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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

I assume we are limiting things to just software developers which tend to make above average salary's in most areas.

Anyway, some combination of cash on hand, liquid assets, credit, or just friends and family should be able to cover next months rent or something is very wrong with your finances. If you just mean need income at some point then sure most people are in that place, but any specific interview should not be all that important long term.

Further, for the vast majority of people retirement is based on personal savings. If you don't have several months savings by 30 that's a really bad sign that something is very wrong.

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Most Americans don't have several months of savings regardless of age. I agree that it's a bad sign, but it has a lot more to do with the current economic climate than individual behavior.

For people who earn between $80-$100,000 a year the median 401k account at retirement is ~$255,000 http://www.financialsamurai.com/median401k-retirement-balanc...

(Note median is lower than average but means 50% of people have more) So, having a few months savings is common close to retirement age for people who make above average wages. Scale that back to mid 30's and a few months savings is still common.

A 401k is not a savings account. It's a retirement account. You're not supposed to pull from it between jobs, and there are serious financial penalties for withdrawing before you're past retirement age.

A 401k is also supposed to be able to provide you with an income resembling your at-retirement income for at least 10 years, which is obviously impossible if you only have 2.5x your at-retirement salary in it.

I say again: if all of that is true of the people you know, even in software, even making above-average salary for your area, you're very lucky.

Also, and I say this as someone currently going through the process: given the way hiring for senior to C-level roles goes in 2017, do not expect "several months" of savings alone will be enough to cover you. Most of the large companies you might like to work for (Google, Microsoft) have hiring processes which can't move much faster than six weeks, and they can stretch out to six months or more.

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