I think the concepts of "emergency funds" being discussed are different here. There are the $1000 "I need cash now" emergency funds. Then there are the 6-12 m

I think the concepts of "emergency funds" being discussed are different here. There are the $1000 "I need cash now" emergency funds. Then there are the 6-12 month "I lost my job" emergency funds. I think you're discussing the former, while others are discussing the latter. I agree with you that you should not put the former in anything less liquid than a savings account. The latter, however, lends itself very nicely to laddering months of savings over months of layered investments. So that every month, the next month of your savings becomes free.