[dabent]

The region I know was the Midwestern US, the industry was manufacturing and the generation was my father's. He worked 25 years for a big company, got a decent pension, did reasonably well on his other investments and retired at 55.

He died at 57.

Life is too short. My attitude is to live now, work now and build something of my own.

Pensions are all but gone anyway. Stocks are flat. The one real way I've seen to wealth is by building equity in one's own business.

One positive to my father's reasonably frugal ways: half that pension and all the investments are now keeping my mom from living in my basement. :-)