The baby boomers' American dream is dead — and younger generations are replacing it with something more personal

As usual, money, or the lack of it, is driving the “here and now” trend for 20- and 30-something Americans.

“The American Dream is still alive, but traditional signs of success, like pensions and wealth, are less relevant today because of macroeconomic pressures,” said Shikha Jain, Head of Consumer Coverage in North America at Simon-Kucher, in a statement. “Today, Americans are defining success on their own terms, focusing on making life work and finding a sense of normalcy. That means spending on daily needs, seeking out personal and meaningful experiences, and taking on debt to get by.”

3 big takeaways from the study

The study data seems to back up changing perceptions from younger Americans on what the American Dream means to them and why they’re recalibrating lifestyle timelines. These issues are driving that trend, experts say.

1. Unlike the Baby Boomers, younger Americans are living for the moment.

According to Simon-Kucher, 62% of study participants say owning a home and saving for retirement is “more challenging,” while 51% of Gen Z say they’ve pushed aside saving for a home and instead favor focusing on “quality of life today.”

“These consumer shifts are not temporary,” Jain said. “They reflect a reset in how Americans view success and consumption.”

A separate 2026 study from Chicago-based Beyond Finance, a debt consolidation advisory company, stated that only 32% of millennials and Gen Z say the traditional American Dream is no longer in reach. Perhaps more alarmingly, 57% of respondents said younger U.S. adults are set up for financial failure.

“Many people have lost trust in a system that was supposed to work for them, and with it, they’ve lost trust in themselves and their sense of what’s possible,” Dr. Erika Rasure, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, told Moneywise. “The reality is, financial conditions have changed faster than the rules.”

2. For younger adults, the financial pressures are heavy and viewed as permanent.

As the data from both studies attests, younger Americans are redefining success because of changing values and economic necessity, which may carry more weight.

“Economic disruption accelerated a values shift that was already emerging,” Chikara Kennedy, Founder and CEO of Power Coaching & Consulting, told Moneywise.

Kennedy, a former human resources director at Meta, has had a front-row view of how younger Americans are handling housing affordability, inflation, and student debt.

“Those issues and repeated waves of layoffs have forced many millennials and Gen Z professionals to question long-held assumptions about what success should look like,” she noted.

Increasingly, the “live for now” mindset is setting in like cement in the minds of millennials and Gen Z.

“Even if housing became significantly more affordable, many younger professionals wouldn’t willingly return to careers or lifestyles that sacrifice flexibility, purpose, and well-being,” Kennedy noted. “The pandemic and large-scale layoffs permanently changed how people evaluate work, identity, and success.”

3. The “golden years” aren’t a lock anymore

The mindset that you shouldn’t have to wait until retirement to enjoy life is also driving a new outlook by younger career professionals.

“Millennials still want to own homes, and we still care about building wealth and creating financial security,” Katie Cline, a hospitality industry veteran and the host of two podcasts — “Second Home First” and “Suite Success: Masters of Hospitality,” told Moneywise. “But I think we’re questioning the idea that success has to come in one specific order.”

A millennial, herself, Cline believes from caring for her mother who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, that the “golden years” aren’t guaranteed.

“So much of the traditional financial advice is centered around sacrificing today for a future that none of us are promised,” she said. “Just like the Simon-Kuchar study states, we’re allowed to define success on our own terms.”

To millennials and Gen Z, home really is where the heart is

As defined by home-ownership, long a cornerstone of U.S. culture, the American Dream hasn’t collapsed, but its tenets have shifted significantly among younger people.

“The American Dream is alive and well, but what’s changing now is how people get there,” Ginger Wilcox, President of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, told Moneywise.

Millennials and Gen Z have increasingly grown up in a world where careers are less linear, remote work is common, and people expect to change jobs, cities and even lifestyles several times over the course of their lives, Wilcox noted.

“Now it’s natural that flexibility has become more important,” she said.

Simultaneously, it’s difficult to separate lifestyle priorities from today’s economic realities.