I see both sides of this argument. A lot of people born in the 30’s and 40’s that I can think of have saved way more than enough money to retire comfortably. They worked during some pretty prosperous times and a lot of them made big money on their investments too. Plus, those born in the 30’s (like my parents) have a depression-era work and savings ethic that made them always sock money away for a rainy day, sometimes a lot more than they really need.
HOWEVER, a lot of the people born in the 50’s and later are way UNDER-SAVING and will not be able to retire or will have to work until they are very old. I don’t think this is necessarly a horrible thing except that, in our society, older people tend to get laid off during economic downturns.
So, I think some generations did oversave but the younger generations are definitely under-saving.