They're going to live a lot longer than their pensions or retirement savings intended - so we'll be taking care of them for a loooong time either in the old age home or via healthcare via our taxes/premiums. They bought their house for cash or paid if off in 20 years in the 70s/80s, meanwhile itll take 40-50 years for us to pay off ours since home prices have skyrocketed, inflation marches on, but wages have kept stagnant for 30 years. Conversely, our children are graduating college and cant' afford to live anywhere but at home with us, so we're screwed by both generations.

Man, all I want is to own a little cottage and take cross-country vacations every summer and sock a little away for my retirement. I work 60 hr weeks for a comfy six-figure salary in a dual income home in a modest house and yet we're paying off student loans and paying for the kid's braces and we're barely scraping by. Our household clears $200k and we're a single paycheck from not making our rent. And its not like we're junkies or owe the Vegas bookies or anything, there's simply too much shit to pay for and we have zero buffer.

When my dad was the same age, mom was a SAHM and the house was paid off and there were two cars in the driveway (also paid off) and we travelled for 3 weeks every summer. I can't escape the feeling that generationally us late gen-xers and early millenials are getting screwed somehow for something we didn't even do.