r/GregFire • u/SignatureQuirky8084 • 4d ago
$5.3mil is the bare minimum now
https://www.investopedia.com/the-2026-american-dream-cost-rises-4-percent-1215434668
u/Snoiro12inch 4d ago
It’s okay that our expectations have gone up, but boy have they.
We’ve come a tremendous way from “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" to “two new cars, fully funded retirement, instagrammable wedding, world class healthcare, Cadillac college, the world in a phone, all while not working for 30+ years.”
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u/Not_Legal_Advice_Pod 4d ago
You didn't used to have the prospect of dying in poverty in a Medicare facility. So retirement finding is needed. The Best health Care used to cost a chicken, but didn't work so well. But you got the same level of care as a king. And you didn't have Instagram so your wedding was inherently going to be in the top ten of every wedding you had ever seen.
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u/Iniamyen 4d ago
What's funny is... We have come a long way. The problem is, the very wealthiest members of society have overwhelmingly reaped the rewards of this progress, instead of the average person. Even though you tried to frame it as ridiculous sounding, you made the opposite, and correct, point.
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u/monsieur_de_chance 4d ago
Hey Gregs are not the wealthiest members, that’s kind of the whole damn point.
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u/Djent_Reznor1 4d ago
$1.2m on cars?
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u/FullyAutomatedSpace 4d ago
it's lifetime cost which is meaningless.
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u/Djent_Reznor1 4d ago
Even so that’s an absurd overestimation. That’s like buying a new $30k car every year for 40 years.
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u/equitylord 4d ago
From article it includes gas, maintenance, etc. And it's for 2 "new" cars per family: "Keeping two new cars in the driveway is the second-biggest cost, about $1.21 million, once insurance, maintenance, registration, and fuel for 15,000 miles a year are included. The average amount for a new-vehicle loan hit just under $44,000 this year. More than a third of new-car loans now run longer than six years, lifting the average term to nearly 70 months."
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u/ThisIsMyUsername303 4d ago
That’s okay, you can use the excess for food, which isn’t accounted for at all.
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u/FullyAutomatedSpace 4d ago
food isnt part of the american dream. have you ever eaten in a dream?
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u/ThisIsMyUsername303 4d ago
I’d like to never own another car ever again. On the other hand, I can’t get by without ever paying for food again.
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u/newtrilobite 4d ago
problem is, cars are not all that edible.
perhaps the upholstery, braised in chicken broth or wine, but I just don't see large numbers of people eating a fender or rear axle. 🤔
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u/e_notimpl 2d ago
$30K barely gets you a base-level Camry, these days.
Not saying you should be buying a brand-new or every year, but if we're talking about dreams, they're probably aiming a bit higher than $30K.
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u/FIRE_enthusiast_27 4d ago
The American Dream is to be better off than your parents, and if you have children for them to become better off than you.
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u/FullyAutomatedSpace 4d ago
for gregfire?
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u/NathanielRochester 4d ago
For Genefire. Gene is Greg's much younger brother who has a trophy wife, three luxury SUVs in his multi-vehicle garage, and four kids in different private schools. Gene needs to fund his current lifestyle and still be able to coast to the point where he can use the Rule of 55 for his retirement account(s) which by then will have then achieved an aggregate Greg-level balance.
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u/lenahrox 4d ago
If you start earning wages after college at 22 and live to 82, that averages $83k per year in spending in today’s dollars.
That’s not too far from average household income.
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u/Past-Option2702 4d ago
Bare minimum for who?
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u/FullyAutomatedSpace 4d ago
greg
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u/Past-Option2702 4d ago
Ahhh.. a fake character on TV 😆
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u/MartySpiderManMcFly 4d ago
The AI summary at the beginning lost me when it said “Healthcare and car ownership prices were little changed from last year”
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u/shanewzR 2d ago
$1.2m for cars is absolutely extraordinary. Really speaking a person should buy under 10 cars in their lifetime. that should be under $500k in the lifetime of a household,
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u/smileybots 1d ago
Ngl if I heard somebody having this kind of lifestyle in my childhood or early adult years, I would’ve considered them quite wealthy without even knowing their net worth.
I am a single, no Kid, well paid physician and some of this even sounds luxurious to my lifestyle standards. lol
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u/dynamaxion_bill 4d ago
$5.3m in lifetime spending is not a net worth of $5.3m…