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Agent skill

Emergency Fund

by JoelLewis in JoelLewis/finance_skills

Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile.

MITAuto-check passedBusiness, Finance & HR

Install Emergency Fund

skills CLI
$ npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill emergency-fund -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install JoelLewis/finance_skills emergency-fund --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/wealth-management/skills/emergency-fund .claude/skills/emergency-fund && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
emergency-fund
GitHub stars
206
Token cost
~2.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,308 words
Files
2 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
91
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile.

  • Works in 5 steps: Dual income, stable employment: 3 months… → Emergency fund = $4,500 × 3 = $13,500… → Considerations: If either spouse works… → …
  • The user asks about emergency fund sizing
  • SKILL.md covers Core Concepts, Key Formulas, Worked Examples and Common Pitfalls, plus 2 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder; calls uv, python3 and python

What it does

Emergency Fund is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile. Use when the user asks about emergency fund sizing, how many months of expenses to save, where to keep emergency savings, or tiered fund structures. Also trigger when users mention 'rainy day fund', 'how much cash should I keep', 'high-yield savings account', 'money market fund', 'freelancer cash reserve', 'variable income buffer', or ask what counts as an emergency expense.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including scripts (for example `scripts/emergency_fund.py`).

It sits in Business, Finance & HR. The repository describes itself as: Claude Code skill plugins for financial services — 81 skills across 7 domain plugins covering investment management, compliance, advisory practice, trading, and operations. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks about emergency fund sizing
  • How many months of expenses to save
  • Where to keep emergency savings
  • Tiered fund structures

Example prompts

  • “rainy day fund”
  • “how much cash should I keep”
  • “high-yield savings account”
  • “/emergency-fund”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Dual income, stable employment: 3 months is the baseline; 4 months provides a comfortable margin.
  2. Emergency fund = $4,500 × 3 = $13,500 (minimum) to $4,500 × 4 = $18,000 (recommended).
  3. Considerations: If either spouse works in a cyclical industry or has less job security, increase to 6 months ($27,000).
  4. If one spouse could cover essentials alone: May reduce to 3 months since the risk of zero income is lower.
  5. Recommendation: $13,500-$18,000 for this stable dual-income household.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5c498ea. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • uv
    • python3
    • python

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use uv, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Emergency Fund loads about 2.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 126 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,308 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~126
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from JoelLewis/finance_skills at commit 5c498ea, republished under its MIT licence (© JoelLewis). 1,308 words, ~2,724 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/emergency-fund/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
emergency-fund
description
Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile. Use when the user asks about emergency fund sizing, how many months of expenses to save, where to keep emergency savings, or tiered fund structures. Also trigger when users mention 'rainy day fund', 'how much cash should I keep', 'high-yield savings account', 'money market fund', 'freelancer cash reserve', 'variable income buffer', or ask what counts as an emergency expense.

Emergency Fund Planning

Core Concepts

Rule of Thumb
  • Employed with stable income: 3-6 months of essential expenses
  • Dual-income household (both stable): 3 months may suffice (lower probability of simultaneous job loss)
  • Single income, variable income, or self-employed: 6-12 months of essential expenses
  • High job-search risk (niche industry, senior executive, specialized role): 6-12 months
  • These are guidelines — individual assessment is essential
Essential Expenses

The emergency fund should cover non-discretionary spending only:

  • Housing: Mortgage/rent, property tax, insurance, HOA
  • Food: Groceries (not dining out)
  • Insurance: Health, auto, life (premiums that cannot be paused)
  • Utilities: Electric, gas, water, internet, phone
  • Transportation: Car payment, gas, basic maintenance, public transit
  • Minimum debt payments: Credit cards, student loans, other obligations
  • Healthcare: Regular medications, co-pays
  • Exclude: Dining out, entertainment, travel, shopping, subscriptions that can be cancelled
Expense-Based Sizing

Monthly essential expenses multiplied by the desired months of coverage:

  • Emergency fund = monthly essential expenses × months of coverage
  • Example: $4,500/month essentials × 6 months = $27,000
  • More precise than income-based because it reflects actual spending needs during a crisis
Income Replacement Approach

After-tax monthly income multiplied by months of coverage:

  • Emergency fund = after-tax monthly income × months of coverage
  • Simpler to calculate but may overstate need (assumes maintaining full spending during emergency)
  • Useful as an upper bound or for high earners whose expenses scale with income
Variable Income Adjustment

For commission-based, freelance, seasonal, or gig workers:

  • Calculate average monthly income over 12-24 months
  • Set base budget at the lowest 3-month average income level
  • Buffer = average income - base budget (accumulated during high-earning months)
  • Emergency fund should be 6-12 months of essential expenses (longer because income disruption is more likely and less predictable)
  • Maintain a separate "income smoothing" buffer beyond the emergency fund
Tiered Emergency Fund

