>We commonly say that hackers should save up 3-6 months of floating money
It's not hackers, it's adults. This is called an "emergency fund". 3 to 6 months cash that's easy to access in the event of a genuine emergency, including loss of work. Personal Finance 101.
Exactly, and if your monetary stream is inconsistent, then 3-6 months should really be considered insufficient. You're shouldn't be regularly be eating into your emergency fund.
Hell, make it at least a year. If you can't plan this far ahead, either your expenses are too high or you're doing something that is not sustainable. At least a year should be a long-term goal if you're doing something which is at all exposed to random acts of God.
