Savings buffer planner

See how long your available savings could cover your mortgage and living costs if income falls or expenses rise. Your local profile fills the relevant figures, or you can enter them below. All amounts are Australian dollars.

Your budget and savings

Your local profile fills the relevant amounts below. You can change them for this calculation, then choose Save setup if you want to keep the changes.

Monthly take-home income

Monthly living expenses

Other required monthly payments

Monthly mortgage repayment

Accessible savings outside offset

Available offset balance

Your budget and buffer figures stay in this browser. They are not submitted to research or analytics. Anyone using this browser may be able to open saved details.

Optional weekly contribution

Check whether a planned weekly amount fits after your required expenses. These test settings are not saved to your local profile.

Weekly amount goes to

Weekly offset deposit

Offset deposits stay within your available savings. We show the room left after this transfer without counting it as an expense.

Changes to test

Income reduction (%)

Extra monthly expenses

Planning period (months)

Your local profile and savings-buffer calculations stay in this browser. Mortgage calculations collect completed scenarios without linking them back to you and retain them for commercial use.

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Plan your mortgage savings buffer

A savings buffer is accessible money that can help cover a gap between household income and expenses. This calculator tests that gap using your take-home income, living costs, mortgage repayment and other required payments. Try a lower income or higher expenses to see how your available cash changes over time.

Include your mortgage in your household budget

If you want to test a different interest rate or loan repayment, start with the Australian mortgage repayment calculator. Its repayment guide links back here and can carry across the starting monthly payment and offset balance. You can also enter a monthly mortgage amount directly in this planner.

Count available offset cash once

Enter savings outside your offset separately from the offset money you could access. The planner adds them once; it excludes property equity, super and redraw. Voluntary transfers between your savings and offset are not household spending. The optional weekly contribution section shows whether there is room for your planned deposit. Additional loan repayments count as spending when you choose to continue them; you can also test pausing them. Weekly amounts use a monthly budgeting equivalent and apply throughout this constant-budget test. These optional test settings are not saved to your local profile. ASIC Moneysmart’s emergency fund guide explains the role of accessible savings, including an offset account.

What the estimate assumes

Income and expenses stay at the monthly amounts you enter for the planning period. The mortgage payment stays constant, so this is a budget estimate rather than a projection of changing loan interest as offset cash is spent. Once savings run out, the result shows the remaining shortfall without assuming new borrowing. Budget and buffer figures stay in this browser.