Reply to Was there ever a time when your average nine to fiver could afford the American Dream?

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[quote=Anonymous]It’s the barriers to entry to the middle class which have gotten more expensive, which makes the middle class poorer.

My parents had associates degrees and had paid off their house on a lake on more than an acre in a NYC suburb before I went to high school. They vacationed and had expensive hobbies (skiing etc). They paid full tuition for both their children and have very ample retirements.

The total cost of their combined education was less than $5,000, which adjusted for inflation is still $40,000– but there are very, very few professional-level jobs in which you reach that level of financial success for only $20,000 in education. The sorts of jobs they have now require minimum BA and in my mom’s case often MA.

So now what cost $20,000 costs around $100,000 just to get into the middle-class door.  And then you can start on the second “pillar” which is homeownership. Adjusting for inflation my parents home (which they had built on land they purchased) cost about $300,000 which includes the interest they paid on their mortgage.

If you can find a new custom build for $300,000 and an acre+ of land in an exceptional school district in the suburbs of NYC (or even less expensive big cities like DC) in 2023 I would be shocked.[/quote]

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