- Let's talk about how the American dream
has changed over the years.
I mean, you guys, what we consider necessities today,
our parents considered luxuries in their day.
Or, it may never have even existed.
So, let's take a look at a few different things
that are a reality now for us versus 30 years ago.
In the 80's, the average size of a new house
was 1,600 square feet.
Today, it's 2,600 square feet.
In the early 90's, 99% of households
didn't even have internet.
But now we feel like we can't go anywhere without it,
or our smartphones, and all this other technology
we can't live without.
But it didn't used to be a necessity.
We even think that we have to have a car
that has a sunroof, automatic windows,
heated seats, bluetooth, parking itself, all the things,
but those are all luxuries.
But, unfortunately, we've turned them into necessities.
And people keep going into more and more debt
for these things.
For example, in the last 15 years,
consumer debt has almost doubled.
And people are taking out 40% more on their homes.
Because we are just trying to keep up
with what society tells us that we deserve,
like the standard of living that we should all have.
But we already have more than what we think we have.
I want you guys to check out this conversation
I had with my dad, Dave Ramsey, on his show
about this exact topic.
- There's nothing wrong with having a nicer house.
There's nothing wrong with having a nicer car.
There's nothing wrong with going on a nicer vacation,
having a nicer phone, or a nicer boat,
or all those things I listed off.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I'm not shaming anyone for having those.
I am shaming a political agenda
or an economic discussion on the macro
that says that you have a right to those things,
and the current economic system
has robbed you of your right to have these things
that are middle class, when they're legitimately
not middle class.
- Right, right.
- The middle class has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled
while the income has stayed,
in terms of its consumption of these items,
and while their income has stayed relatively stagnant,
instead of living within their means.
- Yep, that's right.
- And those that live within their means
are no longer in the middle class.
- Because they're getting ahead.
- Yeah. 93% of the millionaires that we found
were first-generation rich.
Did not become millionaires because of an inheritance.
Became millionaires because of their
consumption patterns were within their means,
allowing them to invest.
- Which takes, to piggyback off of that,
a really mature person.
To sit there in the moment and say,
gosh, we wanna be able to go on the nice vacation.
We want that. We want this.
You know what I mean?
Like, we expect this.
And to be able to say no to yourself,
like I was going back to,
it doesn't feel right. It feels wrong
because it's not supposed to be like this.
I'm supposed to be looking like everyone else.
And when you don't—
- I'm supposed to hit a button and the door opens
on the side of my van.
Instead of, God forbid, me reaching up
and grabbing the thing and opening it.
I mean, or wave your foot under the bumper
so that the back hatch comes up.
Your sister's car, right?
- Yes. - Oh my God!
- I don't have that. I open my own car doors.
- God forbid we have to reach over
and touch the automobile.
Unbelievable.
And all of that's okay.
Your sister can afford that car.
You know, it's not a problem.
But this thing, like you say,
it becomes normalized to where,
if I can't eat out every night at a restaurant,
then it's unfair to me.
I'm entitled to do that.
And then the economic play or the political play on this,
and people fall into this discussion
without critical thinking skills,
and they start saying, well, it's all of this debt
comes from the fact that wages are stagnant.
No it doesn't.
It comes from the fact that consumption
is on an exponential curve when you graph it.
- Yes, and so I think, too,
realizing if you're one of these people, or anyone really,
to ask yourself, okay, this is the expectation
that the culture has set, but then the why.
Like, what's the motivation behind
getting all of these things?
And then it falls into the trap of contentment,
of thinking, well, all this stuff is gonna make me happy.
Because, you know, if I have the nice car,
if I have this or that, my life's just gonna be better.
And the thing is, is when you can't afford it,
you create more pain on the back end,
not just financially, but emotionally.
And we see those families that come in, and it's like, man,
the mess that they've created to keep up,
that has not been worth it.
- The vacation, the car . . .
- It doesn't fulfill you, it's not—
- The clothes, the purse, the shoes,
the house that were gonna make me happy.
That paradoxes over and over and over again
has made you miserable.
It's stressed you out. It's put strain on your marriage.
It's stolen your future.
And the actual opposite of
what you thought was gonna happen has happened.
That's really good insight, that's a good point.
That's powerful.
And the comparison is not just, we're such children
that we have to keep up with the Joneses.
But the comparison just normalizes it
to where you just say, gosh, I'm entitled.
- That's it.
This is the standard of living I should have
because of my age, my season of life, where we're at,
this is what it should be.
And so, whatever I have to do to get there.
And so, that's why, you know,
even just talking about the credit card,
we did a two series episode part
on credit cards specifically,
just the credit card debt in America.
And then this past episode is all about getting out.
But it's so much, even just looking at
the percentage of store credit cards
that people sign up for because, again,
in the vein of being normal and just thinking,
oh sure, why not.
- A store credit card.
The items that you can purchase with a store credit card,
zero percent fall into the heading of necessity.
100% fall into the heading of luxury.
You know, like you need another pair of shoes.
I mean, how many pair, shoes!
I'm a guy that doesn't even like shoes,
and I've got shoes coming out my ear.
- I know, I was like, you're speaking about shoes.
- I know, but I got shoes coming out my ears.
And that doesn't even make sense. I don't even like shoes.
And I've got to where,
okay, I get another pair of shoes,
that means I gotta throw two pair away.
I'm just not gonna have a whole pile.
And all this is just consumption.
- It's just stuff. It's just stuff.
- It wasn't like I had holes in my shoes.
You know, I didn't.
It's just consumption.
It's just straight up, that's,
if I get that, I'm gonna be happy then.
- Oh, and that is the lie.
That's the deep why behind it.
- That's a spiritual problem that America as.
- And an emotional problem,
and it's not fulfilled with the stuff.
And that's the hard lesson that a lot of people
have to learn.
- Thanks for stopping in and joining in on the discussion.
- Yes, thanks for having me.
- Rachel Cruze, number one best selling author,
Ramsey Personality, and happens to be my daughter.
- Proud of you. - Thank you.
- Thanks for coming by. - Thanks for having me on.
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