One thing about that article for starters the "typical net worth" figure of about $465k is meaningless. I have no idea where the writer got that figure, and no idea what he means by typical.
I submit that the posters here have missed the main problem of today's American lifestyle. There is so much to buy, and most people have so little resistance. They see their friends with possessions and new cars and big houses, and they feel that they must keep up.
There's a very good book written in the mid-90's entitled "The Millionaire Next Door." It details the lives of hundreds of millionaires interviewed by the authors. The average person interviewed had a net worth of around $3.5 million, yet most of these people had never made more than $80k in any one year.
To make a long story short, they simply lived well below their means, invested their savings, and over time, reaped the benefits. Most of them owned their own small businesses, bought used American cars, had married young, and had not divorced.
There is a formula in the book which can guide you as to whether you live too high. Take your annual income, lets say $50k, multiply that by your age, let's say you are 40. 50,000 X 40 = 2,000,000. Divide that number by ten, and you have your projected net worth, assuming you live within your means and invest your savings in a reasonable fashion. The person in the example above should have a net worth of $200k. Some people detailed in the book have double the net worth predicted by the formula, simply by avoiding the new cars, big houses, plasma TVs, expensive eating out, etc.
You can either have money, or look like you have money. Doing both is very difficult, and requires a very large income. Doing one or the other requires only the median income, resistance to keeping up with the Joneses, and time. The peace of mind gained by living this way outweighs all the houses, toys, cars, and expensive meals you will give up. At least, it has worked that way for me.
The first is that the "millionaire" comparison is worthless. Being a "millionaire" became prestigious over a hundred years ago. Even 100 years ago, the median salary was probably less than a thousand dollars a year. A "millionaire" was someone who had enough money in the bank to live a middle to upper middle class lifestyle for a thousand years without having to work another day. To be in that situation is to have a feeling of security. Today, the median salary is $46,000 a year according to the editorial. A "millionaire" has only about twenty times what "Mr. and Mrs. Median" have. A twenty year cushion is not nearly as big a cushion, so being a "millionaire" is not the same as it was.
The second is that the differences between having and not having are getting bigger, and being someone who doesn't have is frustrating. I bought a house that was about a quarter to a third the cost of what I could buy according to the loan people. It's not a bad house, but as the area grows around me, I'm feeling increasingly closed in. I'm claustrophobic, so that feeling is very difficult for me. Can I survive here for the rest of my life if necessary? I probably can, but the quality of life will not be particularly good. Having nice things and doing fun things is not just about "keeping up with the Jones." There are some fulfilling things out there, but they often cost money to pursue. The whole point of trying to work hard and make something of ourselves is to be able to afford some of these nicer experiences. For many people today, the frustration is with the sense that we will work harder but get less overall return for our efforts.
Bill