I like to say that "The size of my emergency fund depends on the size of the emergency".

My thinking is that there are different kinds of emergencies, and different amounts of time you would be expected to come up with the money for them. Sure, you can have something that costs you a few thousand dollars, but, when it's more than that, you usually find it's acceptable to be able to pay a month or so later. Worst case, at least I can float myself the loan on a credit card and give myself a few weeks to get all the money transferred to my main account to pay it off.

My emergency fund is in tiers too, and I think this is probably the order I'd liquidate them: * Cash, in the house: $500. This will handle most "I need money NOW DANG IT NOW!!" problems. The kind where you have to pay cash right away, a check won't do, they won't take a credit card, and you just need to get through a few days. I call this my "Earthquake Money", in case the power is out for a few days, the ATMs and credit card machines are broken, and I need to buy food or starve. * Silver coins, in the house: Maybe $2000 worth. I could probably pawn them for $1750 in a desperate emergency. * Online bank: House Repairs sub-account: $1500 and growing weekly with auto-deposit. Gets reduced by $1000 a year to pay for various insurance coverages (earthquake, umbrella, etc). Not counting my other sub-accounts, but, they could also be tapped as a 'loan to myself', but most of them are earmarked for predictable expenses. * Online bank CDs: $3000. This is a month-and-a-half of living expenses. Added to the above tiers, and there's just about three months of living expenses set aside in cash or near-cash.

Now, we get into money that's actually "at risk" in the market.

• Health Savings Account Reimbursements: $5000. I have $5000 in receipts over the last several years for qualified medical expenses that I can remove from my HSA at any time, without penalty, cash-free. Eyeglasses, doctor co-pays, condoms, etc. I paid out-of-pocket, but, I can reimburse myself from my HSA at any time. Until then, that money is invested in the market.
• Online brokerage account: $50,000. My cost basis is probably about $35,000, leaving $15,000 in capital gains I'd be taxed on. Figure 15% and I have $12,750 I could take out of investments to cover an emergency. It's 'at risk' in the market, but, I'm OK letting it be so if I think it'll earn me better than the 1% savings interest I'd be getting otherwise. I've been getting about 8% annually on it, so, I'm happy with how it is.
• Remaining HSA balance: $10,000. This could be tapped if my emergency was medical.
• Roth IRA contributions: $35,000. My past contributions to a Roth IRA could be removed at any time, without penalty. If I had to. Like, if it was a huge emergency, and I didn't have any other way.

If it was a big enough emergency, like, a kidnapped child, that's the money I could access in a hurry. Like, one business day to initiate all the transfers then a few days for them all to arrive. Given a few weeks to plan (medical bill, unexpected home repairs not covered by insurance, etc), I'm sure I could come up with more.