I agree......you can't take it with you!!
I hear this all the time.
This is the most asinine statement imaginable when it comes to finances.
If people would be smart with their money for a short time frame early in their career, they could enjoy an almost exponential increase in money the rest of their life.
If people would put a few grand a month into investments in their 20's, they could then live like they wanted to live now in a year or two.
At that point, they could still put money away, and in another year or two could live much better than they would if they had never put money away.
By the time they reached their 40's, they could be living much better than they would had they not taken that initial year to be smart. And, despite spending much more money they could still invest and allow all their previous investments to grow.