Sure..yields are low right now-but put some money aside.  Your IRA or 401k plan should not be your emergency fund. 

Build a rainy-day fund.

Advice on how to save for retirement or your kids' college is plentiful. Less plentiful is guidance on what kind of rainy-day fund you should have.

A rainy-day fund, which your savings plan can feed, should cover about six months of income. It's a form of personal insurance, valuable in these rapidly changing times.

This fund should be kept in safe and easy-to-tap assets. Laddering certificates of deposit out six months is one way.

That means buying CDs of one month, two months, etc. to six months. As each CD matures you buy another six-month CD to keep the ladder in place.

Courtesy of WSJ.com