According to a recent Gallup poll, a record-low 58% of US adults say they are “extremely” (41%) or “very” (17%) proud to be an American. That’s down from 90% in 2004. For Gen Zs, that number plummets to just 47%. And it’s not just a generational gap. Another poll concluded that 70% of US citizens believe the American Dream is no longer attainable.
“That isn’t just sad,” Alex Green says, “It’s a national tragedy.”
In his new book, The American Dream: Why It’s Still Alive… And How to Achieve It, which I had a chance to read just before it was published, Alex argues that all the pessimism about America’s future is largely unfounded and that the American Dream – the idea that the United States offers anyone and everyone a chance to acquire wealth and have a good life – is still very much a reality.
I’ve known Alex for more than 30 years. I met him in the early 1980s when he was working as an analyst for an international brokerage and accepted an invitation to speak at one of the investment conferences my partner and I were putting on at various overseas destinations. We became colleagues when, motivated to teach what he had learned about successful investing, he went to work as Chief Investment Strategist for the Oxford Club, an international research and advisory club created in 1983 to serve individual investors. Since then, we’ve become connected by a longstanding discussion about what I think of as the “soft side” of finance – how wealth is most efficiently created, and the dangers of seeking wealth without the right philosophical and ethical perspectives.
What Money Can Do
I’ve written a fair amount about the fact that having money does not automatically lead to happiness. However, that does not mean that acquiring wealth is not a worthy goal. As Alex explained in a recent email to me:
Money is independence. It liberates you from want, from work that is drudgery, from relationships that confine you. No one is truly free who is a slave to his job, his creditors, his circumstances, or his overhead.
Wealth is the great equalizer. If you have money, you have power – in the best sense. Wealth is freedom, security, and peace of mind.
It is not a guarantee of outcomes but of opportunity. It promises that everyone has the chance to improve their circumstances through their own efforts.
That last point is important. One of the things Alex and I have always agreed on is that the discussion about wealth and poverty that takes place in academia and in politics is too much about the geopolitics of wealth and the presumed power imbalance between the wealthy and the rest of the population. These perspectives can give comfort to those that are not wealthy, but the solutions they offer – geopolitical solutions – don’t work for the individual.
In other words, one cannot expect to improve one’s financial position in the world through state-level, political solutions. That has never worked and it never will. As Alex wrote in a recent essay, “Your power to change a nation of more than 330 million people is negligible. But your power to change yourself – your choices and your behavior – is limitless.”
That is just one of several key themes laid out in his new book.
The Pursuit of Wealth… and Happiness
The idea that every American can, without help from the government or family assistance, achieve a better, richer, and fuller life, is not new. Nor is it complicated. It is embedded in the wisdom of many of America’s greatest political, economic, and philosophical thinkers, from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin to Milton Friedman to Steven Pinker.
Unlike societies built on rigid class structures or inherited privilege, America was founded on the radical notion that merit, effort, and character matter more than bloodline or social status.
The American Dream says, “Your future is not predetermined by your past. Your efforts matter. Your choices have consequences. You can be the author of your own story.”
The American Dream places the power of change squarely in the hands of the individual.
It encourages innovation, risk-taking, and resilience.
Belief in it turns setbacks into steppingstones and failures into learning experiences.
And that is why, as Alex says, the American Dream remains so important today. “It addresses the deepest human needs: the need for purpose, the hunger for progress, and the desire to build something lasting for future generations. In a world increasingly divided by cynicism and despair, the American Dream stands as a beacon of possibility. It has drawn millions to our shores and has guided millions more who were born here.”
It’s Our National Ethos… It Shapes Our Identity
In Alex’s view, the United States stands on three pillars:
* The Declaration of Independence, which declares that we are a free people whose rights preexist government
* The US Constitution, which both empowers and limits government to protect those rights
* The American Dream, which is how we exercise our right to pursue happiness
“Without these three pillars,” he says, “we are not the same nation. Not the same people. America is not perfect. It never has been. But it remains the best environment on Earth for ordinary people to build extraordinary lives.
“The souring of national sentiment isn’t driven by facts as much as by narratives.
“When every institution you trust – your school, the media, perhaps even your political party – emphasizes America’s sins over its successes, it’s easy to internalize the message that this country is fundamentally flawed – and the Dream is no longer real.”
Alex says that one of the chief objectives of The American Dream: Why It’s Still Alive… And How to Achieve It is to “better align perceptions with reality” – and he wrote the book for three kinds of readers:
* Disbelievers. They don’t believe the Dream is real because they don’t know what to do, aren’t doing it, or don’t realize they are already living it.
* Frustrated Dreamers. They know the Dream exists, but it feels out of reach.
* Dream Achievers. They’ve lived some version of the Dream, but they worry about their kids and grandkids. Or they want to help other Americans find the path.
“It’s natural to feel overwhelmed. If not outright depressed,” says Alex. “There’s an inertia – perhaps even a fear of failure – that keeps many from taking that first step.”
For those individuals, he has an interesting suggestion, which he explained in a recent essay he wrote introducing the book to the 160,000 Oxford Club members who rely on his wealth-building advice:
Become a star in your own reality show.
Nielsen Media Research tells us that Americans love reality shows where contestants are put in high-pressure situations and challenged to “win” using every bit of intelligence, cunning, and resourcefulness they can muster.
If you’re behind the eight ball financially, why not view your problems the same way?
I’ll bet if you were in front of a national television audience – and in danger of being voted off the show – you’d come up with some pretty good ideas, ones that might surprise the people around you.
(After all, you know better than anyone else the wasteful or frivolous spending that holds you back.)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, thinks that’s a great idea. He asserts that the quickest way to increase your life satisfaction is to stop seeing your problems as difficulties and start viewing them as challenges to be accepted with a sense of playful enjoyment…
Facing your problems requires two things: a bit of imagination and a positive attitude. The payoff, in turn, can be huge. Whether you want to start your own business, get out of debt, or start down the path to financial freedom, you can begin by relishing the opportunity.
You might surprise yourself, too. Not only by achieving your goals, but by seeing how much satisfaction you get just moving toward them in a disciplined way….
Success – or the pursuit of it – validates your life. It gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It also makes you feel good…. And that is why you should star in your own reality show. (One that, not coincidentally, actually deals with reality.) The obstacles in front of you will give you the opportunity to show the world – and yourself – what you’re made of. [And you will be rewarded by experiencing] one of life’s greatest pleasures: the feeling of earned success.
Those are some of the reasons I am recommending Alex’s new book. There are others. For example, he also covers issues that are top of the mind for many American investors, such as:
* Economic trends – e.g., that the percentage of US households earning more than $100K has increased significantly since 1980
* Why the US remains a land of opportunity due to a robust economy, leading global companies, and significant contributions to science and technology
* The life-enhancing value of embracing “Radical Responsibility”
* Why we are living in a new “Golden Age” for investors
* How to shorten the road to financial independence by embracing “The World’s Simplest Investment Portfolio”
As one reviewer recently put it, “The American Dream: Why It’s Still Alive… And How to Achieve It earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all ambitious individuals seeking long-term financial prosperity and to experience the ultimate feeling of earned success.”
Here’s a link to order the book.
About Alex Green
Alex Green was not a great student. He did not go to private schools. (“As a kid,” he says, “I didn’t even know anyone who attended a private school.) He did not study at an elite university. He did not earn any scholarships, academic honors, or advanced degrees. He had no family connections, no mentor, and no professional network. Yet he managed to become a multimillionaire while still a young man – and continues to compound his wealth today, as well as the wealth of the 160,000 Oxford Club members who follow his financial advice.
