[bereft_orange]

Is this actually true (or is it more the experience of a few people generalized to everyone)? How do you avoid this?

[zafka]

Well there is one quite obvious way to avoid this, but it has a serious downside.

I did not take that route, thus I am now over 50 :) My advice is to live on way less than your means while you are younger, and then you can have an air of nonchalance as you age, giving the impression of great wisdom ( hopefully somewhat backed up by reality)

[ekm2]

Maybe move into academia, finance or found your own startup.