The timing of when to have children is an interesting discussion, and I don't think there is one answer. We had our children in mid to late 30's.
But I spent lots of time in my 20's doing lot's of "bucket list" items that others may get around to doing later. I lived in 3 other countries. Learn some languages. Traveled all over the place. Learned a lot about different cultures and uh, persons of the opposing gender. And managed to get my phd too.
Most of those things didn't cost that much money, but I certainly wouldn't have been able to do them while I was working and making more money.
And, you may not know 'when' you will be able to retire until you are older anyway! If I had to keep working until I was 70, wouldn't have many regrets since I had many life experiences when I was younger (and could take advantage of it with health).
Just one way to skin a cat.
Now, I have just recently gotten all our investments well documented, and the TLSA gains have put us near 4m. I am still trying to digest what it means. I don't think we are anywhere near 'retirement', but it feels pretty good to see there is going to be at least a lot of flexibility in how we choose to live coming up. We are 40, and with young kids, there's a lot of expenses. In a few years those will decline a good amount, and hopefully I can manage our investments to get at least decent returns. At that point, I think we will be in great shape.
Getting back out in our mid 50's with full freedom is gonna be pretty cool considering I did take advantage of freedom in my 20's.