It's a tricky thing to think about. I'm very near to 30, after 10 years or so kind of in a software career, but will be entering my 30s with no money saved or invested. Not because I'm a poor spender, quite the contrary, but because I've lost jobs and burnt out, leaving me in the absolutely comical interviewing gauntlet for over a year, multiple times. During this time, I've just drained my savings completely supporting myself. The way things look, unless I find a way to keep a job of any kind, I'll just continue this rollercoaster of making about $30k, going to zero, and restarting. Someone who's been in a low to middle income non-tech job for the last decade—with the same spending habits—will have made more money in total by this point, and have more to show for it. The other likelihood is I'll just find a way to embrace this flux and ride it as well as I can.