My liberal uncle (god bless him) was praising the Obama economy that allowed him to retire “on time” at 65, rather than having to work until he died.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I will never be able to retire (mid 40’s myself), and my children (all under 18) will have to work until they die, just to pay off what is owed right now. That this “wonderful economy” has seen my income go up a total of 5% in 11 years, and I’m extremely happy / blessed to have that, because the cost of everything has gone up double. I’m just happy to have a job, to be honest.
You’re lucky.
After 23yrs, I retired, closed and sold-off a large multi-million $ Family Farm business (farm, nursery, garden center) in 2012, as the hort-ag industries changed so drastically 2009-11, that we couldn’t change fast enough. Thousands went out in 2011-12; 99% will never come back.