Let's compare notes. I'm 49. I've worked 50 to 70 hour weeks since about 1980 when I moved from being an hourly worker to a salaried position. In the past 5 years my tax burden (FIT, SIT, FICA/MEDICAID) has ranged from $50,000 to $90,0000 annually. In spite of being raped by taxation, I've still paid off my primary residence free and clear. I used my 2005 income tax refunds to purchase another 2000 sq ft house as income property in February this year. My only other debt is two 4X4 vehicles to navigate the harsh winter weather in Idaho. Those will be paid off in 2 years. I'm still supporting two adult children.
I can't believe all the whining in this thread. I'm shouldering the burden of the New Deal, LBJ's Great Society and a new generation of underachievers and illegal immigrants. The damn socialist policies keep stealing more money. Trying to be a responsible individual that is prepared for retirement is difficult when you have to support multiple generations of slackers at the same time.
The real pain is going to start about 2016 when the boomers who were forced into defined contribution retirement plans are required by law to start taking distributions so the government can tax the retirement money. The forced distributions are going to clobber the stock and bond markets. The switch from lifelong careers that culminated in fully funded, defined benefits pensions to defined contribution plans with partial employer subsidy occurred just as I entered the workforce in 1976. I'm on the leading of the boomers who were left entirely to their own devices to find a means of funding retirement. The GenX crowd arrives just past that leading edge and is faced with the same problem.
I graduated from high school in 1973 and UCSD in 1976. I've been employed full time since June 1976 (including a year of graduate school through June 1977).
Our years worked are nearly comparable. Started in 78 doing my max with a work permit (after all, I was only 16) and then had my own business I operated producing equipment for the semiconductor industry. Hours per week I've got you beat. 70 *solid* since the early 80s. I think most on this thread want to end Social Security so what's your freakin' beef, pal?