My son and his wife make about $160K a year and get nowhere because they live in California.
They live in Oklahoma where the cost of living is fairly low. I would love for them to move to this part of Florida since we have no state income tax and real estate taxes are also low. Also no sales tax on food or medicine but mostly to be near the grandchildren.
There are a lot of folks in California who don't make $160K/year. Maybe your son and wife really can't do anything. But do they have cable? Do they buy new cars or used? Do they have the latest cell phones and the expensive plans?
In some ways it was so much easier starting out in the '70s. Credit cards were not ubiquitous. If you wanted something, you saved up for it. Your first car, most likely, was used. Monthly cable bills? Monthly cell phone bills? Unheard of.
(Of course, when we bought our first house in 1980, our FHA mortgage was 14%.)