I'm at the tail end of GenX. At age 28 I had probably $150k of retirement savings.
I regret now not having saved more. Back then, we wasted a lot of money eating out, although in hindsight that was about the only anti-mustachian behavior we had. (I also had a higher-paying job, but hated it. The 30% pay cut that I took was TOTALLY worth it, because I love my job now).
My answer to the complainy pants? Suck it up and knuckle down. I got good grades in high school so I could pay my own way through college. I chose an inexpensive university, chose a career with good job prospects, and worked my tail off so I could get a good job. My wife and I bought a house WAY below what our lender said we could afford, and had it almost paid off 6 years later. We've never owned a new car, but we've never owed money on a car, either.
On the topic of housing, we sold our first home in 2011 for the exact same price we bought it for. In our new area, we bought a foreclosure that was more than twice the size, for a fantastic price. Less than six months later, a house on our same cul-de-sac with the same layout sold for 30% less than ours. Granted, it was in far worse shape and ours has a lot more options, but I wish we had had a chance at it.
Were we lucky? Perhaps. But mostly in a "chance favors the prepared" sort of way.