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Im old now. 38, and when you look around at folks a decade younger and see them saving more, stacking more, and doing more cool things it can be easy to fall into the trap of "I wish I had done xyz 10 years ago". 

But, that of course is nonsense. There are folks I know well older than I am who haven't saved a dime, and who aren't learning new skills, or doing cool things... I just never compare myself to them, so the reality that having done anything puts me ahead of 9/10 folks I see is sometimes obscured by the 1/10 person doing better.

The human brain is wierd in that way. We are preprogrammed to ignore folks we think are behind us and hyper focus on folks we think are ahead, or doing something we want to do. It's part of why the Always Good highlight reel of social media is so bloody harmful. When we see someone that is great at something like art or programming, it takes a conscious effort to remember that they probably sucked at that thing for a long time too. Folks sitting on a lot of savings or piles of crypto... Probably started at the bottom too, stacking and saving what they could when they could. 

There are exceptions of course, but those are *exceptions*, and not the rule.

I, arguably, have achieved more success before 40 than I had thought I'd ever achieve when I was younger. We grew up on welfare - I knew what savings were but only in the sense of a Savings Account. Nobody taught me about compound interest, stocks, ETFs, taxes... I had to learn that all on my own, and ive largely done so in the last ten years.

I also wrote a book, and self-taught my way to a six figure salary. I have an RRSP that, if I keep going as I have been, should let me actually retire in my sixties, and I've got a small pile of crypto for if the moon rockets start blasting off. I've got two kids and one on the way, I own my own home, and I'm mostly healthy (now, lol).

All in all, I think a lot of folks would define that as successful.

Still, I see folks ahead and I keep having to remind myself that the best I can do is just keep making the small improvements I can. I can't start ten years earlier, but i can learn new stuff now and in ten years I'll be really happy I did so. 

Second best time to plant a tree, and all that.