The message that people should take from the life experiences of the older generation is not to work until you drop, set retirement as an objective and once you have the funds then retire. I know of people still working full time at 70 plus because they cannot let go of that paypacket yet are in a financial position that would have let them retire at sixty if not earlier, it seems to be a mindset that you are not old or a pensioner so long as you keep working and by retiring it is game over. The secret is good financial planing, it is not difficult providing you are willing to work with the numbers and not fight them.
People do seem to whinge a lot more and fail to accept that they need to take control, an example is mortgages where they are now more realistic but not for many who just took low interest rates as being the norm rather than taking the upper hand and actually rather than mortgaging themselves to the hilt been a bit more savy and taken something less and paid more off each month to reduce the debt, it is better to own a complete smaller house than just the kitchen of a larger one. The sooner that debt is cleared the sooner you can pile money into retirement preparation and still have money to live today.
That clock started ticking the moment you were born, time is according to physics a linear dimension but it really does not feel linear. As I have said the older folk have had the best years from the Uk, it is being dragged down by so much incompetance and stupidity and with the enviroment also turning on us that I would not want to be in the shoes of the latest generations.