IMO most "personal finance advisors" miss the career progression thing. - on one hand, it's ridiculous to seriously recommend young professionals (in their 20s

IMO most "personal finance advisors" miss the career progression thing. - on one hand, it's ridiculous to seriously recommend young professionals (in their 20s) to long-term save 20+% pretax income if they don't have substantial assets (e.g. their parents' house) or if they are not in the top 5% of their age group (think finance in London). I bet most millennials don't have the kind of income that allows that _and_ having a life quality comparable to their peers. In London and I suspect in SF it's very common to have 30% of your pre-tax income to go to rent; taxes will eat another 30%, groceries and eating out is another 10-20%. What's left is measly 20-30% of income that must be divided between shopping (clothing, hobbies, car, gadgets, whatever) and long-term saving. If we throw in absolute income numbers and property prices, it all comes to "question any expense, live in misery and MAYBE you'll be able to afford a downpayment in a decade". - on the other hand, a lot of people can expect to double, triple or quadruple their income in a decade of their career. If not, on the scale of a decade it's possible to change the career. So maybe there is a point where one should focus on earning more instead of saving. Maybe it's more important to have that expensive hobby that reduces your stress levels and allows to work harder. Maybe the only right kind of advice is "raise your income and don't get into debt".