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A comment on In Their 20s, Struggling to Save and Tired of Being Lectured About It. Parent comment

Re:In Their 20s, Struggling to Save and Tired of Being Lectu... by saiya-jin on Wednesday January 25, 2023 @03:23PM (#34523650)
The whole premise of the article is beyond ridiculous - you are not supposed to be saving in your 20s (which first half is spent on studies for many) but enjoying the life, whatever that means for you! Once responsibilities like parenting and career ladders come into play its too late, there is no going back to that sweet careless freedom.

If I had a dollar for every person telling me 'I should have traveled the world more when I was young', that would be quite a sum. Backpacking can be done extremely cheaply in places like India or Nepal, in 2010 I spent roughly 500$/month all costs included there. Was it fancy snobbish type of trip? Heck no, riding on top of buses or cramped inside in fetal position for 12 hours straight next to chickens, eating in local dhabas, and still those were the best moments of my life, 3 months felt like 2-3 decades there. As a bonus such an experience will make you a better person overall, certainly it worked for me.

You simply can't get this kind of exposure to the real world in any other way, expensive organized trips certainly don't do same magic.

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Re:In Their 20s, Struggling to Save and Tired of Being Lectu... by ryandrake on Wednesday January 25, 2023 @04:14PM (#34524274)
Alternate view: Early life is the best time to save because of compounding interest. A dollar saved in your 20s has far more lifetime value than a dollar saved in your 30s, 40s or 50s. A year spent horsing around in Nepal "finding yourself" could easily mean having to delay retirement 5 years. I'd rather goof off and enjoy 20 carefree years when I'm old than 4 years when I'm young and have to work until I die.
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