It sounds obvious, but people are very different, and they change over time.

When I was young a career and a house were, like your friend, not of great interest to me but as I got older they became so - I enjoyed my job and wanted to do well, and a house was necessary to live in and owning seemed most practical. But some people never change in that way, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I've never been interested in children, for instance, but some people build a large part of their lives around them.

I never worried much about retirement when I was young, and I don't really regret it. But now I am in my 40s, it is definitely something I think about, and when I will be able to retire is something I am concerned with. Most people do not want to live in their 60s like they do in their 20s, and uncertainty is much less attractive.