And this is why I desperately save money. Even though I've only been out of college for less than a year and I know my parents would graciously take me back in for as long as necessary should something catastrophic happen to my career, I'm paranoid about depending so much on a job for my livelihood.
My admittedly very lofty goal is to reach a point in my mid-30s where I don't need a job. By no means do I plan on actually retiring at that point, but I want the peace of mind knowing that my career could end and I could lead a humble, comfortable-enough life without working, probably in the midwest.
I feel the exact same way. Yesterday there were a bunch of questions about what happens to middle age programmers and those were depressing too. The answer for me (and sounds like you too) absolutely has been to save as much as possible and be able to "never need to work again" as fast as possible. I'll probably be mid-30s at that point too and I'll feel much much better about my life knowing that I don't need a job to survive.
My admittedly very lofty goal is to reach a point in my mid-30s where I don't need a job. By no means do I plan on actually retiring at that point, but I want the peace of mind knowing that my career could end and I could lead a humble, comfortable-enough life without working, probably in the midwest.