My high-school-diploma, literally raised in a barn, divorced-with-child-support-plus-another-kid-out-of-wedlock dad, who piddled around at odd jobs making almos

My high-school-diploma, literally raised in a barn, divorced-with-child-support-plus-another-kid-out-of-wedlock dad, who piddled around at odd jobs making almost nothing in his 20s before finally getting job at the railroad and working up to middle management, retired early as a millionaire, having paid my way through college (a cheap one, but still). My mom had a junior college degree and only worked like 6 years, before they got married, so they were single-income, too. We went on a nice couple-weeks-long road trip every year and traveled to see family around holidays. They could afford to drop a stupid amount of money on a Tandy for me when I was really young, in case the whole computer thing took off. We did great. It really, really was different for the boomers. And union-won retirement benefits were so good back then. Plus that money was tied up in the retirement scheme, so you couldn't "defect" and spend it to compete for housing (driving up prices) rather than putting it in your 401k.