Should I keep some cash at home for emergencies?

Keeping a modest amount of physical cash at home — often a few hundred dollars — can be useful for situations where electronic systems are down: a power outage, a natural disaster, or a card network failure when you still need to buy gas, food, or water. The key word is modest. Cash at home earns nothing, loses value to inflation, isn't FDIC-insured, and can be lost, stolen, or destroyed in a fire, so it should never replace your real emergency fund in a bank. Store it somewhere fireproof and discreet, and keep it small enough that losing it wouldn't be a crisis. Think of it as a tiny convenience buffer for true "the lights are out" moments, while the bulk of your safety net stays in an insured high-yield account where it's protected and at least earns some yield.