Older people aren’t always right. But they’ve lived through a lot of what you’re guessing about.

Being older does not make somebody right, and plenty of advice is just their situation transplanted onto yours. What they do have is having already been through a version of what you are currently guessing at, including how it turned out. That does not make them an authority over you. It makes them a source worth hearing before you decide.

Ask somebody older what they got wrong rather than what you should do. The answers tend to be more honest and more useful that way. Take what fits your life and leave the rest without arguing about it.