Hey Ref, thanks for the re-direct. I definitely have an emergency fund now :) I've perused around that subreddit article, the situations they cite don't quite fit for me, but the linked info and boggleheads article was helpful for sure, and the biggest takeaway is that I still need to take my time and do some reading. Like, at this point I don't totally understand what an EFT is so I need to do my own research, but that seems to be one of the avenues that keeps being brought up, so your recommendation is helping my push in that direction.
I also am a big fan of the MMM (Mr Money Mustache) blog when it comes to handling personal finance. ETFs (sorry, typo in my original post) - my understanding is their main benefit is that they can be very passively managed, "stick your money in and forget it" sort of funds. I don't pretend to be an expert on this sort of stuff myself. It interests me and I'd like to learn more about it - but having never received a windfall, that hasn't exactly been a realm of personal finance I've researched extensively.
Me neither, I've never had a use and now it's all suddenly very relevant. I've head good things about MMM, forgot to make sure and check him out again, thanks!