hey YouTube Alex here in today's video I want to talk about five myths that many people believe about the United States the United States is my home country I grew up in the US spent most of my life
there until I decided to start traveling in more recent years the first myth is that everybody makes six figures or more and for some reason this one seems to be super common this idea that everybody is an NBA
basketball player or a medical doctor or a lawyer or a professional streamer and that's just not true 18% of Americans make $100,000 per year or more 45% of those people live paycheck to paycheck and so of that 18%
roughly half are feeling like they're getting ahead financially and making strong strides too not just I save a couple hundred bucks a month but putting away say several thousand per month they're capable of putting away several thousand per
month I remember making six figures in the San Francisco Bay Area and I lived a very modest lifestyle I lived in a shoe box apartment worked a lot of hours I mean this idea that you're going to make
six figures and then have all this free time to enjoy it most people earning these high incomes work a lot of hours to earn that kind of income they're not just earning this kind of salary and hanging out
most of these people earning six figures in Tech or medicine or law have high demands placed on them by their employers to turn a profit on their wages for many people to get a job with these high salaries
they're going to need to be in an expensive big city a Chicago and New York and La they're typically not making these kinds of salaries in a small town in the middle of nowhere most companies are based around
industry hubs and those industry hubs form in certain cities because of a network effect because it's easier to have those Industries based in a certain City you see this with tech in the Bay Area and in Seattle you
see this with oil and gas in Texas most Industries have a certain city that's the hub for that industry and the cost of living is higher as a result because things are priced based on the higher incomes I'm
sure a lot of people would like to make these high salaries these high incomes but not everybody produces that much value and it's important to keep that in mind before throwing out there I mean I've had several people
in the comments section telling me Oh yeah my life's amazing I make six figures and I don't have a problem with that in and of itself what I have an issue with is when they imply everybody makes that
kind of income additionally if you want to make that kind of sixf fig income you probably need to be an entrepreneur if not have a very high value added skill set so maybe you're in health care maybe you're
a lawyer maybe you have some technical skills like you're a programmer you've got these these really Niche specialty skill sets that are not able to be cultivated overnight may have a license required in that profession Maybe gatekeep by
you needing to have some family connections or have gone to a certain University it's by no means Walts into a six-figure job fresh out of high school stay in that job for 30 years and then collect a pension
of 100K a year for the rest of your life these jobs also tend to be volatile now I think healthcare could be a little bit more stable but when it comes to Tech for example layoffs are very prevalent
you heard about this in the.com bubble you heard about this in the postco recession many people's jobs in technology unless they work for the state or a government agency are not that stable they're constantly trying to go above
and beyond to prevent getting laid off if they get laid off could take them a while to find another tech job the days of finding an employer and and staying with them for life are long gone in the
US for most people the next myth about the US is that everyone lives a life of luxury and everyone can afford a big house and a fancy car now I know some of you are already saying well everybody
in my neighborhood lives in a nice house everyone in my neighborhood drives a fancy car I'm not saying that they have or don't have those possessions I'm saying can they afford them there are millions of people out there
that are one layoff away and one miss morgage payment or one missar payment away from losing it all many Americans are pushed to pursue status symbols they want a fancy car they want a big house even when they
can't afford them I've talked to tons of xats over here in the Philippines and all of them talk about trying to keep up with the Joneses back in the US which is part of what caused their financial struggle
that is one of the reasons that landed them over here in the first place I would be in that basket too if I didn't have more experienced people to learn from I'm certainly not above it that's not what
I'm saying at all here my grandparents were definitely house poor they lived in a much nicer house than what they could afford and chose to forgo many other options to have a house beyond their means now they didn't
lose it to foreclosure but eventually the property taxes is became too high my Grandma had to sell plenty of Americans that live in too much house they want to show off they want to show people look I've made
it I have such a nice place they think differently from the wealthy who look at homes as assets to leverage to build wealth and they may own several homes but they only live in those homes a month out
of the year two weeks a year the rest of the year they're rented out on Airbnb or they may have some long-term tenants that they buy the house and then the tenant pays the mortgage this is very common
for people to build wealth in the US I have a friend that he owns several homes and he rents an apartment and the rent for these homes far exceeds his monthly rental fee and so he one pays down
the mortgage two pays his apartment rent and three is basically building up assets that will produce income for him for the rest of his life he's not going around saying oh look at my fancy homes he's just collecting
the rental fee and paying down the mortgage and eventually he'll have some wonderful paid off assets that will generate income for him for the rest of his life wealthy people may own lots of homes but these homes work
for them they're not working for their homes but plenty of people know the phrase but Floats or flies rent it and this situation is part of that where there are people that would like to rent one of his
homes for a day or a weekend they don't want to live in that City they don't have any reason to stay in that City long term but they want a nice place to stay and he's able to provide
that service so yeah wealthy people may own these assets doesn't mean they're living in them and if they do it may be for a temporary basis there are plenty of people in San Francisco that own homes that don't
