> My question is -- of all the people making a lot in their 20s and early 30s, how many are going to be making the same amount in their 40s and 50s? My answer

> My question is -- of all the people making a lot in their 20s and early 30s, how many are going to be making the same amount in their 40s and 50s? My answer to that is a question. Why would these people need to make the same amount in their 40s and 50s? If the person you know is making $800K (guessing gross), and after tax and expenses, conservatively banking $300 - $400K a year, then when they enter the 30s in 10 - 12 years, they should have about 3 to 4 million CASH, which, if invested wisely during the accumulation period should have grown to another million or so. This amount is enough to retire with a healthy lifestyle almost anywhere in the world (except maybe Tokyo, San Francisco, New York and a handful of other nutty-expensive cities.). So they don't even need to make anything in their 40s and 50s except work to stay busy "doing what they love".