Recently an elderly relative mine, upon deciding that paying taxes on her accrued wealth was just plain silly, gifted me a sizable amount of money. She stated, rather kindly, in a letter that this sizable sum was to "help me get a leg up" on life be that paying off debt, investing in my retirement or starting to save for a house.

Which got me to thinking. I am part of a generation that has been taught and encouraged to spend, spend, spend with little thought as to the amount of debt that we're accumulating. I feel as though that there has just recently been an inundation of concern regarding our future. Sure, we're told to invest aggressively as our youth can afford the ups and downs of the stock market, and if we invest wisely as well, we'll all retire millionaires. Yet, are we truly retiring thus with our various school, credit, car and mortgage debts?

The quintessential American dream is based the idea of a house with a picket fence, 2.5 children, and a Humvee. At the risk of sounding "old timey," this is a dream that is not achievable by mere sweat on our backs but rather, with a flourish, signing away 20-30 years of ones life.

Yet, with my two degrees, 10 year plan, 401K and savings for a house, I am living this American dream. And I've got the debt to prove it.