re: Is one major cause of wealth disparity a poor rate of return on social security?

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I feel like discretionary income + Savings as a % of total income is less now certainly than it was at the end of the 80's but that's my frame of reference.

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I certainly understand the perception! I suppose it depends on how we define "discretionary". This will make me sound like an old fogey, but... if a 1600sf house was good enough for a family in 1970, it should be good enough today. So... I'd consider the cost difference between a 1600sf house and a 2400sf house part of discretionary spending.

But... if you ask the average homeowner if 50% of their mortgage is "discretionary" they'd likely say no. They consider their home a "necessity".

Given that housing is such a large portion of one's income... think how much "wealthier", how much more discretionary income those people would have, and how much more they could save by reducing their home mortgage by 50%.