Anecdotal, but some of the 20-somethings I work with exhibit a kind of helplessness or fatalism about finances. These are smart, well-educated people who still haven't signed up for the company's 401k program, and don't invest in the stock market because they "don't know how to buy stocks", even though I tell them they should be doing this at least once a month. These aren't people who are living paycheck to paycheck or spending profligately as far as I can tell.