Price tag for the American dream: $130K a year

[SheilaT]

16. It really does depend a lot on where you live and

what you consider to be necessities.

I'm one who buys a second hand car and drives it for as long as possible. Oh, and I pay cash in the first place. Not a four wheel drive sport utility vehicle either. My current car is ten years old and I hope to be driving it another ten years.

Housing prices are the biggest issue. Depending on where you live, the median home price is not always the best bench mark to use. Here in Santa Fe than number is skewed upwards because of the very rich people who have million dollar homes. I bought a place that is maybe half of the median price here and it is perfectly fine for someone living alone. If I had a spouse and a couple of kids, I'd need a very different place, but I could still stay below the median price.

The cost of college is another somewhat misleading item. Unfortunately, almost everyone in this country has been bamboozled into thinking that a four year degree is utterly necessary. Just last night I was having a conversation with a woman whose oldest child doesn't really know what he wants to do in life and is struggling to remain in the public University where they live. Because of the prestige attached to being admitted to this school, which I won't name but I had never thought was a particularly good one, the child in question apparently won't even consider a community college as a sensible alternative, despite the fact he's all over the map as to what he might want to wind up doing.

I do agree that saving for retirement needs to be an absolute.