If we assume a generous pet lifespan of 15 years that’s not unreasonable that’s like $400/mo which depending on what your pet needs food wise and how much you spoil them is easily met
As an average, those assumptions are downright modest. The cliche of a house with a white picket fence, a wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a mortgage line up pretty well with that.
Granted, this isn’t everyone’s dream, and it doesn’t apply everywhere. But I would bet that the majority of people in this country would describe that as the cost to live that cliche.
If you read the actual original Investopedia article, most of these claimed costs make silly assumptions about the definition of “The American Dream” and a lot of the data is cherry picked.
They claim the “American dream” requires an $800k house at an over 7% interest rate and they assume you only put 10% down.
They claim the “American dream” involves buying a different used car every 6 years.
They claim the “American dream” involves spending $70k on pets over the course of your lifetime.
Its an interesting exercise, but the assumptions are weird and the headline is sensational.
If we assume a generous pet lifespan of 15 years that’s not unreasonable that’s like $400/mo which depending on what your pet needs food wise and how much you spoil them is easily met
If you have pets bigger than a hamster, 70k in your lifetime seems reasonable, even low. That around 1k per year.
And a different used car every 6 years is borderline frugal. My dream would be a new car every 3 years.
I don’t see the data to be so bad. Even the house financing is realistic (heavily dependent on location, of course).
The $800k house figure includes interest payments. So the value of the home will be much, much less than $800k.
As an average, those assumptions are downright modest. The cliche of a house with a white picket fence, a wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a mortgage line up pretty well with that.
Granted, this isn’t everyone’s dream, and it doesn’t apply everywhere. But I would bet that the majority of people in this country would describe that as the cost to live that cliche.
Now, please don’t tell me the dog ate that 0.5 kid!?
Buddy you need to move out of Nebraska. Those are perfectly reasonable assumptions.
I live on the west coast. Maybe check your own assumptions as well.