Contrary to what movies and television may have you believe the answer is not under your mattress. Instead, it’s often best to keep your emergency fund in an account that’s easily accessible, safe, and that ideally allows your savings to grow. Of course, finding an option with all three of these characteristics in a single option can be difficult. Because of this, you may even wish to break your emergency fund into chunks or tiers in order to maximize the advantages of each account (e.g. one month of expenses in a savings account, two more months in a CD, etc.).