I got married at 18. My husband 19. We had our first child at 21. We spent many years working hard and him going to college at night. Little by little he moved up. I then went to nursing school. Best thing ever. He decided to go into the military. We paid off student loans for 10 years, but we paid them. He advanced in the military and I wanted one last try at another child after a few miscarriages. At 36 I had my last child. To be honest we didn’t save much money in those years. After my baby I took 3 years off from nursing and worked from home doing odd jobs. Sewing , decorating homes, baking. We started saving all we could. Now we have a great cushion for retirement. Didn’t buy our first home until 47. You can do it if you plan and follow through. If we don’t have children our future dies, our country dies. Fight for it.