The much more valuable and harder advice is what to do in a particular situation or when things go awry. For example, most career paths where you really end up at higher earnings require that you eventually manage large groups or many teams. The thing is, a lot of people hate managing people, and setting them up for a career path where they have to move into management is a recipe for misery. Much more valuable for these folks is to know what a good IC path looks like, and which careers can be particularly lucrative even if you don't need to manage people.
Most of these people cannot do most of these things, but it's not they can't or don't want to. The key IMHO is psychological/cognitive load to get past the day. A good example that OECD country readers can relate to is homeless people - an extreme but relatable example because you can see it. When you become homeless the first thing to go are dignity, self-confidence and in short order mind's ability to think beyond the short term(next 3 hours and today). And Living hand to mouth(just beyond the edge) is the same proverbial frog(the mind) in boiling water(circumstances), just slower and acceptable to one to not completely break one but deform the mind enough that it's not always possible to recover.
> When you become homeless the first thing to go are dignity, self-confidence and in short order
The data on American homelessness are actually exceptionally good and the support network means that the vast majority of people who avail themselves of help are back in a home in a year or so.