IMO a major issue is the expectance of someone else to take care of "me". I know that I'm retired for ~30 out of 80 years of my life and thus have to save ~3/8ths of my income, else starve. (Yes, some modifiers for tax brackets, compounding blah blah...)

In the past people's children were the "investment" that paid the dividends into old age. Now we no longer have children to bear the burden. Yet we spend the normally sacrificed dollars on lattes, world travel, iphones (and whatever icon of excess you choose).

I realize many people say its "hard" to save these days. But I also think there is some spectrum involved with doing what pays vs what one "wants" and ensuring one's lifestyle matches their actual ranked income in a society. (ie, if you earn on the 10th percentile, then you probably should be spending on the 10th percentile on dinners out or whatever icon of excess you want to pick on.)