Have you found achieved your American Dream?

[Big_Hitter]

living the dream here

 

[big-papa]

American Dream? No just life goals which are all probably some subset of the dream.
- Go to college and get a degree. I'm the only one of my siblings (11 of us) to do that. Check
- Get a job with a future in a field I was interested in. Check
- Become debt free quickly (except for a mortgage). Check
- Get married, optionally have a kid or two. Decided on only one kid. Check
- Save as much as possible and invest wisely. Took a decade or so after college before I realized that should be in the list, but it got included. Check
- FIRE - A work in progress. Sometime in the next 0-4 years.....

 

[ABQ2015]

There were six kids in my family and we alternated between working class and downright poor. Two have been able to achieve the American Dream (although I never married or had children) and one did okay. The others did not do so well although they may have had more fun along the way than my brother and me. But my brother's children are approaching their 40's and remain somewhat financially dependent on him. And I see this a lot in my friends' children.

 

[target2019]

We are batting 8 for 9, or .88888.

Counting siblings for spouse and I, we have 8 American dreams come true. Seems to be simpler for married folks, at least in our limited sample.

Except for the one single individual, I am pretty certain that all would state they have achieved the goal(s).

 

[brainsqueeze]

According to Yale's web site, the domestic student body is 73% Caucasian

Yale Facts | Yale University

Latinos are counted as Caucasian, since under our system they are an 'ethnicity,' not a 'race.' So 27% is Native-/Asian-/African-/possibly other-American; and some percentage of the remaining 73%, and some percentage of the 27% is Latino but would be considered a 'minority.'

So it's likely more than 27% 'minority', though how the earlier poster got to "nearly 50%" is unclear and seems unlikely.

I went to an elite university 25 years ago. Our student body was about 25% Asian American. Berkeley was over 50% at the time.

 

[NYEXPAT]

The reason they call it the American dream, is because you have to be asleep to believe it.- George Carlin

 

[old woman]

I see the future generations as only getting the good life if they are born lucky. Some kids are born healthy with good brains and loving families. They can become professionals and build good careers and own homes. The less fortunate who have bad health, lower IQ and don't have loving families don't have as good of a chance. Too many parents on drugs with no ambition so their kids are born addicted and even if they finish high school won't go to college. For them working minimum wage, smoking pot and barely making rent is more likely. Jobs like Walmart clerk don't pay enough to buy a house or live a good life, without parents to help you get a foot in a door someplace and a good enough brain to work your way up you are stuck.
My family mostly is smart so even the young get decent jobs and will get houses. Those not smart will be supported by parent or others so they have enough even if they can't earn a living.

 

[rayinpenn]

Latinos are counted as Caucasian, since under our system they are an 'ethnicity,' not a 'race.' So 27% is Native-/Asian-/African-/possibly other-American; and some percentage of the remaining 73%, and some percentage of the 27% is Latino but would be considered a 'minority.'

So it's likely more than 27% 'minority', though how the earlier poster got to "nearly 50%" is unclear and seems unlikely.

I went to an elite university 25 years ago. Our student body was about 25% Asian American. Berkeley was over 50% at the time.

Point of order: You should have the courtesy of doing homework before you challenge anyone. ...my citation is right from their website
Please note the pie chart: 47% white.. Since white is the majority all others are considered minorities -it is actually quite simple...

http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/yale-university/student-life/diversity/


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[ziggy29]

Counting siblings for spouse and I, we have 8 American dreams come true. Seems to be simpler for married folks, at least in our limited sample.

For married folks on the same page about their goals and desires, yes. For others who have different ideas entirely.... not so much.

 

[Htown Harry]

More and more I find myself rolling my eyes when I hear the term American Dream.

• It is frequently used by politicians, automatically making it suspect
• There's no set definition
• Pointing out the demonstrable advantages of living in the US economy often seems to morph into an implication that Americans' aspirations for health, security, etc. are somehow superior to the rest of the world. This make little sense, IMO.

I just focus on my dreams and leave it at that.

 

[Dawg52]

I'm early retired, live where I want and have good health. That's the American dream for me.

 

[target2019]

For married folks on the same page about their goals and desires, yes. For others who have different ideas entirely.... not so much.

That was more about our family. I realize the divorce rate is high. Divorce is more likely.

For whatever reason, both sets of parents remained married, as did all of the children. Have to be honest, that I have little experience with divorce and the associated fallout.

 

[Gumby]

[*]Pointing out the demonstrable advantages of living in the US economy often seems to morph into an implication that Americans' aspirations for health, security, etc. are somehow superior to the rest of the world. This make little sense, IMO.

I just focus on my dreams and leave it at that.

A wise point, Harry. In my observation, people the world over all want roughly the same things.

