If I had done an apprenticeship when I graduated HS, and I was offered that in a carpentry shop, I would be economically far better off now. Instead I went to college and wasted my dad's money and my money for two years before I said hey, I'm not going anywhere! so I joined the Air Force to see the world in Vietnam.
I've been a knockabout and done a lot of very interesting things and but I would have savings, a good retirement, all that stuff, had I taken that opportunity to learn a trade.