I didn't live through the famous "Dot Com" bust either, but here's what I've been doing: - I max out my 401k every year. - I max our my IRA accounts as wel

I didn't live through the famous "Dot Com" bust either, but here's what I've been doing: - I max out my 401k every year. - I max our my IRA accounts as well (5,500 additional dollars). - With what is left of my pay, I take 40% of it and save it. After I built my 6 month buffer of savings, I started putting extra money into taxable investment accounts with Wealthfront (I'll likely move this to Vanguard at some point). - I've always kept my cost-of-living expenses as low as possible. For me, this meant (until last week) that my wife and I lived in a very small, very cheap, 1 bedroom apartment on the outskirts of the East Bay (Walnut Creek). - I cook a lot of my meals myself instead of going out. - I try to fill my free time up with cheap / fun activities: programming, lifting weights, biking, playing games with friends. - I just recently purchased my first home. This means I can stop 'wasting' money on rent, and start building equity. I view the home purchase as a strategic investment to save wealth instead of expend it. - I build side projects that help me earn extra $$. Nothing crazy, but not too bad either. My hope is that by being financially conservative, keeping a 6 month safety buffer, and investing strategically for retirement (I do index funds), I'll be decently well off even if something horrible happens.