Well in 2009, during the real estate crash and subsequent Great Recession, people were out of work for a lot longer than 6 months. Of course financial planners don&#x27;t really talk about those sorts of seismic events. That historically hasn&#x27;t been an issue for engineers, but there are groups that are disproportionately affected (like older engineers).<p>Because I&#x27;m built the way I am I&#x27;ve always saved in the context of how long I could live on my savings with the goal of increasing that number until it reached infinity. That first level I call &#x27;Raman level retirement&#x27; where you could live forever[1] off your savings if you ate only Ramen, up to the the point where you can live off your savings and keep your current lifestyle (which actually takes less income than most people thing), to actually living a more lavish lifestyle without day to day employment.<p>[1] Of course you intercept the life expectancy line at some point, and you have to build into your model ever increasing health care costs or a one time lump sum to emigrate somewhere that has a national health plan.