summary` — calculate average monthly essential expenses to set the fund target
- `transaction_search` — find savings deposits and current savings activity

## Workflow
1. Run `spending_summary` for the last 3 months to get average monthly spending by category.
2. Identify essential expense categories: Housing/Rent, Utilities, Groceries, Transportation, Insurance, Minimum Debt Payments, Healthcare. Sum these to get your monthly essential expenses.
3. Calculate emergency fund targets:
   - **Minimum (3 months):** monthly essentials x 3
   - **Standard (4 months):** monthly essentials x 4
   - **Comfortable (6 months):** monthly essentials x 6
4. Run `transaction_search` with `query: "savings OR emergency fund OR transfer to savings"` and `months: 6` to find savings deposits.
5. Calculate your average monthly savings deposit amount from the results.
6. Ask the user for their current emergency fund balance.
7. Calculate months to reach each target: `(target - current balance) / average monthly savings deposit`.
8. Present a progress report:

   ```
   Monthly Essential Expenses:  $X,XXX
   Current Emergency Fund:      $X,XXX
   
   Target        Amount     Gap        Months to Goal
   ─────────     ────────   ────────   ──────────────
   3-month       $X,XXX     $X,XXX     X months
   4-month       $X,XXX     $X,XXX     X months
   6-month       $X,XXX     $X,XXX     X months
   
   Progress: [████████░░░░░░░░░░░░] 42%
   ```

9. If the savings rate is low, suggest categories from the spending summary where cuts could accelerate the timeline.

## Without Wilson
1. Export 3 months of bank transactions as CSV.
2. In a spreadsheet, categorize each transaction and filter to essential categories only: rent/mortgage, utilities (electric, gas, water, internet), groceries, transportation (gas, transit passes), insurance premiums, minimum loan payments, and healthcare.
3. Sum essential expenses for each month, then average: `=AVERAGE(B2:B4)` across 3 months.
4. Multiply the average by 3, 4, and 6 for your targets.
5. Check your savings account balance (log into your bank).
6. Calculate how much you saved last month: look at transfers from checking to savings, or compare beginning and ending savings balances on your statement.
7. Divide the gap (`target - current balance`) by your monthly savings amount.
8. To accelerate: review your spending summary for non-essential categories. Common cuts — dining out, subscriptions, shopping — can be redirected to savings.
````
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First 3049 of 3695 bytes. © openaccountant · MIT · https://github.com/openaccountant/skills/tree/HEAD/personal/emergency-fund/SKILL.md

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