Are Braces Better when You're Older?

So this post is really about a conversation I was having this morning with some co-workers. We were discussing braces and different experiences with them. Being that my last post was on having braces as an adult, I thought this was an interesting follow up.
The question was: is it really better to have them when you're young and irresponsible or to wait until you are older and better understand the importance of them? The reason this came up is that so many people when they were younger and had braces have since lost their retainers, or didn't keep up with it, and now are forced to have a ton of work done (pay all that money their parent's dished out, again) just to get their bite back to where it was as a kid.
Honestly as a child, I wasn't really conscious about how the state of my teeth would affect me later on in life. That's why we don't really stay on top of brushing or flossing until we have that first major cavity and realize, that sucked I don't want to go through that again! And honestly some of us still don't stick with a regular regime. So when you try and get a 10-year-old to take braces seriously, it's probably not going to happen. Maybe even as teenagers we still don't realize that if we lose or break that retainer, we're probably going to have to shell out another $8,000 later on in life. We just don't have any concept of what that means at that age. There's an exception to every rule, and I'm sure there are responsible children out there who still have perfect pearly whites. Yet it seems like from the consensus of those who I talked to, most of them and/or their siblings, are having to go back to the orthodontist to fix things they didn't keep up on as children. They either forgot about their retainer, or just didn't feel like wearing it.
Ultimately, if we have a problem with our teeth as children, there's really no way around it. The treatment is necessary, and some of us have some pretty serious conditions at such a young age so there's no choice to wait.
I guess the question is, should those who can, wait? As adults we have a different perspective on the whole thing. We know what $8,000 really means, we have a frame of reference, and we know that we never want to have braces again. I never had braces as a kid, I don't think my bite was really an issue back then so my parents assumed I was fine. Now I'm stuck with the bill either way, which is fine and I understand it is what it is. Still, I don't know how seriously I would've taken it as a child. All I know, is that I'm going to do everything possible to keep from having to do this again!