Well, I hope this doesn't sound like a joke to you guys or some sort of cracked-up thread, but yeah, I mean to hear the opinion of others.
Some people, during their youthful years, live a very lavish lifestyle with the money that they are supposed to put to good use, knowing that one day they will grow old. Some people only think that it's when they are growing old, like at the age of 30 and above, that's when they must start to invest or save to invest.
Some people think that they can live a lavish lifestyle as long as they are still 20 years old, and maybe when they get to 25 years old, that's when they can start to invest for their future.
I quite think that there is a particular age at which one is supposed to have been living a comfortable lifestyle financially. That doesn't mean that someone who doesn't meet that age lives a lavish lifestyle. There's a parable that says, "All fingers are not equal." So, we understand that not everyone is able to meet up at the same time.
Although some people can experience financial breakthrough at different ages in life, some do so at 25, 30, 35, 40, and 50, respectively.
But in my opinion, I think that one is not still supposed to be in financial crisis at age 30–35. I mean, at age 30, one should be in a financial state where they can fend for themselves and their family if the person is married. The person is supposed to have had at least one or two financial sources that they can always see as reliable sources of income.
It's always wise and profitable to start saving and investing at a young age, like 18 years old.
I just got done giving a "retirement readiness" presenation to one of the US 50 States Deferred Comp plan. So as a financial advisor, this is the type of quesiton/topic that comes up most often..
What I can say is this, save as much as you can as early as you can, life comes quick and it will pay off tremendously!
Run a monthly budget if you're not doing so already. It's very important to keep a budget of all your monthly expenses. As long as you dig deep in to your monthly expenses, you can easily come up with a very accurate number of how much you should be saving for your retirement (after expenses, both fixed and variable are taken care of).
Always increase your contributions to your retirement plans as often as possible!!