How much money does a resident of the United States need to achieve all of the American Dream? Investopedia released a new estimate last week:

Eight common milestones – buying a house, buying a car, having two children and sending them to college, having a wedding, retiring, paying for heathcare, owning pets, and vacationing once a year – now costs the average American a staggering $5.3 million…

Owning a home is now the most costly pillar of the American dream, the median price of a single-family home totaling to more than $420,000 and a 30-year mortgage averaging at 6.32 percent, the report found…

Owning a car is the second-biggest cost, the study showed. Keeping two cars costs about $1.2 million, which includes insurance, maintenance, registration and fuel for 15,000 miles per year. 

On one hand, the total number is helpful information. The headline figure is sure to catch attention: $5.3 million?! How many people could afford this? Houses and cars are expensive, even if Americans think they should aspire to own a home and multiple vehicles.

At the same time, Investopedia notes that this figure is for a lifetime. It may be more useful to look at incomes in comparison to this total cost:

A single paycheck won’t come close to covering it. A full-time worker with a bachelor’s degree earns a median of about $3.6 million from age 25 to 64, according to Investopedia’s analysis of Census Bureau data, which doesn’t account for income taxes. Add 20 years of the average Social Security retirement benefit, $2,071 a month, and that worker reaches about $4.1 million, roughly $1.2 million short of the American Dream.

So why not lead with something like “Estimated American earnings for a lifetime not keeping up with costs for the American Dream”? Not as enticing a headline but keeping in mind that these are estimates and summary data, this headline might be more helpful to people. They might think: “If I have a typical job after getting a college degree, I may have to revise how much of the American Dream I could have or find ways to save money or ways to generate more income.”

Thinking about the numbers and beyond could lead to productive conversations about what American Dream is possible or how to help more people reach the American Dream they might be expecting.