Financially, when you adjust for the fact that they had a dual income household and I don’t, I’m a bit better off. But in general life terms, when my mom was my age, she and my dad were working a hell of a lot harder than me. They were farming, renovating an old one room schoolhouse into a home and just making the property look nice by landscaping (hey, it sounds more impressive when you consider that’s 160 acres!). My standard of living is much better, I have running water! 
My mother had a law degree at my age, I am a manual laborer and don’t make much, so I put “much worse off”.
Looking back I see that none of the things a successful parent should’ve done to help their child be a success were done for me, and when your parents have high income, it keeps you from getting financial aid until you are 24 and considered “independent” regardless of living on my own since 18. Yeah I’m a bit bitter about it.
Much better off.
This makes me curious. Why did they emigrate in the first place?
It is hard to compare, as they were married with two kids at my age. I would say I am a little better off than they were at my age. Certainly, they are better off now, but they have 30 years on me, so time will tell.
I live in a larger house in a nicer neighborhood. We have one car, as my parents did, but ours is reliable. When I go grocery shopping, I don’t have to worry about what we can afford to eat this week. I can buy my kids clothes when they need them, not just when they’re on sale. We go on vacation at least once a year, sometimes more. And we know our kids can go to college if they want to.
I am significantly better off than my parents were in their early 40s.
I’m better off health-wise, probably because I benefited from better medical care and nutrition while growing up. My parents also directly suffered due to the two separate, different wars they lived through (my mom, WW2 in Italy where she suffered from (possible) rape, survivor stress and malnutrition; and my dad Viet Nam, which ultimately killed him with Agent Orange induced cancer.)
Economically some of the differences between my parents and me are due to lifestyle and personal choices, for better or for worse. Other differences have to do with the economy we see today and the fewer options it offers for upward mobility.
What I cannot say is the same is the potential for the future: my wife’s kids probably will have a much less forgiving and more challenging world to grow up in, than I did. I do not envy them for some of what they will face.
Far better off. We had a great life growing up. Dad was career military that dragged the family around the world before retiring a retired one star general. They impressed upon us the need to save so I became a world class money grubber. Any amount of money I got went straight into savings. When I went off to university, They gave me $2500 to open an investment account. My first purchase was 200 shares of Apple ( at $2.50 a share ).
I still have that account and have not sold any of it.
My parents were never poor, but my family is much better off financially than they were at my age. However, they are much better off than me right now.
I think worse? It’s like comparing apples and oranges.
At 26 my dad had probably just begun his career in company x. I don’t know how much money he was making but I know it’s more than I am right now. He had a wife and two kids, a house and mortgage, a couple of cars. Seems like he was handling it okay, we never went wanting.
I on the other hand have no kids (and no plans to) but am $70k in debt because of school. Own a car, but living with my dad. Working minimum wage while finishing grad school. I have a little nest of money saved up but it’s mostly in hopes of a few months rent of an apartment after I graduate and (hopefully) begin my career.
I don’t know. I feel like it’s worse. 
A little worse off; Possibly more than a little depending on your standards. My parents sent two kids to private college, own a home probably valued at over a million dollars (Hell if I know what it’s actually worth, but that’s an educated guess), three cars, no appreciable debt, both now retired (not that my mother ever really worked full time), with healthy investments, blah, blah etc.
Certainly, I can’t match any of that, though I have a pleasant enough condo and enough money to buy what I want to, and I expect to eventually be able to retire well assuming the economy doesn’t completely collapse. 
While I’ve been at this for far less time than my parents have, I don’t really expect to match their “financial accomplishments” when I am their age, unless I factor in whatever I might inherit from them, which doesn’t count as far as I am concerned. At least, not for this kind of poll.
I’m happy for you - really and sincerely happy. I had a pretty happy upbringing and my dad too was career military that dragged us around the world before retiring - as an E-5 staff sergeant. Even with a 20-year pension he had to work two jobs to keep enough coming in to pay their mortgage. They had almost no savings most of their marriage. When I went to college, they gave me free room and board and I had to work through my college years. I was 35 before I could afford the luxury of buying my first Apple computer. My dad eventually died of Agent Orange cancer from his time in Viet Nam. My mom died a year after a stroke left her helpless and her accrued medical bills ate up all the savings (from my dad’s death benefit) that she and my dad had wanted to pass on to me as my inheritance. By the time mom finally passed away, I had to declare bankruptcy from the expense of trying to help her out.
Parallel lives, very different outcomes. Not whining or complaining, not jealous - just sayin’. Interesting how life works out differently for different people.
I do think that having financially savvy parents is a big leg up for young people. I also own up to the fact that I did not appreciate the important lessons about money and credit until much later in life, and had to learn them the hard way.
BTW, I too had a college chum who bought Apple stock when it first came out and they paid for a medical school education with the proceeds. That was cool.
Probably TMI but…
Both my parents were children of the Depression so their emphasis on savings and education was probably the result of their experiences as kids. Dad managed to get through university before embarking on a career in the military and while he never suggested that we follow a similar path, it was never a question of “do want to go” but “where do you want to go.” The same holds true for Miss DrumBum who is headed off to university in the fall.
By the time my mother was my age she had been dead for ten years, so I’m much better off there. My father had been a widower for three years, well on the road to alcoholism, profoundly depressed, who didn’t know what to do with two daughters who hated each other.
I’m in good enough health with a loving husband, a home that’s almost paid off, a job I don’t like but at least I have one, decent financial shape, and no kids.