Someone once told me around age 26 is when your career either takes off or it flattens out to where you’ll be long term . Here I am at 27 and I’m not optimistic for my future. This sucks.

If you listen too much to people setting limitations to your life, you might start implementing those limitations. It doesn't mean what they said was true, it means you subconsciously made it true for yourself by heeding their stupid advice and giving up.
That said, take this:
College (Bachelors) graduation at 27.
$57k at 28.
Over $100k at 31 by taking an entry level role in a different industry with lots of opportunities to advance.
Working on setting up 3 companies.
If your life isn't going as you planned, try something else. Never be afraid to take chances, the opportunities are vast. It's a free world!

I am 37 and have no clue where this is going.

In the meantime I pushed to get my MBA, I hopped to a 200k job, I have a family, a home, a beach apartment, and most importantly I get to kiss my kids goodnight every night and wake them up every morning.

I guess I will never find my "career purpose". And that's totally fine.

At 26 I made $55k/year. At 31 I make $160k.

I did a career change at 35. There are no rules, follow your own path

“Someone once told me”

Mine didn’t start until 26, never mind taking off.

We all have our own timelines

I thought it was around 35, not 26. 35 is the beginning of a mid-career professional, a 26 year old might still be in graduate school.

LOL. My husband made $60k at 35 and now at 40 he just cleared $2.5M. I mean he got really lucky, but still…

Nonsense. Don’t spend one more min in this. Profesional career Is a lifetime journey with ups and downs… that’s why we need to enjoy it (not every day but definitely every quarter “all in all”)

Whoever told you that is dumb

At 27 I was in sales making ~50k
At 31 I got my first tech role and stepped back to $35k
Today, at 41, I'm making 105k

Never did any college though, so I'm an outlier at this point I imagine

**Presses F to Doubt**

Any advice that’s attached to a specific age is useless. Some people are still in college at 26. Some graduate at 19. Run your own race and ignore morons that talk like this

I made $75k at age 29 and $130k at age 30, and now 6/7 years in almost $200k.

Mine didn’t start until 35. Trust me you have plenty of time

I was in a high paying but depressing engineering job at 29. After being miserable there for 3 years and making ZERO personal or career growth the entire time, I got a new job (moved to consulting) and it’s like my whole world opened up.

Sometimes all it takes is one application and one interview, OP.

At 26 I was an hourly wage slave. At 32 I'm over $100k and only expected to increase. Hang in there OP.

Has its limits but makes sense on the whole as that’s the age people started to consider marriage and kids

Was in grad school at 25 making 30k. I’m 29 now making 240k.

At 26 I made 40k per year

At 32 I make 108K per year

At 26 I made less than 40k in NYC. At 37 I make 245k, and most of that growth came after I changed careers in my 30s