Aug 2, 2026
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Add us on GoogleThe economy may look strong on paper. At the grocery store, in the housing market and on a college tuition bill, it can feel like an entirely different story.
Homeownership alone already feels out of reach for much of the country. Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they could not afford to buy a home in 2026, including 82% of Gen Z and 62% of millennials, according to an IPX1031 survey.
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That gap between upbeat economic headlines and everyday financial pressure is leaving many Americans questioning their own reality, according to Vivian Tu, the former Wall Street trader and financial educator better known online as Your Rich BFF.
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During a conversation with Ellevest CEO Sylvia Kwan for CNBC Make It, Tu said people are stretching their money further each week while hearing a much more optimistic story about the broader economy.
“It makes people feel really crazy when they feel like they are trying to stretch their dollar further and further every week at the grocery store, but all the headlines are like, ‘The economy is better than it’s ever been,’” she said.
Stretching every dollar
“The American Dream” has traditionally promised that hard work could lead to greater stability, more choices and a better life. Tu and Kwan say that promise is becoming harder for many Americans to reach.
“The cost of housing is so high, the cost of education is so high,” Kwan said, adding that many young adults are graduating with significant student debt and wondering whether they will ever be able to afford a home — or even move out of their parents’ houses.
That reality can feel especially disorienting when it clashes with upbeat messaging from Washington. In April, the White House described the U.S. economy as demonstrating “exceptional strength and accelerating momentum,” even as many households continued struggling with the cost of everyday life.
The pressure does not end with housing. Half of parents said they had no idea how they would afford their children’s education, according to a Talker Research survey conducted on behalf of College Ave.
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Who is getting left behind
The financial pressure extends beyond college tuition and home prices. Even putting food on the table is taking a larger bite out of household budgets, leaving some Americans ashamed of what they can afford.
Kiki Rough, a social media creator who shares recipes inspired by the Depression era, told NPR that financial hardship can shape something as basic as what people eat.
“I know a lot of people right now who have shame about where they are in their lives, their financial situations, down to the food that they have access to,” she said.
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Tu argued that this widening divide reflects a K-shaped economy, where different groups experience the same economy in dramatically different ways. Wealthier households move up the top arm of the “K” as their investments and property values rise, while lower- and middle-income families move along the bottom arm as everyday costs consume more of their earnings.
The data illustrates that split. Between 2005 and 2023, consumer prices rose 57% for the bottom 20% of households, compared with 46% for the wealthiest 20%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
At the same time, the wealth of America’s richest households has grown far faster. Over the past three years, the net worth of the top 1% increased by 30%, while the middle 40% saw gains of less than 10%.
Rebuilding the middle class
Rebuilding the middle class matters because financial stability should offer more than the ability to keep up with bills. It should give families enough breathing room to build wealth, buy a home, support their children and enjoy the life they are working to create.
Tu called for stronger financial education, while Kwan argued that financial planning should be more personalized to reflect how people’s careers and priorities change. But Tu stressed that individual choices can only go so far without policies that make financial security more attainable.
“We as a society, one, need to do a better job of financial literacy education,” Tu said, while also “building out programs and policies that really actually bring that K-shaped economy back together, because it’s getting hard for many people.”
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Victoria Vesovski is a Toronto-based staff reporter at Moneywise covering personal finance, lifestyle and trending news. She holds degrees from the University of Toronto and New York University, and her work has appeared on platforms including Yahoo Finance, MSN Money and Apple News.
