4. Middle Class

The American Dream was a steady job where one person can support a family, having 2 or more kids, buying a nice house in a safe neighborhood, a degree with no student loans, a new car every few years, family vacations without credit card debt, health and life insurance, a retirement account, and college savings for the kids. The dream costs $10,000 to $20,000 per month depending on location. If you have no realistic chance at earning that much you are screwed.

It’s easy to blame the previous generations for your perceived predicament and hardships. The reality is that they had to endure hard times too. Depressions, wars, gas lines, high inflation, primitive medical care, limited information, widespread prejudice and so on. There is more competition now for resources like houses simply because the population has doubled since 1958 when the Boomers started booming.

Losers have severely restricted ego-driven vision and perspective. Like children they want what they want now or they throw temper tantrums. It is comical and sad. Winners win not because it was easy but because they find out what is happening, adapt and push forward regardless of obstacles or limitation. They are not waiting for handouts.

Here’s a heads up. When you are young the future seems impossibly distant. As you inevitably get older you start to realize that time is the great equalizer. Life comes with an expiration date. You just don’t know when it is. Time compresses so that the future is not abstract any more. It is looming right in front of your face. The time to live is now. The only real risk is inescapable mortality. So get with it.