Hear that? It's the sound of depression. Childhood is wasted in the hole known as school, where children are indoctrinated to believe that it is the only way to get on, and it is made so by their constant threats of adulthood requiring schooling to get in to a job. High school is basically filler, trying to "prepare you for college", with the same stakes, but slightly higher, than elementary and middle school. University or college is the determining factor of how bad the majority of your life is, with less university or college being that your life is somewhat worse, while more university or college being a better life.
During the first half of this period, you are generally hounded by your parents to do well in school, as it is how high schools and colleges let you in, and to advance to the next grade, to get out of the cycle. You will usually get a car during this period, as it is the main way to get around in North America and Australia, and a very good way to get around in Europe, while not the best. You will also get more privileges and freedom, because of the high levels of distrust from parents to small children. As a teenager, the distrust will usually return due to recent stereotypes that teenagers are not capable of being functioning human beings, but it will fade dramatically during your late teen years as you legally become an adult in most first world nations.
People who generally do better are heading on to a slightly better life, because they will make more money, therefore being able to buy more things to distract them from the massive depression that life is. People that have normal standards are generally headed on to a worse life, as they will be able to get fewer things to distract them. Life after this point has many variables, which I will go into detail with below.
Those with a better life will usually get a large house, and have more than enough income to sustain their somewhat extravagant lifestyles, with work being their reward. CEOs are usually very good at this, rubbing in others' faces what their income is, not their achievements, as they usually have few of the latter. Those of the lower high incomes are usually more normal, having a couple children going through the previously mentioned steps, and having work as their reward for being either strong-willed, or very intelligent people. These middle-high people usually are very skilled in their work areas, with jobs that easily sustain their high-entertainment budget.
The people in the middle are usually the people that were hounded by their parents previously, and have fallen into a normal job. These people will usually have slightly more children on average, having to support usually a slightly larger family. With their entertainment budgets being slightly limited, they usually gift their children entertainment to unknowingly keep their children less motivated to think. They usually have very busy lives to support their children, and instill the normal ethics in them.
The lowest third of the population in terms of income, with inflation increasing the way it is today, and their pay not increasing, are being able to get less and less entertainment, and usually had a downfall that cast them into their poorness. Their situation is only slightly different from the middle group, except that their entertainment budget is limited to simple things, and "grand" things such as a Wii or a computer on their children's birthdays. The lowest part of this group is the most depressing, usually just barely getting by to have even a house, and work longer hours to keep their houses. Sometimes, they live with their grandparents, or their other relatives such as their brothers or sisters so that they can all get by.
For the lowest two halves, once they retire, if they live to that stage, they usually have a sum of money to live out the end of their lives in peace, rest, and harmony. However, this is usually spoiled as simple injuries become major handicaps, causing many to have to live with their children in order to not go into a nursing home, which is the most depressing of the fates an elderly person has (confirmed by horror stories about neglect). Sometimes, in the top of the two thirds, they will gather enough funds to have their own house for a while until their handicaps grow too great and they have to move in with kin, also due to high medical bill costs.
The top third of the incomes usually have a great sum of money saved up, spending their last years making it the greatest with vacations and relaxing every day, and when their problems become too great, they hire someone or go to their children, as they may want to be with their grandchildren, as they bring the elderly great joy. Their last days are usually in a hospice, dying in care.
The elderly sometimes die in a more peaceful way than most, dying during their sleep. However, others will die due to horrible diseases or poorer choices during their childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, causing them diabetes only raising their issues that they have. The two main horrible diseases, known as Alzheimer and dementia, cause them to forget very simple things, eventually causing them to either forget how to breathe, or kill them due to the huge stress on their brain.
Btw, I was keeping back tears while writing the last third, and anger while writing the first third. My recent odd dilemma drove me to write this.