Is it really though? I imagine way more people would love to spend all their free time on their hobbies, and would sacrifice some of the luxuries of the modern world, but work crap jobs. And most of these people don't have kids.
See: the amount of miserable people on Reddit and elsewhere.
I don't think it is a money thing, but flexibility. Working 4 days for 80% pay is seen as a privilege. It shouldn't be. And the part time friendly jobs (supermarket checkout, Uber, etc.) don't pay well per hour. One workaround is to contract, 6 months contract then 6 months off.
If you want to work your entire life on your hobby without worrying about how to source money at all ... well that requires being born rich most likely.
I think for most people the blocker is themselves and societal expectations. "People will think you are a bum" is more of a blocker than "How much money left in account". Especially for people reading this comment.
If you have good relations with your parents, you can grind away in their basement. For obvious reasons, many people cannot or do not want to take that approach
Not all countries have a social stigma attached to living with parents and a degree of parental interference/influence in your adult life is accepted. Perhaps this is because of high interest rates - can't just get out of dodge and take a loan on a house.
Unless you want to retire in a western country, you still have to build up a decent pension. And to reduce costs later, it probably also a good idea to buy a house.
For the most part and in most countries, including wealthy ones, people born after 1980 don't really expect to have the luxury of being able to retire at all.
If you earn a reasonable amount in any country you can save for retirement. If you start young you can save way more than you need. It will mean buying a house that much cheaper than the best you can afford. You'll probably have to budget so you can keep track of your money.
If you don't trust the pension system, you can invest your money differently. Buying and paying off a house before reaching retirement age already helps a lot, since it takes away a large future cost factor.
