Some people, in their youth, see old age as as far off. It's not a reality for them. They lack the imagination to understand what it is to be poor and dependent. For other people, old age haunts them, all their lives. They cannot live in the present because they fear poverty in old age. And then there is a class of people who understand the reality of old age, but have so few resources they cannot save enough to provide for those years.
We can't paint with a broad brush, but should, as you say learn from observing our elders. Enjoy the present, but prepare for the future. And if you do not have enough resources to save for those years, pray that fortune smiles on you.
Very well said, it's a broad spectrum and not everyone falls in one basket, but when we know a certain person well then we understand their life patterns and that's where we can learn from. Like I mentioned, my aunt and her husband both were well off in their younger days and earned good together, but they never had a strong concept and discipline of saving. Also their patterns of spendings were all wrong, they would spend on luxury things and not save for their future, thinking that they have 2 daughters and they will take care of them. Such ideologies in today's time are very unrealistic.