Structure the fund across tiers for optimal balance of access and yield:

  • Tier 1 — Immediate access (1 month): Checking or savings account at primary bank. Instantly accessible for urgent needs. Low or no yield, but maximum liquidity.
  • Tier 2 — Short-term (2-3 months): High-yield savings account (HYSA) or money market fund. Available in 1-2 business days. Earns competitive short-term rates.
  • Tier 3 — Extended (3-6 months): Short-term Treasury bills, I-bonds (after 1-year lock-up), short-term bond fund, or CD ladder. May take a few days to a few weeks to access. Higher yield compensates for slightly lower liquidity.
Vehicle Selection
VehicleYieldLiquidityFDIC/SIPCBest For
Checking accountVery lowInstantFDICTier 1 (1 month)
HYSAModerate1-2 daysFDICTier 2 (core fund)
Money market fundModerate1-2 daysSIPCTier 2 (core fund)
T-bills (4-week)Moderate-highAt maturityFull faith & creditTier 2/3 (ladder)
CD (3-12 month)Moderate-highAt maturity (penalty)FDICTier 3 (ladder)
I-bondsInflation-linkedAfter 12 monthsFull faith & creditTier 3 (long-term)
Short-term bond fundVariable1-3 daysSIPCTier 3 (flexible)
Opportunity Cost

Holding cash has a real cost — the difference between what the cash earns and what it could earn if invested:

  • Cash drag: Emergency fund earning 4% HYSA vs 8-10% equity expected return = 4-6% annual opportunity cost
  • On a $30K emergency fund: $1,200-$1,800/year in foregone returns
  • Mitigant: The purpose of the fund is insurance, not investment return. The "premium" is the opportunity cost.
  • Over-funded risk: Holding 12+ months when 3-6 months suffices wastes significant capital
  • Under-funded risk: Having to use credit cards at 20%+ APR or sell investments at a loss during an emergency
When to Tap the Emergency Fund

Appropriate uses:

  • Job loss or significant income reduction
  • Medical emergency or unexpected healthcare costs
  • Essential home repair (roof leak, HVAC failure, plumbing emergency)
  • Essential car repair (needed for commuting to work)
  • Unexpected essential travel (family emergency)

NOT appropriate uses:

  • Vacations or planned travel
  • Planned purchases (holiday gifts, electronics)
  • Investment opportunities ("buy the dip")
  • Non-essential home improvements
  • Expenses that should have been budgeted (annual insurance, property tax)
Replenishment Plan

After using the emergency fund:

  • Prioritize rebuilding before resuming discretionary spending or non-essential savings goals
  • Set a monthly replenishment target (e.g., rebuild within 6-12 months)
  • Temporarily reduce or pause contributions to other goals if needed
  • Redirect windfalls (tax refund, bonus) to accelerate replenishment

Key Formulas

FormulaExpressionUse Case
Expense-based fundMonthly essentials × months of coverageCore sizing calculation
Income-based fundAfter-tax monthly income × months of coverageUpper bound estimate
Opportunity costFund balance × (investment return - cash return)Cost of holding cash
Replenishment timelineFund shortfall / monthly replenishment amountMonths to rebuild
Variable income bufferAvg monthly income - base budgetSurplus for smoothing

Worked Examples

Show full SKILL.md (577 more words)Show less
Example 1: Emergency fund sizing for a dual-income household

Given: Married couple, both employed in stable jobs. Monthly essential expenses: $4,500 (housing $1,800, food $600, insurance $400, utilities $300, transportation $500, debt minimums $400, healthcare $200, other essentials $300). Calculate: Recommended emergency fund size. Solution:

  1. Dual income, stable employment: 3 months is the baseline; 4 months provides a comfortable margin.
  2. Emergency fund = $4,500 × 3 = $13,500 (minimum) to $4,500 × 4 = $18,000 (recommended).
  3. Considerations: If either spouse works in a cyclical industry or has less job security, increase to 6 months ($27,000).
  4. If one spouse could cover essentials alone: May reduce to 3 months since the risk of zero income is lower.
  5. Recommendation: $13,500-$18,000 for this stable dual-income household.
Example 2: Tiered fund allocation

Given: Target emergency fund of $27,000 (6 months × $4,500/month) for a single-income household. Calculate: Optimal tiered allocation. Solution:

