August 2026 Missive

DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL: Completely and Unquestionably Dead.

Dead as a doornail” means completely and unquestionably dead, and the phrase goes back to at least the 14th century.

Etymology

The most common explanation is that a “doornail” was a nail clinched over in a door so it could not be pulled back out and reused; in that sense it was “dead,” meaning useless or finished.

Another older explanation is less certain: some sources note that the phrase may simply have been chosen for its strong alliteration, with the imagery of an unusable nail reinforcing the sense of finality.

Early Use

The expression appears in Middle English texts before Shakespeare, including Piers Plowman, and Shakespeare later used “dead as a door-nail” in Henry VI, Part 2.

Charles Dickens then made the phrase famous in A Christmas Carol with “Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

Plain-English Summary

So the phrase likely comes from an old carpentry practice: once a nail was bent over and locked in place, it was considered permanently fixed and effectively “dead.”

The views expressed in this missive are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Capital Asset Advisory Services, LLC. This material is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a solicitation, research material, an investment recommendation or advice of any kind. It is not intended to, and does not, relate specifically to any investment strategy, product, or service offered by The Prizant Group. Certain statements herein reflect opinions, beliefs, or forward-looking views that are subject to change without notice and may not come to pass. While the information presented is believed to be reliable, no representation or warranty is made concerning its accuracy or completeness. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and investing involves the risk of loss. Readers should consult their own financial professionals before making any investment decisions.

IS THE AMERICAN DREAM “DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL?"

The major point of Death of a Salesman is that chasing a shallow version of the American Dream can destroy a person’s sense of identity and family relationships.

In simpler terms, Arthur Miller shows how Willy Loman ties his self-worth to popularity, success, and money, even though those things do not give his life real meaning. The play also argues that truth matters more than illusion, because Willy’s refusal to face reality helps lead to his collapse.

If you want the theme in one sentence: it’s a tragedy about a man who mistakes being well-liked for being truly successful. (perplexity.AI)

The American Dream is the idea that anyone in the United States can achieve a better life through hard work, determination, and opportunity, regardless of where they start. It often includes goals like upward mobility, freedom, prosperity, and a stable family life.

Historically, it has also meant more than money: James Truslow Adams described it as the chance for each person to reach their fullest potential and be recognized for it. In modern use, people often mean a comfortable middle-class life, but the core idea is still equal opportunity and the chance to succeed. (perplexity.AI)

As I was working on this month's Missive, I noticed an email from The New Yorker (I have been reading this incredible magazine since the early 1970s, when the annual student rate was $18!) about an article entitled “The Curious Career of The American Dream." I immediately went to my newfound friend (Perplexity.AI) and asked it for a summary. Love AI or hate it, it has made my Missive's article inserts a whole lot easier for my followers to peruse. However, I recommend that my more industrious followers click the link below and read this timely, superbly written article in its entirety.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/29/the-curious-career-of-the-american-dream

The article argues that the American Dream has shifted from a Depression‑era ideal of shared upward mobility into a flexible slogan that sells everything from political projects to consumer products, even as belief in its promise of mobility has eroded.

Core thesis

The piece traces how the phrase “the American Dream,” coined and popularized by historian James Truslow Adams in the early 1930s, evolved from a relatively egalitarian vision of “a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank” into a catchall creed used by politicians, corporations, and individuals to justify almost any ambition. It emphasizes that the concept is now simultaneously doubted in practice—many Americans no longer believe hard work reliably leads to success—and yet ubiquitous in language, marketing, and political rhetoric.

Historical evolution of the phrase

The article notes that Adams, writing during the Great Depression in “The Epic of America,” distilled existing American optimism into the catchy phrase “the American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank.” Over the following decades, this phrase was taken up as a kind of national motto, aligning with postwar prosperity, suburbanization, and a narrative of upward mobility that often downplayed structural barriers around race, class, and gender.

