As an engineer in his 50's (USA) - I am also a 90th percentile earner, but I absolutely agree, I'm nowhere near as well off as my parents were at my age.
I never had the money to take my kids on nice vacations every year like my parents did. Also never had the money to justify buying a new car. And while I do have a home, I have no hope of paying it off before retirement. (which, as an engineer, in the USA, could be 1-5 years from now, involuntarily - my father worked for the same company his whole life, while I've had to change jobs 6 times, due to either corporate buyouts or layoffs. NEVER had a bad performance review).
All of my kids, my brother and sister's kids (all in their 20's now), are all very much struggling, barely making it (and in a couple of cases, NOT making it). Only ONE of them (my son) got through college and found a reasonably decent job, and even HE is so bogged down with student loans, he may never own a home.
So as a picture of 3 generations, there's a very clear trend.
I never had the money to take my kids on nice vacations every year like my parents did. Also never had the money to justify buying a new car. And while I do have a home, I have no hope of paying it off before retirement. (which, as an engineer, in the USA, could be 1-5 years from now, involuntarily - my father worked for the same company his whole life, while I've had to change jobs 6 times, due to either corporate buyouts or layoffs. NEVER had a bad performance review).
All of my kids, my brother and sister's kids (all in their 20's now), are all very much struggling, barely making it (and in a couple of cases, NOT making it). Only ONE of them (my son) got through college and found a reasonably decent job, and even HE is so bogged down with student loans, he may never own a home.
So as a picture of 3 generations, there's a very clear trend.