It's pretty universal as a kid, as someone in their 20s? Much less so. Sure, if you're getting a degree in CS and will land a 150k a year job soon, saving anything significant from your $14 an hour parttime job as a student makes little sense. But I was making $50k in my late twenties and was not going to jump in income significantly, I saved quite a bit and was able to buy a house and later stocks which have appreciated a few hundred thousand since then. Now starting my 30s with around $80k salary. Saving is a lot easier now, but the housing market got a lot harder, too. Inflation-adjusted I don't even make that much more. But with the few hundred thousand equity, at a 7% annual return my retirement at age 65 could be reasonably locked in at >$3 million, even without saving an extra penny. Saving in my 20s made a big difference. Outside of a few fields like tech, most people don't see crazy income growth to not have to bother with saving/investing in their 20s.

That's great - but did this saving involve sacrificing on experiences you've had ? Setting yourself up for retirement at age 20 sounds like a miserly life.

It's generalizing of course, but I've noticed this in friends I grew up with. They had avoid debt mentality, saved a bunch of money compared to their income, etc. The money they saved up didn't really enable anything significant, and they had to miss out on a bunch of stuff to make the budget.

Now we're in our mid 30s they have a bit of money stashed up, still single, still trying to figure out what they want in life. I've paid off the debt I've racked up in 20s, make considerably more than them (in no small part thanks to the more risk taking behavior) and the experiences I've had helped me move forward in life.

You only get to go through youth once, even if you have millions in 40s-50s it won't make you young again. You'll be making money your entire life.

Depending upon a rapid rise of income is a very good way to wind up buried in debt at the slightest complication makes it not come when expected. There are a few times when it can work like say medical school's debt stack.

Saving in my twenties gave me good returns despite issues starting my career but that involved some exceptional circumstances from getting in on Tesla relatively early.