<prompt> Human: Hi All,First off let me thank everyone here for for creating such a rich source of knowledge. My question is why should one keep such a large emergency fund 3-6 monthsin an account the bears little to no interest? Say for example someone has north of 100k in their brokerage account. Say, 40k locked up in their Roth IRA and 60k in a regular account. That 60k is very liquid and you can sell those stocks or bonds in an emergency. I always hear you dont want to be selling stocks to cover expenses if you lose your job. Why not? You can have that emergency fund invested and sell those investments IF you need them. You will, expected value, gain on the time it was invested before you needed it, or just continue to gain if you never need it. Some people say this will help you avoid having to sell stock in a down market. But, what is a down market really? We arent trying to time the market right. Why not just sell stocksbonds and have that money in your checking account in a few days. Show me what I am missing - the collective wisdom of this forum is impressive.All the Best  <response>: But what is a down market really?The point isnt so much about timing the market, as much as you dont want to be in a situation where you have to sell off your investments before youre ready. You want to be the one to dictate and control that. Sure, in the grand scheme, timing the market doesnt work, but in short terms, you can be reasonably sure that the market will recover. Look at 2008. If you lost your job just as the markets were tanking, you might have to sell your investments when you know everything has just taken a hit. If you had a separate emergency fund in a savings account, you could, and most likely would, hold those stocks because youre fairly certain that the markets will eventually rebound and you arent relying on those investments for your livelihood.With investments, you want to at the very least sell for more than you bought them for. If youre relying on your investments as your EF, you may not have the luxury of choosing when to sell and you may be forced to sell at a loss.Its all insurance. I personally see having my sell orders being out of my control as a risk. You may be comfortable liquidating that 60k if the markets plummet. Buy as much insurance as you need to feel comfortable. For me, that means putting it into an account that is guaranteed to hold its value pretty steadily. I hope I never need to dip into any of those funds, but I also know that forces out of my control arent going to diminish their value short of hyperinflation, but theres not much I can do to guard against that. 