About this session
An emergency fund is money given one specific job: helping you deal with an unexpected essential financial shock without every unplanned cost immediately becoming a borrowing, missed-payment or crisis decision.
But knowing that an emergency fund is useful is much easier than knowing how much to aim for, where the money should fit among other priorities and how to build it when finances are already stretched.
This session makes emergency saving practical and personal.
Participants identify the kinds of financial shocks their household needs to be able to absorb, calculate their essential-cost baseline and create a staged target rather than treating a large final number as the only meaningful goal.
They then build a contribution approach around what is realistically available, including how regular contributions and occasional additional money can be used without assuming either exists in abundance.
Participants also decide where emergency money needs to sit functionally, what should and should not count as an emergency and how the fund will be rebuilt after use. The aim is not to create fear about everything that might go wrong.
It is to create a reserve with a clear purpose, realistic build path and practical rules for when life does not follow the financial plan.
What your people take away
- Define what an emergency fund needs to protect in the participant's own circumstances
- Calculate essential expenses and turn a large final goal into realistic staged targets
- Build a contribution approach that works alongside other financial demands
- Separate genuine emergencies from predictable irregular expenses and planned costs
- Create clear rules for accessing, reviewing and replenishing the fund after use
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What each length covers
30 minutes
30 Minutes — Key Points: Define the Job of Your Emergency FundA focused 30-minute session on three key points from Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund: identify the shocks the fund needs to absorb, calculate your essential-cost baseline and set a target in stages.
- Identify the shocks the fund needs to absorb
- Calculate your essential-cost baseline
- Set a target in stages
Covers 3 of 4 points in Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund.
60 minutes
60 Minutes — Module 1: Define the Job of Your Emergency FundA practical introduction to emergency saving that starts with the participant's own financial life rather than a generic target. Participants identify the unexpected costs their household most needs protection from, calculate an essential-expense baseline and create a first-stage emergency-fund target that feels useful as well as achievable.
- Module 1: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund
- Live Q&A
Covers 1 of 4 parts: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund.
90 minutes
90 Minutes — Modules 1 and 2: Set Your Target & Build a Realistic Route to ItEverything in the 60-minute session, plus guided work turning the emergency-fund target into an achievable build plan. Participants compare staged saving goals, calculate what different contribution levels would mean over time and create a funding approach that can flex around competing financial priorities.
- Module 1: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund
- Module 2: Build the Fund in Realistic Stages
- Essential-expense and target calculation
- Emergency-fund build-path exercise
- Live Q&A
Covers 2 of 4 parts: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund and Build the Fund in Realistic Stages.
3 hours
Covers 3 of 4 parts: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund, Build the Fund in Realistic Stages and Protect the Money & Keep It Available.
Full day
Full Day — Full Emergency Fund WorkshopFull coverage of all four modules with essential-cost calculations, staged target setting, saving-plan exercises and realistic emergency scenarios. Participants define what their reserve needs to cover, build a practical route toward it, decide how the money should be protected and accessible and leave with clear rules for using and rebuilding the fund.
- Module 1: Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund
- Module 2: Build the Fund in Realistic Stages
- Module 3: Protect the Money & Keep It Available
- Module 4: Know When to Use It & How to Rebuild
- Emergency-cost mapping exercise
- Staged fund-target calculator
- Emergency-or-not scenario practice
- 90-day emergency-fund build plan
- Live Q&A
Covers all 4 parts.
Also available as a 4-week or 8-week program, for change that lasts. Ask us about it.
What’s covered
Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund
Every length- Identify the shocks the fund needs to absorbParticipants map the unexpected essential costs that could put real pressure on their household, such as an urgent repair, temporary income interruption or another necessary expense that cannot simply be postponed.
- Calculate your essential-cost baselineParticipants identify the costs that would still need to be covered if household finances were disrupted and build an essential-expense baseline around them.
- Set a target in stagesParticipants turn the larger idea of an emergency fund into progressive milestones.
- Adjust the target to your real lifeParticipants consider how income stability, household responsibilities, essential costs and other available protections affect the amount of reserve that may feel appropriate.
Build the Fund in Realistic Stages
90 minutes and longer- Find a contribution you can repeatParticipants test different contribution levels against their existing financial commitments and choose an amount or approach that is realistically repeatable.
- Calculate what different timelines look likeParticipants compare how different contribution amounts change the time needed to reach each stage of their fund.
- Use occasional extra money deliberatelyParticipants consider how refunds, bonuses, gifts, sales of unused items or other occasional money could strengthen the fund when such money genuinely becomes available.
- Keep the plan flexible when money gets tightParticipants create rules for reducing, pausing and restarting contributions when circumstances change.
Protect the Money & Keep It Available
3 hours and longer- Keep emergency money separate from everyday spendingParticipants examine how the location and visibility of money affect whether it remains reserved for emergencies.
- Decide how accessible the fund needs to beParticipants consider how quickly emergency money might reasonably need to be available and compare that need with the temptation created by instant everyday access.
- Check the full conditions, not just the headlineParticipants practice reviewing relevant access conditions, fees, withdrawal restrictions and other account features before deciding where emergency savings belong.
- Make the fund easy to monitorParticipants create a simple way to track contributions, current progress and the next target milestone without turning emergency saving into daily account watching.
Know When to Use It & How to Rebuild
Full day only- Create your definition of an emergencyParticipants build a short decision test around whether a cost is unexpected, necessary, urgent and difficult to absorb through normal cash flow.
- Separate emergencies from irregular expensesParticipants identify costs that may feel surprising because they occur infrequently but can reasonably be anticipated.
- Use the fund without treating it as failureParticipants work through what happens when a genuine emergency requires a withdrawal and reframe use of the reserve as the system doing its job.
- Build the replenishment into the planParticipants decide how contributions will restart after the fund is used and whether the target itself needs to change.
How booking works
- Book online. Create a free Workbliss profile, then pay with session credits, by card or by invoice.
- Pick a date. Choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or book now and set the date later.
- Choose your expert. Within 3 working days, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date.
- We deliver it. Your expert is briefed on your people and goals, then runs the session live online or at your site.
Questions about Building An Emergency Fund
How long is Building An Emergency Fund?
Building An Emergency Fund runs as 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours or full day. You choose the length when you book. A 30-minute session covers three key points from Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund: identify the shocks the fund needs to absorb, calculate your essential-cost baseline and set a target in stages. A 60-minute session covers Define the Job of Your Emergency Fund in full, with a live Q&A. A 90-minute session adds Build the Fund in Realistic Stages. A 3-hour session adds Protect the Money & Keep It Available. A full-day session adds Know When to Use It & How to Rebuild. It is also available as a 4-week or 8-week program.
Can Building An Emergency Fund be delivered online or in person?
Yes, both. It runs live online, so every office can join at the same time, or in person at your site, in any country.
How do we book Building An Emergency Fund?
Create a free Workbliss profile with your work email, then open Building An Emergency Fund to see the price for each length and book it. You can pay with session credits, by card or by invoice, and choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or set it later.
Who leads the session?
A vetted Workbliss expert, briefed on your people, culture and goals before the session. After you book, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date within 3 working days, so you can choose who leads it.
Can it be tailored to our company?
Yes. Every session is shaped around your goals, your people and the benefits you already offer, and delivered by experts in your people’s languages.