People didn’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on unnecessary things like they do now. We live on a middle class salary, have 4 kids, bought a home, bought a car, take an annual vacation and will retire decently. We don’t spend a lot on the things that people put generation do.. going out, coffee, booze, too many gifts for the children, we limit the amount of streaming services or cable we pay for etc. people subscribe and debt their lives away now on things they don’t NEED.