<prompt> Human: Im two months into my first job, and Ive been following the all-knowing flowchart for what to do with the money that comes in. I also learned recently that you can access any money that youve contributed to your Roth IRA without penalty, so now Im wondering if I can combine a few steps... Is it commonplace to use a Roth IRA as an emergency fund while first saving up or are there aspectslimitations that Im not considering? I realize that emergency funds are often used for situations where you need immediate access to cash, and IRAs are subject to volatility in the market, but are there any other reasons this would be a bad idea?FWIW Im also contributing 6 with 6 employer match to a 401k and Ive got about half a months worth of income in a savings account. Edit:Another consideration is that Im not currently able to max out my IRA contributions, so money that would be going into savings right now is money that I wont be able to put in my IRA in the coming years when I am maxing out the contributions whereas I can continue building the emergency fund later on with no caps.  <response>: Ive gambled and used my Roth as an REAL BIG TRUE EMERGENCY fund. My on-hand savings have fluctuated between 2k and 5k for years and Ive maxed out my Roth IRA instead of growing my savings account to X months of expenses. I now have 25k in my Roth, so if a true big emergency happened, I have about 18k of contributions in there that I can pull. Ideally wont and hopefully Im always building the savings up higher, but Im prioritizing maxing the Roth and now my 401k. 