>>We must be two rare cases. Our incomes have not stagnated. I can't believe that there aren't a few more like us.
You (we) are the lucky generation. This sums it up: until 1985, a summer job paid college tuition fees with beer money left over and no debt. Not any more.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/gregschoofs/how-much-college-did-your-summer-job-pay-for?utm_term=.hbxBBOqBjj#.ram336O3NNAdd healthcare costs unless you can piggyback on mom or dad followed by housing, and those who followed us start their careers in a big financial hole we never experienced.
That's not all: careful analysis shows that our generation not only enjoyed a better financial start, in the US our lot proceeded to pull well over $100K more out of the public purse by age 65 than we paid in, while somebody born in 2012 can expect to pay in around $450K more than they can ever hope to see back. So if people aren't saving for retirement - it's fairly obvious why. The only redeeming grace is property inflation delivering a bumper payout when the time comes to sell, as we enjoyed, but even that has stagnated in many parts...
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
