Let me start with saying that "savings is more hard than making money itself".
Then on your topic it can be categorised in two phases based on the type of job.
If you are doing a low income job, let's say you are working in a state civil service or local government in Nigeria, do it for 40 years, you will still be feeding from hand to mouth.
Then if you work in better firms with good payment schemes and after 20 years nothing to show means the person doesn't know how to manage funds.