I think people do the very best they can do. My parents had nothing--my father made $12,000 and he and my mother had 4 children. He didn't begin to save for retirement until about 15 years before he retired. Neither he or my mother were college educated. My mother took a job with the state of NJ as a secretary when my youngest sibling was 16. When my father retired at the age of 67, he had a little over $100K in his 401k--he thought he was a millionaire. My mother continued for work for a few more years. My father has since passed away, and my mother now has Alzheimer's. She lives very comfortably and happily in a wonderful memory care facility. Her care costs $6800 a month. Between her pension, SS, what my father left her and the sale of her home in NJ (about $240K), she has enough money to live comfortably for another 15 years. She's now 76 years old. She has wonderful healthcare through her previous employer. My siblings and I hope she exhausts every last penny--her children want for nothing. We feel blessed that she is living her days well.
My point is this--not everybody needs/wants a 2nd home, nor do they want to travel the world endlessly, or leave a small fortune to their children.
I hate to see people made to feel badly that they haven't saved enough.
