Our friends thought we were crazy when we put $250 a month away for retirement when we were in our early twenties. As a consequence, we didn't always have spare cash to do the fun stuff like concerts or trips with them.
And we were the first to have bought a house out of our friend group. I was 21 and my husband was 24. I found a first time buyers' program with hardly any money down required. My first mortgage payment was actually a few bucks less than my rent had been! We told our friends and some of them took our advice and bought homes as well. Never really learned whether anybody took our saving for retirement advice, and whoever said it's hard to imagine the power of compound interest if the rewards are 20 years away absolutely hit the nail on the head!
So, hang out with people who are doing well financially and you will pick up some good information! Hang around people who are living the life you want.
Also, personal finance has never been part of the high school curriculum, even though it should be! You have to be rabidly curious. I was 20 years old hanging out at the public library reading Forbes magazine. It did NOT make me cool. Not like all those kids going to concerts on the weekend. But, damn it, we're crossing the 50 hurdle and are looking good for retirement. We're on our 2nd house. We have a college aged son and should have college expenses (mine included! Thanks JWs for my late college experience!) and our house paid off well in time for retirement at 62 or 65. We should be able to reduce expenses and so our net retirement income should be about the same as our current income.
Get a finance guy if you don't splurge on anything else. The younger you do it the better.