You see DrunknSailor, you were lucky enough to get into the industry early enough to get into the company on a decent pay scale and time period. The major difference between the both of us though, coming from North America, is that I'm much younger allowing me to follow the more Hong Kong route by not having a kid or a dog right now until financially stable. I'm sure if you got into CX a long time ago, that kid would only be 1 right now if you weren't financially stable.
Another thing is, I don't get why people need so much damn space to live in Hong Kong? Just because people are pilots, doesn't mean they can live in 1200 sq foot apartments. Who the hell needs all that space anyways? I currently live in a 500 sq ft apartment in Vancouver, 2 br, and it's more than enough space to get married in and raise a kid if I don't find money to upgrade to a larger place. What's wrong with living in Tung Chung? Besides the ungodly view of CX every morning? The deeper in Hong Kong you live, the harder it'll be to breathe when flying anyways... not to mention, who actually wants to stay living in Hong Kong their whole life as an international cadet? I kinda want to live past 90...
Absolutely nothing wrong with what you said, it's just, well, a lot of cadets don't have strings. If I could, I'd live in a hostel for a year or two... it's not a healthy idea, but obviously if the pay doesn't cover a specific lifestyle, I just won't live it.
The American Dream is a terrible dream, for everyone. How can everyone live the same way Americans do? They can't. (Sorry, I'm a geo major, had to bring that crap up)