Is It Time to Reshape the American Dream?
The “American Dream” is deeply ingrained in everyone. The belief that anyone, regardless of where they come from, can achieve success and a good life through hard work, determination, and initiative. It’s about the idea that individuals have equal opportunities to improve their lives and reach their full potential.
Since the 1950s, the “American Dream” has included owning a home, having a stable job with upward mobility, and the ability and power to shape your life and your destiny by your own efforts.
Is Home Ownership A Fading Promise?
In 2024, the median sales price for a home in the U.S. was $385,000. A traditional 20% down payment would mean coming up with $77,000 in cash. How many 25-35-year-olds have that kind of money set aside?
Rent today often equals or even exceeds what a mortgage payment would be. The challenge isn’t paying the monthly mortgage, it’s scraping together the upfront lump sum to buy in. Most young Americans can’t save enough from their paychecks to meet that down payment. And most don’t have parents with the means to gift them tens of thousands of dollars.
They aren’t building equity because there’s no “starter home” to sell and step up from. They’re paying mortgage-level rent while the ownership train passes them by.
Having a Stable Job
No one works for Boeing for thirty years, collects a gold watch, and retires with a decent pension. Not anymore. That version of the “American Dream”, lifelong job security and a comfortable retirement, has all but vanished.
Today, a “starter job” is often not even in your chosen field. In fact, many young adults are juggling two or more jobs just to stay afloat. These aren’t stepping stones, they’re holding patterns. Temporary solutions in search of a stable, meaningful career.
Once you’re able to obtain a more suitable job, it’s time to settle in and begin looking for the next step up. People don’t look for advancement with their current employer any longer. Dedication to a single employer is less a badge of honor and more a sign you didn’t look for something better. Moving up means moving out.
Shaping One’s Own Life and Destiny
In today’s social and economic environment, it takes a Herculean effort to shape a life and fulfill a destiny.
The idea that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and create a future of their own sounds empowering, until you realize many people can’t afford the boots, or there aren’t enough boots to go around.
Where to live, whether or not to have children, when you’ll retire, these choices were once personal. Now they’re dictated by finance, perhaps student loan debt, unaffordable housing, and rising childcare costs.
Passions and callings are buried under the weight of practical survival. It’s hard to pursue a dream job, creative ambition, or entrepreneurial path when you’re just trying to stay one step ahead of rent, insurance premiums, or medical bills.
The “American Dream” promised freedom. Now, most people experience constraint. They have the freedom to choose, but only from the “short list” of options.
So, Now What?
If the traditional “American Dream” no longer reflects most people’s reality, then maybe it’s time to reshape the dream. Do you agree/disagree? What would a “New American Dream” look like today?
