Never Retire: The Work And Retirement Stigma America Needs To Shake

The back end of the American dream—traditional retirement around age 65 with a million bucks or more in the bank—is even more impossible than it was when I started writing this newsletter more than two years ago.

This is because the front end of the American dream—home ownership, a couple cars in the driveway, surviving and thriving in the rat race—is dying, if not already dead.

We’ll cover that aspect more in one of our next installments, but, for now, consider this—

• Just over two years ago, the median price of a home in the United States was about $382,000. The interest rate on a 30-year mortgage loan was relatively high at 6.0%. Therefore, you could have expected your monthly payment, assuming 20% down, to have been about $2,341, which would have required an annual income of roughly $93,600 to keep that payment no higher than 30% of your income.

• Today, the median price of a home in the United States is $425,000 and the mortgage interest rate is approximately 6.7%. This input brings your monthly mortgage payment to $2,761, which requires annual earnings of $110,400 or so.

Of course, assuming the median is unrealistic for many of us, given the high cost of housing in most medium and large cities.

Add in the reality that tying yourself to such a stressful, 30-year financial commitment—for what, really?—was a bad idea then and an even worse idea now and you have to fear for the future of our nation. The runaway American dream has gone from dumb to dumber.

Like I said, we’ll look at the numbers a bit more in a few days.

Today, let’s talk about the stigma.

The stigma you might face—and feel the weight of—if you realize there’s no way in hell you can possibly do any of the above, let alone traditionally retire.

The American dream now officially asks the impossible—