Thanks for the response, Richard DiCristino.

Did you read my article? I'm frustrated on the behalf of younger people that a large portion of the population--and the Baby Boomers just are a massive portion of the population--really simply do not understand today's math and economics. I get what you're saying and I don't really like to be one of those people who charges that all millennials have spent all their money on expensive coffee and avocado toast.

Please notice I also said jealous of the kiddies who GET the fancy digs--which undoubtedly many are. This too is a little different from my time--there were luxury dorms on my campus too, but they simply were not as luxurious as the well-off kids get today. There still was more mixing of different social classes then, because there simply was not as much of a chasm in our types of housing. "Luxury" dorms then meant, you know, air conditioning and cable.

Thanks for at least admitting you had more and cheaper gadgets. I'm not jealous of you, because as far as I can tell the gadgets are making everybody miserable, but that is a difference.

Mainly I think we're arguing semantics here, though. I still mainly want an answer for how to make clear to older people that "saving" is just a different proposition now than it was in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s.