Despite a lot of uncertainty, by many metrics, the American economy has been doing well in the long term. Wages are rising, and a typical middle-class family today is richer than one in the 1960s. But many middle-class Americans say they feel they’re not where they should be financially. Goals that they think should be in reach — owning a home, child care without stress, a modest annual vacation, going out for an occasional dinner — are increasingly out of reach. Whether you have a single-person household or a family of four, it seems as if we’re all crossing something off our budgets to make it work.
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