You know, I was kind of nodding along with your statement until it hit me that our generation's definition of "living within your means" is likely far different

You know, I was kind of nodding along with your statement until it hit me that our generation's definition of "living within your means" is likely far different from that of our parents'. My father, if he lost his job, would be fine, probably for a year or better. Perhaps it's our generation, having grown up with credit cards and availability as the norm, but my dad (and definitely his) has always been a 'cash' payment sort of guy. I remember a discussion I had after starting a new job, after having been laid off from my previous one, in which I made the comment that I'm striving to get to 40% savings. He laughed at me, claiming how impractical it was, and how I couldn't afford to live off only 60% of what I made... but having just done so for awhile, I knew the benefit of having a safety net... and I was just lucky before that I found employment before my savings ran out.