How long could you go without getting paid?

[MrsPete]

We're close enough to retirement age that we could just retire early if we really had to, but our lifestyles would have to be drastically reduced.

Yes, my real answer is "the rest of my life -- no drastic reduction necessary", but I am near retirement.
In fact, we experienced a financial set-back two years ago ... our household income was unexpectedly cut by 2/3. We are still saving (though not as much) and have dipped into savings only to pay college tuition.

It is sad that Healthcare is the one thin g that keeps me up at night.

I think that's a big fear for all of us.

I honestly think being able to weather a paycheck loss is heavily influenced by a person’s age. The older you are, the more time you’ve had to build equity and investments, and prepare for life in retirement.

Agree, however, I'd say older people have had time to save ... but not all have done so.

This type of thing can happen to anyone anytime -- and computerization is stealing away more and more jobs. The best advice: While you're still young, choose a house, cars, and lifestyle that you can afford on one salary ... and save. As your salary increases, resist the urge to "trade up" your house, car, and more. Cook at home. Live modestly. Security is better than all those consumer goods.

 

[Darcy03231]

Well, DH is retired and I could have retired 5 years ago when he did, but I wasn't ready, so we could go indefinitely. However, our lifestyle would drastically change. We've been doing a lot of traveling since he retired (5-6 weeks a year) and I've still been working. We also tend to eat out quite a bit and buy what we want (within reason). We'd have to go back to budgeting like we did when we were saving for retirement.

 

[motherof5]

sadly alot of people are facing this now with the government shut down.