A Night at Mar-a-Lago and the Truth About the American Dream

Editor’s Note: In just an hour from now, Louis Navellier, Eric Fry, and I will be hosting our American Dream 2.0 Summit, a live briefing on the massive $11.3 trillion reinvestment wave reshaping the U.S. economy – and the key moment on January 2 that could send this trend vertical. We’ll also start to unveil our new American Dream 2.0 Portfolio and reveal a tiny U.S. company tied to the catalyst. You can sign up here.

Ahead of that event, I’d like to share an essay from Louis. It’s a candid look at why the original American Dream no longer functions the way many of us grew up believing it would – and how a new one is quietly taking shape beneath the surface.

Enjoy his insights, and we hope to see you at our summit this morning.

There is a line from The Great Gatsby that has always stayed with me:

Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote it to capture a dangerous illusion, the belief that America’s golden age could simply be willed back into existence. 

I was thinking about this just a few weeks ago at a Gatsby-themed celebration at the Mar-a-Lago Club. The chandeliers were glowing, the band was roaring, and President Trump was still greeting guests close to midnight.

It was an extravagant setting, but that was not what stood out to me.

It was the contrast.

Outside those walls, Americans are facing higher prices, shrinking opportunity, and an economy that feels stacked against them. Many people tell me it feels harder than ever to get ahead. For countless families, the American Dream that shaped generations now feels out of reach.

Over the last decade, costs have surged. Housing, healthcare, groceries, energy, child care – everything essential has become more expensive. Meanwhile, wages have struggled to keep up. The old belief that hard work and discipline would reliably lift you into prosperity is fading.

But here is the truth I want to share with you today, and it may surprise you:

The American Dream is not dying. It is changing.

A new version is quietly taking shape, driven not by nostalgia but by one of the biggest economic realignments in modern U.S. history. It is a shift powerful enough to reset the playing field for the next decade.

Call it American Dream 2.0.

And while most investors are sleepwalking through this transition, a select group of companies is already positioned at the center of this renewal.

That is exactly why we are hosting the American Dream 2.0 Summit.

Today, Monday, December 8 at 10 a.m. Eastern, I will be joining Eric Fry and Luke Lango to break down what is really happening inside the U.S. economy and why this next phase could be difficult for unprepared workers – but extraordinarily rewarding for prepared investors. (Reserve your spot here.)

Now, in just a moment, we’ll dig into what you can expect at the Summit. But before we get to that, I want to explain what’s happening – and what is coming…

How I’ve Lived the American Dream

A lot of folks know me from my research services or from television appearances. And yes, I have reached a point in life where I can spend time in places like Mar-a-Lago.

But the path here was built one step at a time, the same way most American families build theirs.

My great-grandfather immigrated to the Bay Area in the 1880s with hope and not much else. He built a modest stake from nothing, only to watch much of it disappear during the Great Depression.

My father, Ernest, served as a turret gunner on a B-26 bomber in World War II. After the war, he became a bricklayer. When I was a boy, I spent long days helping him on job sites. It was hard, honest work that taught me the value of grit. 

When I could, I picked up caddying shifts at the local golf course. If you worked, you earned. That was the American Dream in its simplest form.

For me, college was expected. My father believed firmly that his son should take one step further than he had. I scored in the top 1% in math on the SATs, went to Cal State Hayward, finished in three years, earned my MBA a year later, and launched my career on Wall Street.

That was my own version of the American Dream. You worked hard. You pushed forward. And little by little, doors opened.

I want the same kind of possibility for my own kids. My youngest, Crystal, is 25. Chase is 29 and building his career after earning two master’s degrees from Stanford. My oldest daughter, Natalie, is 39 and raising two sons with a third on the way.

Like many parents and grandparents, I ask myself what kind of America they will inherit. I want the dream to mean something for them. I want it to mean something for you.

But the old version of the dream – American Dream 1.0 – no longer works the way it used to.