Mrs. Dow Jones: The American dream is 'very dead' for millennials and Gen Z
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Haley Sacks is a financial influencer known as Mrs. Dow Jones.Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Jun 15, 2026, 5:07 AM ET
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For decades, the American dream seemed simple: Get a job, build a family, and work for a few decades before retiring at 65.
Haley Sacks — also known as Mrs. Dow Jones — says that sort of life path is now a bygone era. During an interview with Business Insider, Sacks said the biggest financial overlap between millennials and Gen Z is that they "inherited a system that is broken."
"The rules for building wealth are made for an America that doesn't exist anymore, because the American dream is very dead," Sacks, a financial influencer and CEO of Finance is Cool, told Business Insider. "We aren't going to stay at our jobs for 30 or 40 years. It's not this easy path of maxing out your 401(k), buying a house, then you get to retire."
Sacks said obstacles such as mounting student debt, rising inflation, AI's impact on entry-level jobs, and wages out of step with current living costs have handicapped younger generations.
"Also, what we want from our lives is different. We want time. We want freedom. We want ownership. It's so different from being locked up in this corporate structure," Sacks said.
The pressure is pushing people to find alternative sources of income through things like side hustles. Others, she said, have turned toward gambling in the hopes of hitting it big.
Online sports betting has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. In February, the American Gaming Association said the US commercial gaming industry generated a record-high $78.72 billion in gross revenue in 2025.
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Platforms like DraftKings have gone mainstream, securing partnerships with major professional sports organizations and pricey Super Bowl ad spots. Prediction markets — in which people purchase and sell contracts on future events — have added another path to get rich quick or go broke trying.
"The system is set up for me to lose. We're on a floating rock. The world is burning. I might as well just try and gamble," Sacks said.
She recognizes why people have adopted that mentality, but advises against it.
"I understand where that comes from, but there's still so much opportunity to win, and that opportunity is never from these systems because you're not the one who's winning. The house is always winning," Sacks said.
In fact, online sports betting has pushed some young Americans toward massive debt.
"It's such an addictive cycle. Investing is very different than gambling. One is entertainment. One is wealth building," Sacks said.
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Lauren Edmonds
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Lauren Edmonds is an award-winning reporter on the Business News team. When news isn't breaking, she covers personal finance, kitchen-table economics, and paths to financial freedom, including investing, real estate, side hustles, and small business. She also writes about guaranteed and universal basic income programs in the United States.Lauren has also covered lifestyle and entertainment, digital culture, and more. She has a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and resides in New York City.Do you have an interesting story to tell? You can reach Lauren at ledmonds@businessinsider.com or on Signal at ledmonds0.07.Popular StoriesNetflix wants to be Disney when it grows upWhy Hollywood is paying this 17-year-old up to $20,000 to boost film trailers with TikTok editsHere's all the free money Trump's talked about giving Americans during his second term — and where it all standsA 17-year-old earned $72,000 after investing his e-commerce profits into stocks. Here's why he bet on the tech industry.Lawmakers float a nationwide basic income experiment that would cover the cost of a 2-bedroom apartmentNearly 30,000 Americans have received about $335 million in basic income. Here are 5 takeaways.Americans ditch suffocating healthcare costs and divisive politics to retire in Italy: 'It's the way they approach life'From 'road-schooling' to gas that costs $500, this family of 4 shares what it's like living in a solar-powered Greyhound bus
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