Things have changed considerably since you were 19.
I’m younger than you but not by a lot. When I was 19 I moved in to a 1 bedroom apartment for (inflation adjusted) $700/month. That exact same apartment now rents for $1445/month.
A couple of years later I bought 1 acre of land and put an 1800 sq foot home on it for (inflation adjusted) $275k. That exact same house was sold in 2021 for $433k.
I’m choosing housing here because it’s easy, but I could just as easily pick college, general cost of living, etc…
My point being that you (and I) were set up a lot better to save for the future than the 19 year olds of today.
[Edit] guess I went on a bit of a sidetrack. I’m not sure you were even talking about today’s 19 year olds…