  1. Tier 1 — Checking account: $4,500 (1 month). Immediate access for sudden expenses (car repair, medical co-pay). Earning ~0.01% but provides instant liquidity.
  2. Tier 2 — High-yield savings account: $13,500 (3 months). Core emergency reserves. Earning ~4.5% APY (illustrative, in the ~4-5% range seen as of 2026 — check current HYSA rates). Available in 1-2 business days via transfer.
  3. Tier 3 — T-bill ladder: $9,000 (2 months). Three $3,000 T-bills maturing at 4-week, 8-week, and 13-week intervals. Earning ~4.8% (illustrative, in the ~4-5% range seen as of 2026 — check current T-bill rates). At least one tranche matures every ~4 weeks.
  4. Blended yield: (4,500 × 0.01% + 13,500 × 4.5% + 9,000 × 4.8%) / 27,000 ≈ 3.85% weighted average.
  5. vs all checking (0.01%): Earning ~$1,040/year more with the tiered approach — effectively free money for modest complexity.

Common Pitfalls

  • Too little: financial stress during emergencies, forced to use high-interest debt (credit cards at 20%+), potential to sell investments at a loss
  • Too much: significant opportunity cost from excess cash eroded by inflation; common among risk-averse savers
  • Not adjusting for life changes — new baby (higher expenses), job change (less stability), mortgage (larger fixed obligation), spouse stops working
  • Keeping the emergency fund in investments that can lose value — stocks, long-term bonds, or crypto are not appropriate vehicles
  • Using the emergency fund for non-emergencies — erodes the safety net and creates a cycle of depletion
  • Not having a replenishment plan — spending the fund without a strategy to rebuild leaves ongoing vulnerability
  • Ignoring inflation: a $20K fund in 2020 has less purchasing power in 2030; periodically reassess the target
  • Treating the emergency fund as an investment account rather than an insurance policy

Cross-References

  • liquidity-management (wealth-management plugin): emergency fund is the foundation of the personal liquidity tier structure
  • savings-goals (wealth-management plugin): emergency fund is typically the highest priority savings goal
  • debt-management (wealth-management plugin): adequate emergency fund prevents taking on new high-interest debt during crises
  • lending (wealth-management plugin): emergency reserves are a factor in mortgage qualification
  • investment-policy (wealth-management plugin): emergency fund size feeds the liquidity constraint in an IPS
  • financial-planning-workflow (advisory-practice plugin): emergency fund adequacy is assessed early in the comprehensive financial planning process
  • insurance-planning (wealth-management plugin): emergency fund size supports higher deductibles and longer disability elimination periods in the risk retention decision
  • retirement-decumulation (wealth-management plugin): the cash-reserve discipline extends into retirement as bucket one of a bucket withdrawal strategy

Running the Script

bash
uv run scripts/emergency_fund.py            # run the demo (uses PEP 723 inline deps)
uv run scripts/emergency_fund.py --verify   # check demo outputs against the worked examples (exit 1 on mismatch)
python3 scripts/emergency_fund.py            # alternative (requires: pip install numpy)

The demo prints the calculations covered above; its values match the worked examples in this skill. Run --help for a list of the classes and functions. For programmatic use, import the module rather than running it — the demo only executes under python emergency_fund.py.

© JoelLewis, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (scripts) in plugins/wealth-management/skills/emergency-fund of JoelLewis/finance_skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/emergency_fund.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5c498ea

Compare with similar skills

Emergency Fund next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

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Categories

Questions about Emergency Fund

What does Emergency Fund do?

Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile. Emergency Fund is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Size and structure an emergency fund based on individual circumstances, income stability, and expense profile.

When should I use Emergency Fund?

Emergency Fund fits situations like: the user asks about emergency fund sizing; how many months of expenses to save; where to keep emergency savings; tiered fund structures.

How do I install Emergency Fund in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill emergency-fund -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/emergency-fund in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .claude/skills/emergency-fund in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Emergency Fund in Codex?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill emergency-fund -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/emergency-fund in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .agents/skills/emergency-fund in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Emergency Fund in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill emergency-fund -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/emergency-fund, .gemini/skills/emergency-fund, .github/skills/emergency-fund and .opencode/skills/emergency-fund in your project.

What does Emergency Fund need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Emergency Fund needs Python for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (uv, python3 and python). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Emergency Fund access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use uv, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Emergency Fund safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Emergency Fund use?

Emergency Fund is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Emergency Fund use?

About 2.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 11k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Emergency Fund?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Emergency Fund: Technical Analyst (tradermonty/claude-trading-skills, 3k stars), Theme Detector (tradermonty/claude-trading-skills, 3k stars), Creating Financial Models (Chen-zexi/open-ptc-agent, 729 stars) and Stock API (zhangxiangliang/stock-api, 2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Emergency Fund?

JoelLewis (a GitHub user) maintains it in JoelLewis/finance_skills, which has 206 GitHub stars. The repository holds 91 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 18, 2026.

Source: JoelLewis/finance_skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.