There are certainly more numerous alternatives now, but there have always been some alternatives. I've heard people say that mutual funds have only been around about that long, which makes me shake my head; my parents opened a mutual fund account for me when I was three, in 1958. :)
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Trust me those who grew up in the depression had a mind set and than WWII and than great many were just catching up in mind and life to land on their feet.
Those frugal tradition took a long time to come out of.
Many were not thinking about the evoling future the tried and true methods out of a farmers concept that work for century were still in play.
Most young lady were raised to stay home and the hubby provide an in many circles womens movement was ignored meaning one would never realize the impact it would have shaking up the future family unit!
If you did not have parent who had vision in those areas you were not being perpared.
Also if you grew up in a home where the mom was control freak to the point of abusive, and everyone on egg shells you did not rock the boat and if you left home the scares followed and you never seem to recover until late in lift when you are forced to slow down.
Its just all part of the process recentment would just be cancerous and non productive.
some area in our life we grow and some we still lag behind!
Life is not a cookie cutter many experience different combinations!
I agree with some of what you say; certainly we're all born into different families and have different experiences in life.
My parents were definitely Depression era during their formative years (both were born in 1920); they were, as a result, both careful with expenditures and aggressive with investments as a result. Money was to be respected, not wasted, but also used as a tool to deliver benefits.
They were also the generation that has (arguably) benefited the most from Social Security, and also paid the most in, as well. My parents both retired very comfortably by the time they were sixty, and I'm working on following their example! :)