I feel you, man. I worked for 8 years with a state agency, was nearly vested in the state retirement, all was going good. Then lost my job unexpectedly in 2011, a month before my second child was born. Had to cash out my retirement to make ends meet while seeking good, long-term employment again. Haven't had the extra income to really invest again since then, but hopefully will be able to start over within the next year.

I generally have around $2,500 to 4,500 in the bank at any given time, but no real "savings". Fortunately, I inherited a home my mother bought before passing away suddenly a few years ago. She bought it as a short sale and got it for less than half of it's market value and put a bunch down. Have a $248 a month mortgage on that property and it rents for a good $900-1,000. My wife is also an only child, so at some point, she will inherit her parents' home which is a good $1,200-1,500 a month rental property (or enough on a sale to pay off our house by then and have money left over. Hopefully based on all of that, it will work out. I'm now (as of recently) very happily employed in the corporate office of a multi-billion dollar company and I'm hopeful that it will lead to some good career growth in the next few years.

I still may never retire. That said, I'm not sure I'll ever really want to be completely unemployed. A rolling stone and such...