Yeah, our household income is ~30-40% higher than the median for our state (WA) and with two modest cars, a 1300 SqFt home(in an "up and coming" neighborhood, lol), student loans, a new baby, and very, very few electronic devices (our phones are our most expensive computing device - and we only have a small 26" LCD TV), we barely squeeze by, or so it feels. We don't vacation at all, at least in terms of going to Europe - we might road trip to Vancouver, BC for a weekend once a year.

Also, no other Toys - I have a weight set (power rack, olympic weights, heavyweight bench, etc) that ran me 1300 brand new, other than the car and the house that is our most expensive purchase... ever. I could have sworn once we reached a six figure income we'd be "well off." I guess that is a dream.

I'm going to go out on a limb with an assumption: the fact that you hang out here probably says a lot about you and your socio-economic status and general intelligence, which relates to your financial sense.

But there were/are a generation of blue-collar, "middle class" people out there living the life I describe. I know some of them. They aren't lawyers and execs, they're public servants, unionized factory workers and such, most of whom make less money than me. Their boomer parents were middle-class wealthy, and their expectations are higher. Only the economy no longer supports it. So they fulfilled these expectations via copious amounts of debt. Then everything broke.