That is the checklist of a rich person, own home outright, health insurance taken care of, and manageable other expenses.
If you were the same age, but had no home ownership, no health insurance, and dependants how would that change your perspective?
A young person with desired skills could easily be making more than twice this amount in the Bay Area. Owning a house is strictly optional (and a bit mad, to own a house in earthquake country, esp at those prices!)
Point is, many people vastly overestimate how much they need to enjoy a rich life. There's plenty of room at the bottom :)
Now, 50K is huge for the vast majority of the population, so this is all still rich talk. But the HN community is probably in the top 2 percentile of the world's population, so I feel little freer in saying so.
Maybe your definition of rich is incorrect?
Also, I've worked as a barista. My high paying tech job is waaaay easier.