Posted on 12/12/2023 9:58:43 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
Rising costs have pushed the “American Dream” out of reach for most Americans, according to a new analysis from Investopedia.
Common milestones associated with success in the United States like marriage, children, homeownership, cars and healthcare are estimated to cost $3,455,305 throughout a person’s lifetime, according to the financial news site.
Meanwhile, the average lifetime earnings of an American with a bachelor’s degree is about $2.3 million, according to data from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
Those with less education can expect the life associated with the American Dream to be further out of reach.
For many people, the American Dream involves getting married. And weddings have gotten pricey.
For its analysis, Investopedia used data from wedding planning website The Knot which calculated that the average cost of getting hitched is now $30,000—$2,000 more than last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
That’s how much it costs to live the dream that Madison Avenue and Hollywood and Wall Street have sold everyone on.
Marriage doesn’t cost$30,000. A wedding can cost $30,000. Getting married can involve a couple hundred honorarium for the clergy, and that is about it. I think big wedding hoopla is important, to reinforce the importance of the institution, build family ties, etc. But if it is not financially feasible, get married anyway!
-PJ
‘That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.’ - George Carlin
My daughter was married in the middle of the pandemic. It was very small—about 20 people.
It cost us about $4k including venue and dinner.
Best wedding I had been to in decades.
[[How much does it cost to live the ‘American Dream?’ One estimate says $3.4M]]
Only 3.39 to go- wonder if i’ll make it in time for the funeral
That’s probably for a “family” that might include two earners.
Let’s say you start at 24 years old, and retire at 67.
Let’s say you can average about a 4% increase in earnings every year.
Let’s say you start with nothing, but have to end up earning a total of $3.4 Million.
My excel spread sheet tells me you start off at about $29,300 per year. For a married couple, $29k seems like a slam dunk.
These stories seems to make the numbers seem crazy. Until you apply financial logic to them,.
Even the average college grad’s earnings are thought to be $2.4million over their lifetime. This means they AVERAGE $53k per year. This is pretty close to the median income for the US.
I am a college grad, as is my wife. We were making the median income for earners when we were 30-35. That gave us 30 years of above median income before retirement.
Again, these numbers seem to be applied to college grads who are working low income jobs. That doesn’t tend to be how it works.
I guess if you assume these are all single earning households, it might apply. But the traditional American Dream calls for a family. That’s more than one person earning.
It totally depends on your dreams and if you allow others to make them for you. The government, for instance, sets your wage limits, your tax limits to pay for their dreams, controls the price of consumer products, creates the inflation when it gets behind their spending, gives your dream money away to other countries and to those that didn’t earn it, increases their wages for their dreams, spends your money for shopping trips and golf days...there’s a lot more. So, whose dreams are we supporting? That makes our dreams smaller.
wy69
My daughter has done discount wedding planning. She recently did one for over 100 people for just over $5,000.
Big super expensive weddings are a joke. Spend the effort on your marriage instead.
My daughter has done discount wedding planning. She recently did one for over 100 people for just over $5,000.
Big super expensive weddings are a joke. Spend the effort on your marriage instead.
The last 10 years I’ve earned ~ $1.7 million. The math adds up...
Kids in their 20s - 30s are earning $100k...
My daughter was also married during the pandemic, in a private ceremony. Thank God. They were truly meant to be married, not cohabiting.
We held a large reception later, when people could attend. It was about $35,000. Our family is far flung and does not have regular reunions. I felt it was time to show the youngest generation the importance of God, marriage, family, especially for the little ones whose parents were not religious. In our family, if I did not do this, the only time we would all get together would be when someone dies. It was a gift to the couple and to our family that we gave because we could. Not everyone who should get married can do this, and there should be no stigma if you don’t.
COSTS MORE TO GET UNHITCHED
24?
I was being “generous.” HAHA.
Articles from “The Hill” are (and should be) automatically suspect. For example:
1. American Dream estimated cost: ≈$3.47 million/lifetime
2. Working life (67 (retire) - 22 (graduate college)): 45 years
$3.47 million/45 years ≈ $77 thousand/year. Not an absolutely astronomical unobtainable amount even if there is only a single wage earner in the family.
While the recent college graduate may not make $77k/year initially, it is not unreasonable to expect a long career where salary is at or north of $75k/annum.
$2.3 million (estimated college graduate lifetime earnings)/45 years ≈ $52 thousand/year.
40 hr/week x 48 weeks = 1920 hr.
$52,000/1920 ≈ $27.00/hour.
$52k/year is NOT a lifetime average wage for a college graduate.
I’d note that it is easier to deal with NPV (net present values). The $3.4 million is likely the total value over the 45 year lifetime.
I’d discount it to today 45 years, using discount of 3%.
Then I’d make my comparison.
Oh, and did the article allow for taxes? Expenses are mostly with after tax money, but the income you use to calculate how much you’d have to earn to match the estimated stream should be net after taxes and the like. Disposable income, in other words. Or, net not gross.
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