The bad part is that I have seen articles like this one OVER, and OVER, and OVER again. It seems to be quite common.
I don't have it much better -- True, I have a way to support myself and all, but I have still been placed in the un-enviable position of "raise a decent sized family on one income -- oh, and make sure you are self-sufficient/retired by age 35." Obviously I won't be able to reach that goal, but it's not MY goal! It was placed on me by the year I was born.
I'm always a bit jealous when I read about Baby Boomers discovering how precarious the world economy, social order, environment, etc. is, and they say, "Oh no, I better prepare!" and they cash out their 401K, all $250,000 of it, and go buy a piece of land, a water catchment system, solar panels, a ton of food, etc.
Or, worse yet, they PUBLICLY MUSE about whether or not they should "take the hit" and cash in their 401K to finance their survival preparations. (When you cash it out early, you have to pay an extra 10% tax)
And I'm thinking "it must be nice to have THIRTY YEARS of adult life to prepare for the coming collapse!"
So far I've had about 3 or 4. And grateful for (and trying to make good use of) every day of it!
I'm in the "starting out" phase of life -- so no matter how "awake" I become, I won't have a large nest egg to play with. I feel like I'm getting gypped out of a normal adult life. I often wonder about how prepared I'd be if I had been born 25 years earlier. Of course, that wasn't God's will. I need to remember that.
I shouldn't be too negative, because there are advantages to being young as well. You can learn valuable skills, one's health is usually better the younger you are, etc.
Matthew