When I was a kid my dad always said "cash talks / BS walks" and he taught me having cash on hand is the only way to make great deals on anything (or to jump on a great deal when you find one). So for the past 50 years I have always tried to keep at least a couple grand in cash within reach all the time. These days if I don't have at least $5k in an envelope somewhere in the house I feel broke.

As far as "worrying" about having cash sitting around. It really isn't any big deal. Find (or create) a good hiding spot, never tell anyone else where that is, and then just grab the cash when you need it and replace it as quickly as possible when you use it.

To me that is the only way to "be ready" if a deal comes along.

It is my understand that most banks keep less than around $25,000 cash on hand from day to day. It isn't like it was 20 years ago! So much money changes hands electronically these days banks really don't need a ton of cash on hand. So their attitude is "just keep what we need for a typical day plus a little more". I can't say that I blame them but it has changed things when you need a big chunk of cash all at once.

Limit on how much you can withdraw on one day is just 1 of about 5 reasons I always keep cash on hand. Some things shouldn't be posted online but bottom line is when dealing in cash you don't have to worry about much of anything as far as limits, taxes, etc. My attitude is "hobby money" is "hobby money" and it isn't income, profit, etc. So making all transactions cash transactions just keeps it all simple. And avoiding putting that cash into the bank just to have to pull it out again in a week or two keeps things even more simple.