I think it generally makes sense to try to smooth personal consumption, but that for most people I know this still implies a high savings rate at their first high-paying job.
As you note, many of them would like to eventually shift to a lower-paying job, reduce work hours, or retire early.
Even if this isn’t their current plan, burnout is a major risk in many high-paying career paths and might oblige them to do so, and so there’s a significant probability of worlds where the value of having saved up money during their first high-paying job is large.
If they want but don’t currently have children, then even if their income is higher later in their career, it’s likely that their income-per-household-member won’t be. Childcare and college costs mean they should probably be prepared to spend more per child in at least some years than they currently do on their own consumption.
I think it generally makes sense to try to smooth personal consumption, but that for most people I know this still implies a high savings rate at their first high-paying job.
As you note, many of them would like to eventually shift to a lower-paying job, reduce work hours, or retire early.
Even if this isn’t their current plan, burnout is a major risk in many high-paying career paths and might oblige them to do so, and so there’s a significant probability of worlds where the value of having saved up money during their first high-paying job is large.
If they’re software engineers in the US they face the risk that US software engineer salaries will revert to the mean of other countries and other professional occupations. https://www.jefftk.com/p/programmers-should-plan-for-lower-pay
If they want but don’t currently have children, then even if their income is higher later in their career, it’s likely that their income-per-household-member won’t be. Childcare and college costs mean they should probably be prepared to spend more per child in at least some years than they currently do on their own consumption.