re: Emergency fund opinions

The answer totally depends on what cash you can access and how easily you can do it. Liquidity is key.

Generally speaking you don't want to have lots of cash just lying around uninvested. So an ideal solution would be to have an untapped home equity line for emergencies so you can invest cash elsewhere. If you suddenly need a couple of grand just write yourself a check on the equity line and pay it back over the year.

Another choice is to sock away as much as you can in your Roth and withdraw from it for emergencies. It's easy to do and there are no penalties, plus you should be putting money in your Roth anyway to get the tax-free returns. This is my second choice.

But having a dedicated taxable savings account for this is not necessary nor is it particularly desirable. What you want is the ability to get cash in a hurry when you need it, but otherwise have investments working for you to the maximum extent possible during normal times. Both a HELOC and a Roth do this much better than a savings account.