I grew up in a very small town in the middle of nowhere, raised by parents who grew up during the tail end of the Great Depression. They didn't have high salary jobs, but we didn't suffer from any kind of deprivation. My wife raised 3 kids on her own and didn't make $40k a year until just before she quit her career.

While being independently wealthy certainly has its appeal, and I won't turn down a large salary, we've always found it astonishing that people making six figure salaries live paycheck to paycheck.

I was fortunate enough to get a very basic financial education from my parents (mostly by osmosis) on how to live within my means, I feel like much of this focus on money could have been stemmed by offering at least some financial education in public school. Even something as simple as how to make a budget and track where you spend your money would be a tremendous help.