Actually I was wrong on the first point, it was 10 vs 40 years ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ng-for-40.html
Yes, 30~50% of my salary for over 20 years. The reason was I was skint and badly paid when I changed career (from engineer to pilot). When I got my current job, I kept my net income the same as I was used to being skint by dumping it into pensions and property but now it's payback time. I am fortunate enough to now have a pension pot of a combined DB and drawdown worth a shed load. 25 years ago I didn't have a bean to rub together. I wanted to put this out, not in a boastful way but to let people in their 30s know that it can be done but it takes sacrifices. I have only once ever bought a new car (kept that for 13 years) and don't have extravangant tastes but been very fortunate in property investment, doing up my own houses.
Maybe it's a babyboomer thing but when I look at my younger colleagues, they seem to want everything now. They have new cars, the full Sky package, the latest iPhone etc. But discuss pensions and they think that's something they needn't be bothered with until later in life. The problem as I have discovered, is life has a habit of creeping up on you.