It also points out that even classic “rags to riches” stories like “The Great Gatsby” contain deep skepticism about the costs and illusions of reinvention, though popular culture often remembers only the aspirational gloss. The author uses this to show that doubts about the Dream’s realism have always coexisted with the enthusiasm it inspires.

From national creed to brand and meme

The piece describes how “American Dream” has become a literal brand and marketing device, attached to everything from a New Jersey shopping mall to a racehorse, the “world’s longest limousine,” a small nut‑butter company in Indiana, a meme coin trading for a tiny fraction of a cent, and even a JPMorgan Chase initiative for small businesses. This proliferation illustrates how the Dream now functions as a vague aura of aspiration and success that can be slapped onto products and projects with very different values or distributional consequences.

In politics and media, the phrase serves as shorthand for debates about mobility, fairness, and national identity: candidates invoke it to promise renewal, while critics question whether it was ever broadly attainable. The article suggests that this semantic flexibility makes the Dream unusually durable but also hollow, since it can be used to promote both modest goals (first‑generation college access) and grandiose billionaire self‑mythologizing.

Public skepticism and generational change

Drawing on opinion research, the article highlights growing doubt about the Dream’s core premise that hard work will pay off. A Pew study is cited showing that by the mid‑2020s, roughly 47 percent of Americans said they no longer believed in the American Dream’s promise of success through effort, down from about 63 percent who felt they could get ahead with hard work as recently as 2011.

The author notes that younger Americans, especially Generation Z, seem to aspire less to spectacular wealth and more to basic security: a stable life with manageable costs and minimal debt. This shift in aspiration is presented as a quiet redefinition of the Dream, away from limitless upward mobility toward a modest, sustainable floor of stability in the face of housing, education, and health‑care pressures.

Voices from the margins and future of the Dream

The article includes perspectives from people who experienced both opportunity and constraint, such as Stephen Cruz, a Mexican American businessman who immigrated as a child and came to see the American Dream as bound up with “power and fear” rather than pure opportunity. These accounts underscore that the Dream has often required conformity to existing power structures, and that its benefits have been unevenly distributed across racial and class lines.

In closing, the piece argues that the American Dream endures less as a precise program than as an empty vessel into which different groups pour their aspirations, anxieties, and marketing pitches. Its future, the author suggests, may depend on whether Americans can “dream differently”—reimagining the Dream in ways that center broad‑based security and inclusion rather than only individual success stories.

As I sit in my office in Geneva, IL (an upscale suburb of Chicago), I look out the window and see the trappings of the American Dream. 5,000 sq. ft. Million-plus-dollar homes with exquisite landscaping, swimming pools (don't ask me why anyone in Chicago would EVER want/pay for a pool that is usable for 90 days a year MAXIMUM), and driveways populated by multiple high-end SUVs/EVs. With the advent of high school graduation season, college banners are proudly flying, signaling the initial climb up the economic ladder. Now, whether my affluent neighbors are intelligent or happy has nothing to do with the vision of American prosperity.

My grandparents and great-grandparents were the embodiment of the so-called “American Dream." They came from Odesa (Ukraine) and Chișinău (Moldova) as Jewish immigrants to escape “The Pogroms of Eastern Europe” with not a “Penny To Their Name.”

Pogroms were not just spontaneous street fights; they often happened amid political crisis, antisemitism, and sometimes with tacit support or encouragement from authorities. They destroyed lives and communities, and they also helped drive Jewish migration and broader historical change in Europe. (Perplexity.AI)

My maternal great-grandparents started selling rags on Maxwell Street (Chicago) and eventually built up the largest dress manufacturer in Chicago. My Bolshevik grandfather, who fought in the Russian Revolution for a “classless society” and then realized that Lenin had other ideas, worked for a Chicago sheet-metal company for 18 years, then started his own in the heart of the Depression. His company became the largest commercial HVAC contractor in Chicago until the mid-1960's. Their children were given all the opportunities that money could buy. Tragic car accidents were “Covered Up,” military draft boards were “Paid Off," “Out of State” finishing schools/colleges were the norm, and a tight-knit Russian Jewish community provided all the services necessary for a comfortable lifestyle. Sadly, like so many other “Rags to Riches” American stories, the offspring were destined for a darker future.

