> It's not hard. Anyone in America with $35,000/yr is in the 1% of the world's economic strata. That doesn't take into account the vastly different cost of liv

> It's not hard. Anyone in America with $35,000/yr is in the 1% of the world's economic strata. That doesn't take into account the vastly different cost of living across the world. Sure, 35k USD is a lot compared to some countries, but it's barely scraping by in most US metros. US wages have not kept pace with the increase in cost of living and goods and services for decades. Even if folks somehow managed to save 15% of the 35k every year for 40 years (which is really hard) they're left just touching a million with a guaranteed 8% return, and that's their retirement funds. After using those funds to live for the next ~20+ years extremely modestly doesn't leave much of anything for "generational wealth". Unless you're already in the upper 20% the best bet remaining is to help your kids get through college and hope they get a higher paying job than you. Which is increasingly difficult as the cost of education has skyrocketed compared to wages.