All this handwringing over "the youngs they don't save" - welp, neither did I and I turned out ER'd at 46.
When I was 35 I'd have been in that 50-100k bracket too. But I had a house, a good job, little debt, and a good savings account - and I didn't even have to save for kid's college and raising children, or buying a house in THIS market.
The retirement savings trajectory came later. They have time.
Same here. I was curious to look it up. When I turned 35, I had about $57K, across three retirement accounts. Only $24K of that was with my current employer at that time. $9K was with my old Boeing account, which was still in a 401k, and about $23-24K was in the account with my second employer. Can't remember if it was still a 401k or had been rolled over at that point.
That was back in 2005, so $57K went a bit further in those days, but adjusting for inflation, is still most likely within the "$50-100K" bracket. I was pretty well-stocked in the after-tax department though, and also had a Roth, so total invested assets were more like $191K.
But, it snowballed quickly from there. By the time I turned 45, I was up to around $1.032M, and about $398K of that was job-related retirement accounts (4 of them now, as I switched employers again)
And now, about 3.5 months shy of 55, the job-related retirement accounts are up to around $1.474M. Total invested assets are around $3.614M, but that's been boosted by two inheritances and the sale of a house, so it's been more than just me squirreling money away and compounding/market returns.
Still, it shows just how fast things can really snowball in the later years. If you're lucky/fortunate, I guess. I imagine that it can also go in the other direction pretty quickly, too!
I really don't envy these younger generations, though. For instance, I have a younger acquaintance, about to turn 30, who makes about $60K per year. He gets paid once a month, and his take-home is about $3200. He's still living with his parents, but getting anxious to get out. He was looking at apartments, and just about anywhere he thought he wanted to live, started at around $2100/mo for a 1br/1ba. There were cheaper places around, but in less desireable neighborhoods, for around $1800.
I told him that if I was him, I'd try to stay at home for as long as I could, and keep building up some savings, so he could get into a small condo or townhouse. And, in his defense, he is saving for retirement. He told me he's putting in 5%, and his employer does a 5% match. But, when I asked him how it's invested, that's when I got the blank stare and "I don't know"
Now, this guy is just one data point, among millions. And I know there are a lot of people his age doing better. But there are also a lot of people, doing worse!