The effects of wealth psychologically destroyed all their children, who were never able to achieve their parents' economic level. My mother's marital advice to her children was simply “You can always marry for love, but you can't always marry for money.” Both my parents struggled until their death to recreate the financial well-being of their 20's/30's. To this day, my siblings speak primarily about wealth (or lack thereof) and “Who Has It, Who Doesn't Have It, and Who Is Going to Have It.” This pursuit of the “Almighty Dollar” has created an environment for the following: Alcoholism, Hard Drug Use, Gambling, Physical Violence, Philandering, Illegal Financial Activities, Emotional Weakness, Inability to Take Responsibility for one's Actions, Outlandish Spending, led to the collapse of the family structure on both sides, leaving nine emotionally scarred grandchildren in their wake.

Improbably, those grandchildren have been able to “weather the storm” and, to varying degrees, establish solid marital relationships (a few divorces here and there), achieve a modicum of financial stability, and (most importantly) raise independent and socially functional children.

Ultimately, I don't see the benefits of achieving the American Dream as all-encompassing. Being financially well-off is certainly preferable to the alternatives. However, as for a life of personal fulfillment and happiness, I seriously question whether America can say on its 250th birthday that the “Land of Milk & Honey with Streets Paved with Gold” has really done much for the overall advancement of mankind. I suppose the real question is: “Did the American Dream Really Ever Exist?”

I am sure there are plenty of thoughts among my avid readers about whether the American Dream is dead. Ultimately, it will be future generations who decide the fate of that time-honored notion. As with all axioms, there are ALWAYS exceptions, and they will be looked at in support of “The Dream.” Before we get too “deep into the weeds,” I am going to move on to a recent flyer that I received from The Hartford. The flyer is titled “5 Retirement Costs That Often Catch People Off Guard.” As someone who focuses 100% on ERISA Qualified Retirement Plans (i.e., no personal accounts/no financial planning), I avoid giving advice about the actual “Ins and Outs” of what costs to look for in retirement. It is NOT my bailiwick, so I steer my participants to Certified Financial Planners (CFP) who have the education, license, and experience to assist in these important matters. I thought that with the burgeoning flow of Boomers turning 65 (10,000 Daily), including the main points of this flyer, would be a “Mitzvah” (for us Jews, a Mitzvah is a Good Deed).

5 RETIREMENT COSTS THAT OFTEN CATCH PEOPLE OFF GUARD

People are often caught off guard by five key retirement expense areas highlighted in the article: gaps in Medicare (especially dental/vision/hearing), long‑term care, IRMAA surcharges, major home repairs, and ongoing family support.

General findings

About 49% of retirees say their retirement expenses are higher than expected, despite having planned.

Many surprise costs either build gradually (like family support) or arrive suddenly (like a fall leading to care needs), and can materially derail a long‑built retirement plan.

1. Healthcare expenses Medicare won’t cover

Medicare provides significant coverage, but 58% of retirees expected it to cover more of their health costs than it actually does.

Common gaps in standard Medicare include dental, vision, and hearing expenses, which typically must be paid out of pocket.

Examples of typical cost ranges in retirement: dental crowns $800–$2,500, bridges $2,000–$5,000, dentures $1,000–$28,000, eye exams $75–$250, glasses $100–$600, and hearing aids $2,000–$7,000.

These costs are hard to forecast because in any given year a retiree may incur several thousand dollars of unpredictable, non‑covered expenses.

Medicare Advantage and Medigap plans may cover some of these items, but provisions vary by plan and must be reviewed carefully.

2. Reality of long‑term care costs

Someone turning 65 today has nearly a 70% chance of needing some form of long‑term care in their lifetime.

Long‑term care can be only minimally covered by Medicare, and the financial impact is often underestimated.

