<prompt> Human: 1. Ive seen quite a few posts on personal finance about people who seem to struggle financially despite making 70k in salary. From my background thats nearly the combined income of my parents, this seems absurd. Does this happen frequently in the real world? 2. I will graduate from college in 1-2 years with probably around 5k student debt, which I can probably pay off with summer jobs and such before I graduate so no interest will be charged, so any financial tips or advice or just what it feels like after graduating and having to pay for everything would be great.  <response>: As long as you dont fuck it up, its awesome. If youre living in an average area of the country and struggling on 70k, youre doing it wrong.70k is an extremely comfortable middle class lifestyle. 