Depends on the individual and whether they live within their means. Means, being a relative term obviously. People today take more vacations that they can't really afford, buy more expensive stuff that they can't really afford, and drive more expensive cars that they can't really afford more than they did when our grandparents or even some of our parents were our age. My parents didn't live off or even have credit cards when I was a kid and the national average for CC dept is over $8k. This, to me, is living beyond your means. It's on an individual basis and I don't really worry or think about what my neighbor does to pay his bills honestly.