Shock Test Calculator India: How Long Your Savings Last

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"I have six months of expenses saved." Many people say it, and few have checked it against a real month with a loan EMI, a rate that moved and a hospital bill. By the end of this guide you will know how to type your own household into Shock Test, what each box means, and how to read the runway, the first payment that fails and the extra cash the tool says you would need.

What does Shock Test do?

You type what comes in, what it goes on, and the shocks you want to see. The page shows the month-by-month path, what breaks first, and how much more money would be needed. It runs in your browser. The page states the limit plainly: it is arithmetic on the numbers you typed, not a forecast and not advice.

Two small characters, Canopy the umbrella and Halo the lifebuoy, stand by while you type. They react once there is an answer, and they show which of two runs holds on longer: the path as it stands, or the path with a spending cut.

Step 1: What comes in and what goes out

Three boxes are required: the money coming in, the essentials and the money in hand. The rest are optional.

• Months to look at. From 1 to 60. Leave it empty and the tool uses 24 months.
• Money that comes in a month (Rs). Salary or business income that reaches you each month.
• Essentials a month, not counting the loan payments (Rs). Rent, food, bills: what has to be paid whatever happens. Loans go in step 3, so do not put EMIs here.
• Flexible spending a month (Rs, optional). Eating out, travel, shopping. This is the spending the tool skips first when money runs short.
• Money in hand (Rs). Cash and anything you can use straight away. Assets that need selling go in step 2.
• Reserve floor to keep (Rs, optional). The amount you would like never to go below. It drives the "floor" figures described below.

The page tells you what it fills in where you leave a box blank: 24 months, no flexible spending, no reserve floor, no haircut on an asset, an asset that can be sold from the first month, a loan that does not float, an income stop that runs to the end of the period, and no insurance cover, deductible, co-payment or spending cut.

Step 2: Assets you could use

You can add up to six assets. The tool uses them in the order you list them, and only when a payment cannot be made from money in hand.

• What it is worth (Rs). The value today.
• Haircut you expect (%). From 0 to 50. This is the part of the value you expect to lose on selling.
• Month it can be used from. From 0 to 60. A lock-in is the usual reason to set this. Leave it empty and the tool uses the first month.

The tool does not carry a table of haircuts or lock-ins. You type the ones you believe apply. Assets earn nothing while they wait.

Step 3: Loans you pay

You can add up to five loans. For each one:

• Balance left (Rs) and Rate a year (%), from 0 to 60.
• The loan is worked out from. Choose "the months left" or "the instalment each month", then type that one. Give one, not both.
• The rate on this loan can change. Tick it if the loan floats. A rate hike only touches loans you tick.

The tool works out each loan payment from the balance, the rate and the months left, rounded to whole paise. It assumes every instalment is paid on schedule.

Step 4: Shocks you want to see

You can add up to four shocks. Each has a type, and the boxes change with the type.

• Income stops. Month it starts, how many months it lasts (empty means to the end of the period), the part of the income that stops (empty means all of it), and money that arrives anyway, such as severance.
• Medical bill. Month it starts, the bill, what the insurance covers, what is not claimed (the deductible) and the part of the bill you pay (the co-payment).
• Rate hike. Month it starts and the rate goes up by (0 to 10 points). It reprices the instalment of a loan marked as floating, over the months that are left.
• Extra expense. Month it starts, the amount and how many months it lasts.

Step 5 is optional: Cut back on spending as well. Choose the percentage of flexible spending to cut, the percentage of essentials to cut, and the month the cuts start. This is how you get the second run with a spending cut. Step 6 is a label for your own reference. It stays on your device.

Type this: the example numbers

Press Use example numbers. The page fills in Rs 1,00,000 coming in, Rs 40,000 of essentials, Rs 20,000 of flexible spending and Rs 3,00,000 in hand, with one shock: an income stop that starts in month 1 and takes the whole income to the end of the 24 months. There is no loan and no asset.

The engine gives:

What the page shows	Result
A month needs	Rs 60,000.00
Money to start with	Rs 3,00,000.00
That covers	5 months
Months the path holds	5
The first payment that fails	Month 6: the essentials
Unpaid in all	Rs 7,60,000.00
Extra cash to pay every payment	Rs 11,20,000.00
Extra cash to keep the floor	Rs 11,20,000.00
The first month flexible spending was skipped	Month 6

The headline reads: "Under these numbers the first payment that fails is in month 6: the essentials."

Rs 3,00,000 divided by Rs 60,000 is five months, and the tool shows that. Look at the month table. In month 5 the money in hand reaches Rs 0.00. In month 6 nothing is paid: Rs 40,000.00 of essentials is unpaid and the Rs 20,000.00 of flexible spending is skipped. The notes at the bottom say that no asset and no loan were typed. The "One shock at a time" line says that removing the income stop would cut the extra cash needed by Rs 11,20,000.00.

Type this: a household with a loan, an income stop and a rate hike

Start fresh. Type 12 months to look at, Rs 80,000 coming in, Rs 30,000 of essentials, Rs 10,000 of flexible spending, Rs 2,00,000 in hand and a reserve floor of Rs 50,000.

Add one loan: balance Rs 10,00,000, rate 9%, 60 months left, and tick "The rate on this loan can change". The page shows Loan 1 as Rs 20,758.36 a month for 60 months.

