It can be used as an emergency fund (takes some time to build up but if you do the math it’s totally worth it to take 10k you would have invested, put it in i b

It can be used as an emergency fund (takes some time to build up but if you do the math it’s totally worth it to take 10k you would have invested, put it in i bonds, then invest 10k from your cash savings after a year, even assuming inflation goes back down to 1-2% and stocks perform really well) or as part of a portfolio with both stocks and bonds.