1. They want enough food to eat, clean water to drink, and a warm dry place to sleep.
2. They (mostly) want to have children, whom they would like to see grow into adulthood.
3. They want good health and physical security for themselves and their children.
4. They want to have friends and family who respect them, value them and love them.
5. They want a job that provides some financial security. Even better if that job also brings self esteem and a sense of satisfaction.
6. They want a sense that they have some control over their own destiny.
7. They want to look back on their lives and feel that they have contributed and made at least some difference in the world.

I think it helpful to keep this list in mind, especially when we think about how the USA interacts with other countries. The people who live in those countries are not caricatures; they are real, living, breathing human beings who have the same hopes and dreams that we do.

 

[mpeirce]

More and more I find myself rolling my eyes when I hear the term American Dream.

• It is frequently used by politicians, automatically making it suspect
• There's no set definition

This. It's basically become just a phrase used by politicians and writers to invoke whatever vision they are promoting at the moment.

The term is of fairly resent origin - less than 100 years ago. James Truslow Adams coined it in 1931 in his book The Epic of America:

The American dream that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class.

That is, it's really about what drew people to America. Some came for the "streets paved with gold", but more came to start a new life without whatever constraints they experienced in their country of origin.

For a time, people already in America headed for the frontier for much the same reason - a fresh start and fewer people telling you what to do. But eventually, we ran out of frontiers.

I moved to Silicon Valley in the 80's for much the same reason many people headed for the frontier - new opportunities and a place that was making up it's own rules.

Maybe if people make it to Mars, they'll have a new frontier where they can built their own Martian Dream.

 

[Htown Harry]

In my observation, people the world over all want roughly the same things.

yep.

 

[FUEGO]

+1 to Maslow's hierarchy of needs being met in our case.

Minus the self-actualization, that's roughly the American Dream I think of.

I think I also attained the self-actualization for the most part (still a work in progress of course!).

My minority female war refugee wife would disagree with Dixonge's initial assertion that achievement of the American Dream is a white men's club. But you'll have to ask her, and she's busy sitting in the other room of our multi-room house on our new couch, belly full of food, watching The Walking Dead live streamed in 1080p over our high speed internet onto our flat screen TV. A far cry from a one room dirt floor hut in the jungles of SE Asia where she almost died from starvation.

The American Dream is dead for some, but there's usually more than one mistake in the pasts of those people.

 

[marko]

[*]... an implication that Americans' aspirations for health, security, etc. are somehow superior to the rest of the world. This make little sense, IMO.

I suspect a couple million immigrants who've come to the US might be able to enumerate the superiorities to where they came from.

 

[Htown Harry]

I suspect a couple million immigrants who've come to the US might be able to enumerate the superiorities to where they came from.

I agree. In fact, I think your number is low by at least a factor of 20.

My point is a little more subtle: in a country as diverse as ours, the range and breadth of our individual aspirations cannot be captured in a single slogan.

Here's a slide show with quotes from folks far outside our ER.org demographic that shows what I mean:
Americans Around the Country Describe Their American Dream - The Atlantic

 

[razztazz]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Htown Harry View Post
[*]... an implication that Americans' aspirations for health, security, etc. are somehow superior to the rest of the world. This make little sense, IMO.
I suspect a couple million immigrants who've come to the US might be able to enumerate the superiorities to where they came from.

I suspect a couple million immigrants who've come to the US might be able to enumerate the superiorities to where they came from.

I have heard this one a lot since I was a boy. Could never figure out why people think this a good thing. It's relative and it matters what you compare things to. America being better than a 3rd World hell hole or a dictatorship run by the Secret Police is not a ringing endorsement. I think that's called damning with faint praise.

 

[robnplunder]

I have achieved my American dream for sure - happily married, an independent kid, a decent house, early retirement, and quite enjoying life. America has been great.

Pura Vida

 

[target2019]

Historian James Truslow Adams popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America:

But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream

This phrase has been hijacked by politicians for sure. But it stills mean something to many of us. Maslow would have been early twenties when this book erupted. Wonder how much it affected his thought?

 

[ls99]

Sure did.

At age 17 emigrated, after years on the waiting list, medical tests, interview at the US legation, deplaned KLM 707 airplane at Kennedy airport.

Issued green card, two years later Uncle Sam demanded my services, three years later Honorably discharged from Army and a few months later pronounced US citizen and American.

Did pretty good through life here and retired on the dot at 59.5 on May 25 nearly 9 years ago.

Now sucking up SS and spending my investments.

 

[brainsqueeze]

Point of order: You should have the courtesy of doing homework before you challenge anyone. ...my citation is right from their website
Please note the pie chart: 47% white.. Since white is the majority all others are considered minorities -it is actually quite simple...

http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/yale-university/student-life/diversity/


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Huh. If expressing doubt about uncited facts wounds you so deeply, you might consider posting in less controversial topics. Say, like needlepoint.

No problem presenting the figures, though I could do without the superciliousness. Ah well, some people only debate out of indignation and self-righteousness. I have learned to steer clear of such folks in the interests of my own happiness and self-preservation.

 

[W2R]