Great points! I'm going to delve into my background just a little bit to give some perspective on my position.

I am nearly 24 years old. My dad is a construction equipment mechanic, my mother has 25 years in at her current company and is a mid-level plant manager. They never cracked 100k in gross earnings until my senior year of high school. Despite this, my folks have been able to support my brother and I, buy three homes, a 105 acre farm, and we've all driven like-new vehicles for the last decade. The only major debt they have is the farm and that will be paid off in 2008, 8 years into a 20 year note. I didn't live extravagantly growing up, but I never wanted for anything.

My parents paid half of my college education; Uncle Sam paid a portion and the rest is on me. My wife received no financial help whatsoever from her parents because of their divorce. Obviously I want to be able to provide more for my children's education because it is so important, but I also want them to know the value, cost and price of work and earning something. My father wrote a $13,500 tuition check for my very first semester at Purdue at the kitchen table and handed it to me so that his first-born son could hand-deliver it to the Bursar's Office. I'll never forget the look in his eye and the scars on his hands as I took that check...and I'd never want to!

My folks also do not have a traditional retirement plan. They have two rental homes for income, my mother has moderate 401k, and the rest of their net worth outside of property is in liquid assets like savings, CDs, etc. Knowing this I started a Roth IRA when I was 19 years old and contribute a sizable amount of my check to my company's very good 401k, which has a defined contribution as well as a pretty decent match. I started a Roth for my wife last fall because her current job does not offer a retirement savings vehicle; with nearly four decades until retirement I do not worry if we'll have enough.

What's the point to this autobiography? Live well but well within your means. Plan early for the future. Make a budget and stick to it, staying out of unsecured debt as if your life depended on it. Buy used cars instead of new. Save every possible penny you can. And most importantly, don't go bitching on the intarwebs if you're not meeting your expectations for compensation...nobody cares.