Try to save something while your salary is small; it's impossible to save after you begin to earn more.
The real danger isn't poverty—it's the invisible expansion of appetite that comes with each raise. Jack Benny, a man who spent decades perfecting the art of comic miserliness, understood something psychologists now call lifestyle inflation: our desires don't adjust downward, they only grow to meet our means. A person earning $30,000 who saves $50 a month has already built the mental muscle and habit of restraint; at $60,000, that discipline becomes nearly automatic. But someone who waits for "enough money" to begin saving discovers that the mortgage upgraded, the car fancier, the dining habits more refined—and there's mysteriously nothing left over at the end, regardless of what the paycheck says.