The typical student loans for people graduating today is only 30k USD. Now that will be much higher for some people, particularly lots of people on the higher

The typical student loans for people graduating today is only 30k USD. Now that will be much higher for some people, particularly lots of people on the higher end of the income scale (doctors, surgeons, etc), but if we are talking about the 30-60+ age bracket then their school debt straight out of school will likely be lower than you could expect for the same school/program today. What I am getting at is that I doubt student loans are a significant consideration for most people in the age ranges the article is talking about (from what I understand they are for doctors). Also, most young people in the SF/tech scene sort of deal are likely looking at the typical school debt (~30k), but are looking at the low range of these salaries (100k+) starting at a much younger age. I know people that are obliterating their student loans with the starting bonuses from their first jobs out of college. (That's what I did, albeit several years ago, and only 5 years worth of tuition.) These sort of scenarios won't get you "country-club rich", but will certainly get you into the elusive "traditional middle-class security" range. The kind of wealthy where you can tell your kid they can go to any college accepts them, can take your whole family on 1-2 week long holidays every year as a tradition, buy your kids a shitty car when they turn 16, etc. It is this sort of wealth that can prove troublesome politically. People in this range are relatively isolated from true hardship; they don't have to worry about making rent or worry about how to feed their family. They are much more susceptible to pseudo-concerns like "is my corporate chain coffee fair trade" and "what if I become properly rich, then get taxed a lot?". Remember that HN is an echo chamber. While we can talk about 250k and pretend like it is normal, the median household income is in the general neighborhood of 50k. Most Americans will never see this sort of income. For most Americans, 250k is wealth. I think we have the tendency to define "wealth" as "something that is beyond our grasp". The more money you have, the more money it takes to become "wealthy".