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Post by 3SugarBugs on Jul 8, 2014 15:50:08 GMT
I think the replies to this thread have already summed it up - each person's 'American Dream' is different! For many of us, from our parent's point of view, it was to own your own home and to see your children do better/have more than you. Pretty straight forward. But with time, comes invention. And what used to be 'luxury' is now considered 'the norm'. I can't imagine what my children's life will look like, and we have a lot!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 28, 2024 22:23:08 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 16:14:00 GMT
Our dual income household is a little less than that but we spend a lot every month on insurance, 401k, taxes etc. We are not broke by any means and we do spend money on some things that others do not. We have 2 car payments because once the kids both moved out, we bought what we called 15year vehicles. We intend to have these at least 15 years. We wanted to spend the money while we had it and could afford to do so. Who knows if in another 10 years we could afford to do that?
We own our home, but we could financially afford a much bigger, nicer home but choose to stay put. We have friends that spend big bucks on eating out and going out for drinks but have no car payments. We don't eat out much so it is all a trade off, wherever you put your priorities I guess.
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perumbula
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,439
Location: Idaho
Jun 26, 2014 18:51:17 GMT
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Post by perumbula on Jul 8, 2014 16:35:51 GMT
You do it with a smaller home (smaller mortgage payment) spend less on groceries ($1k a month on food not even counting restaurant eating??? really? that's nuts!) less on cars (yeah, so not driving a brand new full sized SUV) less on vacations (we don't vacation every year and when we do it's closer to 1k) etc. You do it by spending less across the board in all categories.
I still think we're living the American dream even though we don't drive a fancy car, i don't have a master bathroom, and we've only managed to take our family to Disneyland once (for one day because my brother got married in Anaheim so we were already in town for that.) We have a roof over our head, plenty of food to eat, cars to drive, clothes to wear, and even a few extras. We're happy and to most of the rest of the world we are vastly rich.
there are people sending their children across the border by themselves in the desperate hope that those children could someday have half of what we have. we are grateful for what we have.
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Post by papersilly on Jul 8, 2014 17:23:51 GMT
I believe my parents achieved the original American dream. they were immigrants who came to the US in the early 1970's with nothing. we lived in public housing for the first few years. my dad worked two jobs and my mom babysat kids in our home until they were able to buy a home. we grew up in that home and have it to this day. when my dad was in his 50's, he passed the Bar (one of the hardest in the nation) and started his own law practice. my mom worked at one job until she retired. in the 1980's they bought real estate that cash flowed our college education because they did not believe in taking out student loans. today my brother is an attorney and my sister is in accounting. we all own homes in nice areas and the grandkids are doing well. I am grateful for all of the opportunities that we have had and I believe the American Dream is alive, well, and achievable today.
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Post by MommyofTriplets on Jul 8, 2014 20:51:10 GMT
I think "The American Dream" has changed a lot since someone first coined the phrase. I totally agree! Amy
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