That certainly is very interesting.
I am an OAP and have been since 2007. Perhaps I have been lucky, but during my working life the harder I worked the luckier I seemed to get.
I was always reluctant to buy into pension schemes, but my wife and I had no options and we have a small but steady private pension. We both never opted out of the ERPS & SERPS Gov't Pension Schemes, so our state pensions are better than the average.
However, we did purchase property when we were in our 50's and early 60', so we get a rental income. That may sound attractive, but repairs and maintenance have to come out of the income. I always think we did the right thing though.
I don't consider myself as 'wealthy', although we are comfortable. We are both able to enjoy our retirement and to pursue our hobbies and sports. My wife is a very keen bowls player, at County level, and I fly gliders/teach gliding and play with my Minis. The Minis actually cost me very little as I tend to keep them a few years and then when I sell one it always at least breaks-even. I would never sell my 1964 'S'. I do occasionally do engine builds for friends for which I charge an hourly rate, although I don't offer that service generally.
My road car is a 12-year-old BMW 7-Series and I have an old Land-Rover for towing trailers and moving stuff around.
My personal feeling is that I am one of the 'lucky generation' born during or just after WW2. Those of that generation who had aspirations and were prepared to work hard to achieve them generally did well. There are always those who are not willing to really work and take risks and they are the ones who tend to say "It's all right for you". Both my wife and I have had to put our home up as security for business loans and once we were in a situation when our home was really at risk, but we came through it eventually without it becoming a disaster.
My son decided not to go to Uni, but to take an automotive engineering apprenticeship. He is now a design consultant in F1 engineering and is steadily building up his personal wealth with his wife who has her own small one-person business as well.
When I look at my parents who had a much harder life I do realise how much better life is these days for virtually everyone. And as for my grand-parents, they had a really tough life.