On average in the USA, a worker (me, you?) will have about $2 million pass through their (our) hands in a lifetime. It seems to me that we're in some trouble, because in order to enjoy a decent retirement, one needs to have approximately $2.5 million saved in a retirement account when we retire. I don't care what the financial experts say, unless one invests ones money just right, it's not even a possibility.

Many of my coworkers don't have a penny to their name and they are in their mid 40s!!

Now I do what I can to scrimp and save....but you're right....living for the now vs. living for the future is an epidemic. I'm in my mid 30s and my grandparents worked as hard as they could and they barely had a decent retirement to fall back on, and they DIDN'T have all this debt that we are saddled with today.