The safety net is your precautionary savings: a reserve of money that's immediately available to handle the unexpected (a repair, a loss of income, a health expense…) without touching your investments.
It's the recommended first step in Goals: before planning your projects, cover your bases.
Why Start Here?
A well-built safety net means you won't have to sell investments at the wrong moment when something goes wrong. Once this foundation is in place, you can build your other goals (real estate down payment, retirement, travel…) with peace of mind.
How Do I Create My Safety Net?
From the mobile app home screen, the Goals card invites you to start with your safety net if you haven't created any goals yet. Tap Get Started. You can also create it from the goals list using the "Build a safety net" template.
Enter your monthly expenses: when possible, Finary suggests an estimate calculated from the transactions of your synced accounts, which you can adjust freely. In some cases, no estimate is suggested and you enter the amount yourself.
Choose your coverage duration (from 0 to 12 months, 6 months suggested by default). Your target amount is your monthly expenses multiplied by this duration.
Link the accounts that make up your safety net.
How Much Coverage Should I Aim For?
It's generally recommended to be able to cover 3 to 6 months of expenses. The app highlights a warning zone below 3 months of coverage.
The right level depends on your situation: income stability, family expenses, risk profile. If you need 12 months of reserve to sleep soundly, that's perfectly fine!
Why Cash Accounts Only?
Only cash assets (checking accounts, savings accounts) can be linked to the safety net. This is deliberate: precautionary savings must remain immediately available and risk-free. A stock portfolio can lose value at exactly the moment you need it.
What If My Safety Net Far Exceeds My Target?
Holding too much cash has a cost too: every euro sitting in an account yielding less than inflation loses value over time. If your safety net significantly exceeds your target, the app lets you know — it may be time to reallocate the surplus toward your other goals.
Tracking My Safety Net
Once created, you can track its progress directly from the home screen, expressed in months of coverage (e.g., "4/6 months"). You can adjust your monthly expenses, coverage duration, or linked accounts at any time.
To learn everything about creating and tracking your goals, see Creating and Tracking My Goals.