there's a reason why most finance advice lists "3-6 months expenses in cash" as priority one. being forced to sell assets during a market downturn hurts you a l

there's a reason why most finance advice lists "3-6 months expenses in cash" as priority one. being forced to sell assets during a market downturn hurts you a lot more than parking a couple extra thousand in an index fund helps you. when you're barely making ends meet, the smart move is minimizing variance. when you can comfortably cover your expenses, you prefer to accept more variance to maximize EV.