Add two shocks: an income stop that starts in month 2 and lasts 6 months, and a rate hike that starts in month 3 and raises the rate by 2 points.

Without any shock, the page says a month needs Rs 60,758.36, your Rs 2,00,000 covers 3 months, and every payment is met.

With the shocks, and no spending cut, the engine gives:

What the page shows	Result
Months the path holds	4
The first payment that fails	Month 5: the first loan payment
Unpaid in all	Rs 1,20,078.32
Extra cash to pay every payment	Rs 1,40,078.32
Extra cash to keep the floor	Rs 2,00,078.32
The first month under the floor	Month 4
The first month flexible spending was skipped	Month 5

Follow the money in the table. Income stops after month 1. Month 2 needs Rs 60,758.36 and month 3 needs Rs 61,712.32, because the hike raises the loan payment. By the end of month 4 only Rs 35,058.64 is left. In month 5 the tool pays Rs 35,058.64, leaves Rs 16,653.68 unpaid and skips Rs 10,000.00 of flexible spending. The income comes back in month 8.

The sensitivity lines tell you which shock mattered: removing the income stop cuts the extra cash needed by Rs 1,40,078.32, while removing the rate hike cuts it by Rs 4,769.80. The hike is real, but the income stop is the bigger problem.

Now switch on Cut back on spending as well. Cut 50% of flexible spending, starting in month 2. The cut run still fails in month 5, so the months the path holds stay at 4, but the numbers improve:

What the page shows	Without the cut	With the cut
Unpaid in all	Rs 1,20,078.32	Rs 1,05,078.32
Extra cash to pay every payment	Rs 1,40,078.32	Rs 1,15,078.32
Extra cash to keep the floor	Rs 2,00,078.32	Rs 1,70,078.32
First month under the floor	Month 4	Month 5

The page says Canopy and Halo hold on for the same number of months. That is the point of reading the whole table. A cut that does not add a month can still shrink the gap.

Last, keep the cut on and add an asset worth Rs 3,00,000 with a 10% haircut, usable from month 0. The money to start with becomes Rs 4,70,000.00, which the page shows as covering 7 months. The headline changes to: "Under these numbers every payment is met for all 12 months." The first month an asset is used is month 5, and the extra cash needed is Rs 0.00. The lowest amount of money held is Rs 1,19,921.64 without the cut and Rs 1,49,921.64 with it.

How do I read the answer?

• The headline. One sentence: either every payment is met for all the months, or the month in which the first payment fails and what it is (the essentials, the medical bill, a loan payment).
• The tiles. Months the path holds, the first payment that fails, extra cash to pay every payment, and extra cash to keep the floor. When a cut is on, the headline and tiles describe the run with the cut.
• The runway. A strip of bars, one per month. Each bar is the money left at the end of that month. Marks show the first payment that fails, when an asset was used, when the floor was crossed, and when flexible spending was skipped.
• The two runs. The page lists "Without the spending cut" and "With the spending cut" side by side, each with its own figures: unpaid in all, the extra cash, the first month an asset was used, the lowest amount of money held.
• Without any shock. A month needs, money to start with, and how many months that covers. Use it as a baseline for the shocks.
• The loans, and the month table. Every month, with income, what was required, paid, drawn from assets, unpaid, skipped, and what was left.
• Notes. Plain sentences, such as that no shock, asset or loan was typed, or that a rate hike was typed but no floating loan was, so the instalment does not change.
• One shock at a time. Each shock is taken out in turn to show how much of the cash gap it caused.
• The working. Each step is listed with the numbers it used, from the inputs to the loan schedule, the order of payment, assets sold, milestones, the extra cash and the spending cut. Pointing at a step lights up where its numbers appear.

The page also gives you the payment order in plain words: essentials, then the medical bill, then the extra expense, then each loan payment in the order you listed them, then the flexible spending.

You can copy a link to your numbers, download a PDF once there is an answer, or save a share image. The image card hides the amounts unless you switch that off. Reset clears the form, and Undo reset brings it back.

What does the tool not model?

The page lists what it leaves out:

• interest or growth on assets, and growth in income,
• tax of any kind, and unemployment benefits,
• insurance waiting periods, sub-limits and room-rent deductions,
• credit-card revolving debt,
• annual premiums as a separate item (put them in the essentials),
• loan prepayment, and borrowing to cover a shortfall,
• probability.

Two assumptions are worth knowing. A rate hike reprices the instalment over the months that are left, while some lenders extend the term first, and that is not modelled. A loan keeps to its schedule as if every instalment were paid, so arrears are not modelled either.

If you are comparing how a loan is quoted, the EMI Truth guide explains the real yearly rate behind an EMI offer. If your question is whether to pay upfront or borrow, see Cash vs Loan: Pay Upfront or Take an EMI?.

Its figures are only as good as the numbers you type. Not reviewed by a Chartered Accountant. If a result looks wrong, use the "Report something wrong" button on the tool page.

Last reviewed: October 2026. For other tools, see the HeyArtha guides and the calculators hub. How HeyArtha's tools are built is on the Methodology page.

Next in series: Cash vs Loan: Pay Upfront or Take an EMI? (2026-27).

If your income stopped next month, which payment would fail first in your house?

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