2 examples:
1 person I work with, hard worker, tons and tons of hours, very high position/salary (actual #'s are not known to me, but are clearly in multiple 6 figures). He works really, really hard. He found out last year that he has a disease that will most likely kill him within 5-7 years. His attitude has shifted vastly, and he will be headed for disability in 6 weeks.
one of his lieutenants is in a similar position. 2 high incomes, 2 kids. Big house, big cars, constant worry over money. She brings in a starbucks (venti of course) nearly every day, but tosses half of it.
Me: 50k a year. I didn't start saving until a few years ago, like...NOTHING. we have paid off scooters and a motorcycle, all of which could be traded in for a bus pass if we had to (actually we both get bus passes for work!). I put just shy of 30% away before I get it into 401k. I vowed to pay for everything in the future with cash, and we want to save 10-12k a year toward a house payment for a few years. If we can't get a reasonable house with that at the time (Denver is HUGELY overpriced at the moment) then we will likely invest it and hide under a rock.
We still have a nice vacation every year, just try to keep it reasonable, pay almost all cash, and anything that goes over on a card, pay it off before interest accumulates. "But how do you pay for all that?" I save up!
We do go out to eat (and my drinks) more often than we should. I shamed myself last month by spending like $200 on utter crap, which could have gone to much better places. I don't mind enjoying life, and money spent on travel isn't wasted, but our expenses are very low.
Many of you are 100x more efficient than this, so I'm not sure how people think it's OK to have a monthly income of 10k and somehow worry over $$.