No one avoids the big emergencies, except through pure dumb luck.
I think there are ways to avoid risk, although they might not be optimal over the long haul.
Taking a job with a stable legacy corporation or the government would seem to reduce risk of unemployment.
Living in a condo minimizes or eliminates the risk of sudden house repairs.
Minimizing or eliminating a driving commute reduces the chance of a sudden, major car repair bill.
I'm mostly thinking about how, if a person really valued reducing volatility in their lives, they'd go about organizing their affairs.
Luck matters, but it's possible to head off some amount of bad luck.
You can minimize risk, sure. But you are better off planning your life to be flexible when shit happens than to focus on following a "safe" path and being shocked when you find out it's not as "safe" as you thought.
Stable legacy corporation? Seen GE lately?
Government job? All the folks I know have dealt with furloughs, pay-and-hiring freezes, and, oh yeah, underfunded pension plans.
Condo? The one I used to own had persistent water problems that were the condo's fault but that I had to pay to fix while the insurance companies argued, then there were years of special assessments to pay to fix the problem and sue the builder. The one I own now has been in litigation against an owner for years for nonpayment of dues, so there's another 3+ years of special assessments as he continues to refuse to pay and files yet another appeal.
No car commute? Excellent! But biking or walking exposes your body more to the idiocy of others -- still the lower-risk choice overall, but you are trading the high risk of a car repair for the slightly-higher risk of bodily injury because some idiot opened their door into you.
Yes, it is possible to lower your risks, or to trade one particularly bad risk for another more acceptable one. That's what airbags are for, that's what insurance is for, that's why people take less money for an apparently stable job when they could chase potentially huge gains at a startup that may not be around tomorrow. But that should never, ever be your primary focus. You need to realize that there is no such thing as "safe" -- because, again, shit
always happens, no matter how conservative your choices, no matter how much you have tried to insulate yourself, no matter how hard you try to always do the "right" thing. And it usually comes from somewhere you never expected.* No person in human history has ever been able to see around all the corners, no matter how hard they try.
The older you get, the more experience you have, the more it becomes plain as day that "safe" is an illusion, and if you let that fear drive your choices, you miss out on life. In the long run, you will be infinitely better off if you just live the life you want -- if you want a condo because it's cheaper and easier to maintain, buy a condo; if you want a house so you have a yard for your dog, buy a house. And while you're living your life, assume that bad shit is going to happen at some point, from some direction you will never see coming, and do your best to prepare for it. Get the level of insurance and emergency fund and car/bike safety features you want; eat right and exercise and take care of yourself. And then work on building up your resilience, so that when inevitable happens, you don't go deer-in-headlights but are instead emotionally prepared to just deal and get on with it.
*Ask me how I know.