Frankly, that whole having 3/6 months worth of money in a checking account is a very American thing but I don't think I've ever done it while living in Europe (specifically Germany).

In most EU countries life tends to be a lot more predictable, e.g. you can't be out of a job the next day since we don't have at-will employment and you can't suddenly be in huge medical debt either. Your car could break down but even then you get a receipt that you can pay within 2 weeks or so. So all I got is 1K Euros sitting in my bank account and everything else is in savings that are liquid enough (stocks, ETFs) for any unexpected emergency that might pop up. And sometimes I wonder if even that's necessary. My washing machine, dish washer, and oven would have to all break at the same time for me to even tap into that 1K. And even then I could use my credit card, which is interest free for 3 months.