My ophtho first noticed my cataracts 10 years ago when I was 56. They’re still slowly growing but nowhere near needing surgery. So the mere fact they can be detected isn’t a reason to immediately pursue surgery.
So when should you do it? When you can no longer get acceptable vision with your correction, be that specs or contacts. Or when your perception is that everything is flat and dull. Or when you find bright lights at night to be difficult.
If you’ve always had crap vision they may well be able to give you much better vision; IMO that’d be a reason to pursue surgery sooner rather than later. Conversely, if you’ve always had excellent vision the outcome is far more likely to be sorta meh by your youthful or even current standards; IMO that might be a good reason to delay surgery as long as possible.
FYI, here are two fairly recent threads on the topic:
June 2024: