My young life was not hardship but not a life of excess. Type where I made some homemade toys and such and my father had not completed high school. Thing is at that time there was an idea that if you did well in school you could go on to get a good job that would provide for a family and a decent home and (yes im just old enough) have a pension to retire on. The trajectory was different with the environment pre reagan as it seemed like we were polluting less and cleaning things up. Took awhile to realize just how much they had torn that stuff apart or moved it overseas. Now it feels like you have to be incredibly successful to have the American dream. Paid off house (yes the dream was not to have a lifelong mortgage that you never get out from under) and a rustic summer vacation place (or just yearly nice vacations) is possible if your a doctor or lawyer. Now a two bedroom condo on a mortage you can afford the monthly nut and retirement savings where the math does not look good is doing pretty darn well.