1. A higher percentage of the population back then were working towards a pension and didn’t necessarily have to save.
2. The long-term health of social security wasn’t as much in question back then. Contrast that to today’s conventional wisdom of “plan like your SS payout will be $0.”
And there are probably several other factors that suggest millenials should be more eager to save than their parents—rising costs of college for children, rising costs of end of life care, ever-increasing lifespans suggesting longer retirements, etc.
In all fairness, people have been saying that for decades.
You're right though that a lot more people used to have defined-benefit pensions. I'll even have a modest one from a long gone tech employer. Certainly don't see that much these days.
I would have fallen into that bucket when I was that age. Hey, I wasn't always a highly-paid software tech. I expect to retire comfortably with a couple million, and I didn't hit the startup lottery. (One or two that paid off very modest five figures, and late-90s MSFT options.) After a point, it's time to start putting some money away, and after 35 you can pull it off if you're aggressive. We haven't always maxed our 401Ks out, and missed other opportunities, and we'll still come out okay.
But that's for you tech bros and sis's making bank. I don't know what Mr. and Ms. Median-US-Wage are supposed to do.
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/01/29/guess-how-many-ge...