by Brickhouse D
We pay payroll taxes, I’m currently at 24%. Then we pay taxes on everything that we purchase with the money that we paid taxes on before we even got it deposited in our bank accounts. We also pay State income taxes. I own my home and my property taxes are almost $17,000 a year. Then we have to pay homeowner’s insurance on top of that; just in case right.
Kids are in college, so we have to pay for their education, so that they can get a good job to pay their share of taxes. My first job was as a subway messenger in Manhattan when I was 14, I’m now 62. I’ve been paying taxes for the past 48 years. I fear that by the time I retire, my social security will be gone. That’s my American Dream, or nightmare.
The “American Dream” costs far more than most people will ever earn
The “American Dream” costs about $3.4 million to achieve over the course of a lifetime, from getting married to saving for retirement, according to a recent analysis from financial site Investopedia.
Meanwhile, median lifetime earnings for the typical U.S. worker stand at $1.7 million, earlier research from the Georgetown University has found.
Such figures underline the financial pressures that many families face trying to afford a middle-class life as expenses like child care, college tuition and buying a home continue to climb. The Investopedia analysis tallies the average cost of achieving other aspects traditionally associated with the American Dream, such as owning a house and raising two children to age 18.
Another analysis, from USA Today, found that funding the American Dream costs about $130,000 a year for a family of four. Median household income stands at about $74,450, according to the Census Bureau.