Current national average annual costs cited: about $80,080 for in‑home caregiver services, around $74,400 for assisted‑living, and more than $129,575 for a private nursing‑home room.

The need for care can arise suddenly—through a fall, diagnosis, or a gradual decline—quickly shifting a household from “we’re fine” to “we need help now.”

When this happens, the magnitude and immediacy of the costs can significantly strain or reshape a retirement plan.

3. IRMAA surcharge surprise

IRMAA (Income‑Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) is an income‑based surcharge that raises Medicare Part B and Part D premiums for higher‑income retirees.

IRMAA thresholds are lower than many expect: $109,000 of income for single filers and $218,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Surcharges are based on the tax return from two years prior, not current income, so newly retired individuals can be charged based on higher pre‑retirement earnings.

Depending on income tier, IRMAA surcharges can range from roughly $1,150 up to nearly $7,000 per person per year.

For couples, surcharges apply to each spouse, potentially pushing added premiums above $12,000 per year.

Large Roth conversions or sizable IRA withdrawals can also trigger IRMAA, making the timing of these moves important in planning.

4. Cost of keeping up your home

Major home systems (roofs, furnaces, HVAC) often last 15–20 years or more, so it’s easy to forget they will eventually need replacement.

With retirements frequently lasting 30+ years, at least one major repair or replacement is usually a matter of when, not if.

Retirees are often surprised because they compare current prices to what they paid decades earlier, not accounting for significant cost inflation.

Illustrative cost changes: HVAC systems estimated at $3,000–$5,000 twenty years ago versus $8,000–$15,000+ today, with future costs estimated at $14,500–$27,100+ assuming 3% inflation.

Roof replacement estimated at $5,000–$8,000 twenty years ago versus $12,000–$25,000+ today, with future projections of $21,700–$45,200+.

Because these expenses may not occur for many years, they are easy to omit from plans, yet when they do arise they are typically large, urgent, and unexpected.

5. Cost of supporting family members

Financial support often starts small—help with rent, car repairs, or medical bills—and evolves into a recurring expense.

Support can extend to adult children, grandchildren, aging parents, or multiple family members simultaneously.

Parents who support adult children spend an average of $1,474 per month on that support.

Around 60% of parents report sacrificing their own financial security for their children.

Family caregivers spend about $7,200 per year out of pocket on average, including transportation, medications, and care coordination.

These expenses can become emotionally difficult to cut back and gradually erode retirement security; the “surprise” is the realization that your own financial footing is now in question.

Planning implications

It’s impossible to predict every retirement expense, but identifying where these five categories might affect you can materially improve planning.

A financial professional can help evaluate which of these costs are already reflected in your plan, what assumptions exist around healthcare, housing, income, and family support, and which risks are most relevant given your health, family, and living situation.

The article suggests noting the one cost area most relevant to you and bringing it into your next professional planning conversation.

https://www.hartfordfunds.com/insights/investor-insight/navigating-longevity/8000-days-of-retirement/5-retirement-costs-that-often-catch-

We, at The Prizant Group, are aware of the economic trials and tribulations of retirement. Unfortunately, the general working populace has NOT gotten the message. Their assumption is that Social Security/Medicare will provide ample financial support to offset the daily living and unforeseen expenses. A vast pool of my retirement plan participants has turned a “Blind Eye and a deaf ear” to the proverbial “monetary landmines” in their later years. I know many are leaning on their children and/or siblings for subsidies, which I believe is a “Fool's Errand." One hopes that their offspring or brothers/sisters would “step in” in a time of need, but it is unfair to place that burden on them, and it is doubtful they have the financial wherewithal. For decades, I have begun my 401(k)/403(b)/457 education seminars with this proclamation: “If you have an oil well drilling in your backyard, a well-funded trust fund, or you married wealthy, then you don't really need to listen to what I have to say. Otherwise, listen and learn.”

Sanford Prizant (President) The Prizant Group, Ltd.

sanford@prizantgroup.com/847-208-7618

www.prizantgroup.com/@prizantgroup

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