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Comment by TAForObvReasons | Hacker News Reader

Forget 3 months, the rule of thumb is 6 months for an emergency fund

And twice your salary in a retirement fund by the age of 30, and three times your salary in retirement by 35.

Basically quit your day job only if your side hustle is already making more money per month (not per hour) because odds are even making more per month is still going to result in not being able to survive much past 57.

Side note, how many 57 year old indie game devs are there?

How does the average American put tens of thousands of dollars into a retirement account within 5 years at a point in life where there is a morgage and/or children? That does not seem like conventional wisdom.

Don't do the mortgage and children.

It's conventional wisdom in the same way that you're supposed to drink 8 glasses of water and eat 5 servings of vegetables ever day.

The average American doesn't do what is "conventional wisdom".

It's doable if you get 5% annual growth on the balance, and put in 10% of salary. I ignored compounding, and assumed your income was flat.

This is the conventional "textbook" wisdom. It is obviously desirable, but in real life completely impossible. And the gap between reality and this kind of "on-high" prescription is why so many people/families have no savings and have no real way to get out of their current situation.

They don't.

I would guess a few but they are retired from full time work.

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