I have some friends that struggle to save money no matter how much they make. I totally agree that they would never save enough to start their business later. At the same time, I also think they would be fine scaling their spending down appropriately if they pursued a passion project. For them, this advice is great.

I have other friends that saved up for a few years and then took a year off between jobs. For them the math was simple: if they only touch 75% of their income (including for retirement and savings); they can take every 4th year off with zero impact on finances. For them the "myth" works fine.