Sure people should save more but the rising cost of living is eating wages wholesale. A family of five has seen $50-$60 per week added to their grocery bill over the past year.
The middle class is taking a beating and when someone is trying to decide whether to run out of gas or groceries by this time of the week they really don’t want to be berated for not saving more.
I don’t think this holds true as a generalization. I have two parents who never saved 15%, but who ended up with plenty of assets and lived off their income and SS. My mother is 97 and my mother-in-law just passed on at 98 leaving a small estate. Both never spent their income.
The secret is, like in government, spending less. Once the kids are gone, the house is sold, what do you really need?
It helped that both were frugal, coming from a generation that survived the depression, and in reasonably good health all their lives. But then that was due to maintaining a healthy life style.
They are not alone either as I regularly see when visiting the retirement place where they both lived.