I think that great careers are overrated IF you take living off of debt to the banks off the table.  Many go to college and end up $50-$100K in debt before they can even start their "careers".  Meanwhile, working for $15 per hour during those 4 years while living at home, they could put away $100K, resulting in a $200K swing.  I've seen these stats demonstrated in a video called something along the lines of "the college scam".  4-year college programs are 100% scams, where you take maybe 1 year worth of classes in your Major and are required to take all these garbage "core" courses just to keep various Leftist arts, sociology, psychology, and Humanities professors employed when they'd otherwise have to bag groceries to make a living.  I have degrees/Majors in Greek and Latin and self-taught myself computer science, and I've been working in computer science now for the past 25 years and could, within about 6 months of actual practical experience, run circles around nearly all "Computer Science" majors fresh out of school.

If a young man had even a modestly-skilled line of work, something that could be acquired by 6-12 months at a trade or technical school (vs. 4 years of college), and just worked after that, while living at home, until he was in his late 20s or early 30s, he'd be set for life ... without a college degree or glamorous career of some kind.  But when you leave college with $100K of debt, no savings, and then immediately get married to assume a $250-$300K mortgage, you had better have some kind of stable and lucrative "career" to get by.

Unfortunately, I myself am caught in the debt cycle due to the time spent at seminary and graduate schools, etc. ... so that I had a very late start out of the gates, but I am encouraging my kids to stay out of this trap.  I was in my late 20s by the time I decided to focus on making a living rather than a vocation.

I find your thinking on this to be very hypothetical considering you have young adults in your household.

For starters, why do you give the tradesman until age 30 before he's ready to marry, but presume the college graduate will marry at 22 when he finishes his degree? Even Grad school only takes 2 additional years (or just one if you pick the right program). That gives him 6-7 more years with a Master's degree in hand to work on his financial situation. College debt is a big question mark in this scenario, but that $100K of debt isn't mandatory. If you're not finding ways to bring that number down, college might not make sense for you. There are plenty of opportunities to bring that number into the range of a legitimate good value.

Next up is the high school grad who gets a $15/hr job. In 4 years, that's $115K before any expenses. He's only going to clear that $100K goal if his parents are not only covering his housing and food, but also his car, insurance, gasoline, and pretty much everything else. If they're willing to do that, you'd also have to presume they'd toss +/- $30K toward college if he wanted a degree instead.

On to the "college core". Yes, it's dumb. But, it's 40-45 hours out of a 120 hour degree. That's 1.5 years, not 3. If you utilize dual enrollment, those hours are done for cheap/free before you're even officially a college student.

I'm totally on board with the idea that not everyone needs a college degree, but I don't think we should be telling absolutely everyone to avoid college either.

Keep in mind also, that from a young female's perspective, a young man's value has much more to do with his potential (personality, reliability, vision, etc) than his actual cash in hand. Once you're into the 30s, the young lady is going to be wondering why he isn't already married. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that sort of plan, but I am saying that it's another way he's going to have to prove himself and treating it like a "good rule" is a step too far imo.

I've heard multiple Catholics online say that the ideal age of a woman for a man to marry is half the man's age + 7. Has anyone else heard this before? If so, where does this come from?

My mother used to say this to us all of the time when we were growing up!  I can't remember where she got it from now though.  🤔

I agree with Pax Vobis as to it being more of a guidline not to marry younger than that.  And there are always exceptions! 

Maturity and virtue should be ranked before anything else.  I have known people who were more mature at the age of 18 than many are now in their 30's.  When I was growing up it wasn't uncommon for someone who was 12 years old to have a job or summer internship.  So, after 6-8 years he might be set to get married.  Most women also knew more about housekeeping, cooking, gardening and sewing. 

Realistically, 

This is what I have concluded:

early 30's for a guy, early 20's for a lady.

In today's day and age, I would not be wondering why a guy is not married at 30. Especially someone who practices their faith.

I've noticed the young lady's have barely any responsibility (if any) well into their 20's in the trad circles. This is the parents responsibility. Your daughter isn't
your little baby princess any more. I see this with the boys too, they are immature and not driven, and part of the reason is the sheltering... 

Given it took many years for me to find the right man, my answer will be "when the right person comes along". 

I feel for the young folk who have the Catholic Faith because it is much harder to find someone of the opposite sex who has the Faith these days, let alone one that has the Faith AND is the right person for them.

Next up is the high school grad who gets a $15/hr job. In 4 years, that's $115K before any expenses. He's only going to clear that $100K goal if his parents are not only covering his housing and food, but also his car, insurance, gasoline, and pretty much everything else. If they're willing to do that, you'd also have to presume they'd toss +/- $30K toward college if he wanted a degree instead.

That's precisely what I was talking about, where such an individual should live at home and NOT incur those expenses (housing, food, insurance, etc.), and the $15/hour (minimum wage) would be just the worst case scenario.  But the point is, if someone lived at home (without all those expenses) until the age of 30, they could be in a financial position to raise a family even without lucrative career.  Obviously I would advise at least taking a year or so of trade school and getting into something that would bring in more than $15 per hour.  My oldest son did that, took a year of trade school, and after his first 7-8 months, already has $30K saved away.  He continues doing this until he's in his late 20s and he could just buy a house outright, and then his current one-year-trade-school career would be more than sufficient to raise a family.

Can you elaborate? I understand that affordable housing is a major issue, but over 30 still seems extreme to me. Are you of the opinion that a house must be purchased outright before considering marriage or what other obstacles are you referring to?

Nothing to do with buying a house. A man not married at 30  yet is not extreme... at all.

Nothing to do with buying a house. A man not married at 30  yet is not extreme... at all.

Agreed.  My husband was 40.  

For me, it was 27.  For my wife, it was 21.

I was 32 and my wife 29.  God still gave us 6 children, but the limited window of a woman's child-bearing years is one consideration for why women should be somewhat younger, while there isn't that same urgency for men, and thus it would make sense for men to become somewhat established and financially secure (e.g. closer to 30).  Unfortunately, due to my detour toward a prospective vocation to the priesthood, I got a rather late start, so I couldn't take advantage of my own advice.  I had an interest in the priesthood since I was 10, but then decided that I was not interested in the Conciliar definition of priesthood, as part social worker and part standup comedian / entertainer.  I was about a year into college when I found Traditional Catholicism, and so I accelerated my time there and went to SSPX, spent several years at two different seminaries, and then went to graduate school after that didn't work out (with still a partial thought of returning to seminary, kindof biding my time til I could figure things out).  I was about 27 when I finally decided to try to find a way to make a decent living, and had to work my way up for a few years, since I didn't have the requisite qualifications/background.  So God put me on something of a detour to my current situation ... which has never been ideal from a financial perspective (culminating now in my having to work two jobs), which is where my recommendations to my own children along those lines comes in.