The Prestige-Prosperity Gap

In an ideal world, prestige and wealth rise hand in hand. But the modern world of ambition is a lot messier.

If the Old American Dream was being able to go from nothing to middle class, the New American Dream is to go from middle class to wealthy, well-respected, and well-known. I could write an entire essay on the “New American Dream,” but for now, I want to talk about a phenomenon I’ve noticed among people chasing it.

In an ideal world, prestige and wealth rise hand in hand. But the modern world of ambition is a lot messier. The reality is often a bizarre mismatch where some people find themselves with more of one than the other, sometimes a lot more. Plenty of people are prestige rich, cash poor. And plenty others are cash rich, prestige poor. It’s relative: which do you have more of relative to expectation?

You probably know people like this (or maybe this is or was you in a past phase).