Reply #3: At 31, he's got plenty of time to restart his life

[Warpy]

I started over twice after that age. At retirement age, though, you're out of options.

I just hope his experience in 2000 taught him an important lesson, that income comes and goes but debt is forever. I sincerely hope he realized that the lifestyle of the rich and famous should be reserved for the rich and famous and we worker bees need to save up for those times we get dumped on our asses, which is all too frequently.

As for the envy of the career capped by a pension, that's a bitter reality for older boomers: pension contributions were simply stolen when we changed jobs and once pensions became portable, they disappeared. The few of us who are still promised pensions are now finding out those pensions were only a fantasy that evaporated with all the hedge fund paper their managers invested in.

I know what Xers are facing because I faced it, too. However, if we all manage to work together, we can change the focus of this country from fattening the rich to providing a more level playing field for all of us.

The past 40 years of conservatism from both parties hasn't worked for any of us, no matter how old we are.