WHEN EMERGENCY STRIKES

If you're facing unanticipated expenses, here's a look at where to turn next.

1 Your own emergency fund/ short-term securities

Emergency funds should be held outside of tax-sheltered wrappers and include highly liquid investments like bank savings accounts, money market accounts, and so on.

2 Low-risk assets in taxable account

Next, look at other taxable holdings: investments in brokerage accounts, outside the confines of tax-sheltered vehicles.

When identifying possible securities that you could sell to raise funds, focus on liquidity, tax consequences and any commissions you'll owe.

3 Roth IRA contributions

It's never great to tap your retirement assets unless you absolutely need to, but the Roth IRA off ers more flexibility and has fewer strings attached than other tax-sheltered