What I don’t get is not having investments/cash to hold you over for a year or even 2. Whitecollar jobs pay well and I’d expect most people to have earned quite a bit in the dot com frenzy.
You might make a lot of money, but if you're a young adult, you might still need to buy a car, a house, get kids, etc. All of which cost a lot of money, to a point where you might not be able to save much.
Might be the case for some. We lived in a flyover state, so pay was far from West coast. Dad's career started out with him living in a rough trailer park and hitching rides to work. Before the bust he was doing well, but he had a tough climb getting there and hadn't had much time to save up (along with starting a family and such).
Again, we were very fortunate to come though it as well as we did. Many close friends had it much worse.
There's bound to be a variety of financial and career situations out there. To me, it's difficult to imagine anyone getting canned and thinking 'meh, no biggie'.
> To me, it's difficult to imagine anyone getting canned and thinking 'meh, no biggie'.
I think there’s a subjective component where it does feel like a big deal no matter what savings you have. But objectively if you can cover expenses for a year then it really is ‘meh, no biggie’ .
You might make a lot of money, but if you're a young adult, you might still need to buy a car, a house, get kids, etc. All of which cost a lot of money, to a point where you might not be able to save much.