I am a Gen X. My grandmother, who was born in 1906 and passed on in 1994, worked at home, cooked, cleaned for most of her life. He had 3-4 dresses in her closet, and whenever I visited she gave some money to go buy a small bottle of Sprite for lunch.

My parents define their retirement as cruises, traveling, etc. My mother has 3 closets full of clothes, the latest iPhone and iPad to check Facebook…

Both generations worked very hard, and I don’t want to criticize them. I keep telling my father and mother that they should burn and enjoy all their money while they can.

My point is not to criticize a generation, but to try to contextualize that a comfortable wealthy retirement is relatively new in our social concept, and so far it seems more as a one-off trick that only baby boomers pulled after the huge economic growth post 70s, than a sustainable economic pattern.