Liquidity

Liquidity is a spectrum rather than a label. Checking and savings convert instantly at face value. Listed stocks and bonds settle in a day or two, at whatever price the market happens to offer that morning. Real estate, private holdings and retirement accounts before age 59½ each carry a real cost to unlock: months of process, a tax penalty, or a discount deep enough to find a buyer quickly.

That cost tends to arrive at the worst moment, because emergencies are not independent of markets. A layoff during a downturn is precisely the case where needing cash and selling into weakness coincide, which is the scenario an emergency fund is sized against.

The commonly cited benchmark is three to six months of expenses held in liquid form. Promi shows your liquid balance against that benchmark rather than against a target it invents for you.