Maybe the best thing I can do here is concede that "can you find $400 for an emergency" is an imprecise question that this article doesn't (and can't) answer.

Maybe the best thing I can do here is concede that "can you find $400 for an emergency" is an imprecise question that this article doesn't (and can't) answer. I think I know what it's saying (probably because I have a lot of experience with the type of people I'm imagining) and you guys think you know it's saying something else (because of your own experiences having money that's inaccessible), but, ultimately, the question is too imprecise for either of our claims. So, yes, I strongly suspect I'm right -- "selling something" is pretty plainly not referring to financial instruments -- but it's true that it's more intuition than fact.