Financial independence at 20?
It’s been done, but not much lately. My father worked as a “hired man” for another farm family many miles away from home when he was 14. For fifty cents a day and room & board and that helped keep his family from starving to death. These kids have no idea what rough is.
At 20, boys today could be more responsible. But assuredly, by the time you are 24 or 25, you need to have that full time job and stop sponging off of the parents or the government.
Somewhat poor phrasing on the author's part. I think what he meant was, financial self-reliance, which is what most American men in their twenties achieved with relative ease 40 years ago.
I got my first 'real' job at 22, and never looked back. Within eighteen months, I'd bought two brand new cars and had furnished a very respectable rental house for my young wife and our baby.
That was in 1975.
Today, my 32 year old son is struggling to save enough to move his young wife and kid out of her mother's apartment. They've been there for two years.
I have two older brothers, who by the age of 21 were married and the sole breadwinners.
By 24 they owned homes and had children. They were still the sole providers for their families.
This was around 1960, and it was considered normal.
Financially independent of their parents; being able to sustain themselves without subsidy.