According to Investopedia's annual analysis, the lifetime cost of eight milestones, including owning a home, raising children, and retiring, is now about $5.3 million, up 4.1% from a year earlier. Homeownership is the largest item at about $1.28 million after a 7.7% rise, while the cost of raising two children and paying for college grew nearly 9%. Private-sector wages rose just 3.1%, and a full-time worker with a bachelor's degree is estimated to earn about $3.6 million between ages 25 and 64 before taxes, leaving about $1.2 million short even with 20 years of Social Security. A Gallup poll found 69% of U.S. adults expect to achieve the American Dream, down from 2024, and a record 22.7 million renter households were cost-burdened in 2024.
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Meta is reporting its third-quarter earnings after the market closes Wednesday, and Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi says the report will be hard to interpret. Recent good news on Meta's AI products, including new models and an AI agent, may not appear directly in the results but will likely be discussed on the earnings call. The key uncertainty is how investors will react if Meta raises its capex outlook again: it could be seen as fueling those products, or as overspending on offerings not yet reflected in financials. Sozzi expects the market to give Meta the benefit of the doubt on higher capex, as long as the increase does not shock investors.
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