[sn9]

You're talking about the difference between perceived poverty relative to your previous lifestyle versus actual poverty where you're living paycheck to paycheck because you didn't have a sufficiently large paycheck.

Every generation seems to have a big economic shock it has to weather through (or two or three). I think living on a percentage of your income with 6-12 months' salary in the bank is the only smart thing to do when you're able to do it.