rent them out because of the laws it's very risky to rent their property out but the year-over-year price increase in the property means that they're still Building Wealth that the asset basically increases with inflation or exceeds inflation and
so even if they're not living in the home even if nobody's living in the home they're still building well the next myth that I often hear about the US is that everybody is friendly happy and nice maybe that
was true in the 1950s but in 2025 I think a lot of Americans are stressed out a lot of them are in a hurry there's this Rat Race culture or mentality that has extended beyond the boundaries of the
major cities and exists all over the country I found people are in a hurry anywhere I've lived in the US I've lived in small towns in the Mountain West I've lived in big cities on the west coast and
I found that regardless of where I live in the US the cost of living has gone up a lot there's no cheap secret place in the US anymore the housing is often a reflection of the local industry you
could live in small town Ohio in the middle of the Rust Belt and buy a cheap house but what are you going to do for work there it's not so easy to make a good living in the Rust
Belt now I'm sure somebody in 5 4 3 2 1 will tell me about how cheap their small town is and how everybody's friendly and there's a Leave it to Beaver atmosphere what are the housing prices like in
your small town and what jobs in your small town pay enough that you can buy a house I think this will only get worse as more and more foreign investment pours into the us more and more investors in
other countries look for economic safe havens for them to park their capital and what better place than a small town where they're not building much new housing and the existing stock is already underbuilt aside from that plenty of
people in small towns have complained about the co influx where people from the big cities moved into their small towns driving up the cost of everything and from my experience Out of Towners are not always warmly received in
small towns in fact in many small towns that I've lived in in the US The Outsiders hung out with other Outsiders and the locals hung out with the locals and people didn't really mix too much people were a
bit suspicious of each other often didn't really have a lot in common maybe they had different values like the people from the country were more traditional or more self-reliant and the people from the city were expecting more conveniences
and didn't really want to mix with people that they felt like were beneath them not saying it's always the case but these are just some of the themes that I've noticed some places you go certainly people are friendly
you also get the sense here people are welcome to visit but please don't stay you're wel welcome for a long weekend but please don't buy a house here so yeah this idea that everybody is Happy friendly and nice
in the US maybe a long time ago that was the case I think in more recent years especially postco that's not the case I think Americans are far too diverse in mindset attitudes opinions backgrounds in 2025 to all
be regarded is happy or friendly or Nice in summary I think in 2025 Americans are far too divided for us to be able to say everybody's happy nice and friendly I think there are plenty of Americans out there
that do fit the bill I meet a lot of nice Americans here in dagate I meet a lot of nice Americans back home in the States but to say that everybody is friendly uh I don't think that's the
case I've had enough experiences in the US to tell me and convince me otherwise that how friendly nice or happy some someone is is very circumstantial is very individualized it depends on do they feel like they can solve
their problems is their life turning out the way they thought it would turn out so many factors of play as to whether or not somebody's going to be happy nice or friendly the next Point here is Hollywood represents
real life a lot of people I meet overseas well I saw this Hollywood movie it looks like in America everybody lives in mansions drives big cars relaxes all day I use friends as a solid example where you've got
these five people that are like parttime Baristas and okay you got Chandler who's an accountant but they work pretty basic jobs and yet they live in a Manhattan penthouse totally unrealistic anybody living in a Manhattan penthouse probably works
in finance or Tech is probably a CEO or on the board of directors probably pretty far along in their career not young or middle-aged person there's so many things that Hollywood gets wrong about the US for entertainment value
to be exciting to be fun to be trendy and I don't know if that'll change I don't know if that has changed I don't watch popular entertainment I watch a lot of YouTube so let me know what you
think down in the comments below if Hollywood is getting more accurate these days but in my experience they just totally portray the US and accurately and in such a way that does not reflect reality for most Americans even
in Hollywood itself people don't live the way that they are portrayed to live in Hollywood movies now I get it life's not perfect but I just don't think it's helpful to deceive people and to sell them a bill
of goods to give them the false impression that life is perfect in the US Hollywood similar to the internet shows an exaggerated example of reality there are a lot of exaggeration out there that show things in a certain
light to fulfill a certain narrative special effects can sell people that things are not really the way they are in reality that they're better than what they are that everybody lives in big houses and everybody drives fancy cars
and nobody ever has to work then most people live these leisurely Lifestyles which couldn't be further from the truth most Americans I know work very very hard for what they have and they often sacrifice their health and well-being
to earn money to get ahead to pay for the things that they need money does not grow on trees even in the United States it's also important to me to acknowledge the sacrifices a lot of Americans make to
ensure that we have such a high standard of living in the US the fifth and final myth is that us Americans we have freedom of speech in the United States a lot of people love to brag we've got
free speech we could say whatever we want and nobody can stop us I found that what you have in the US is freedom of speech but you don't have freedom from consequences let's set aside the obvious ones where
you're talking about speech that is directly considered illegal I'm not going to talk about that in this video but rather instances where you're part of a certain group or you're in a group setting and you think oh I'll
just be honest I have a differing opinion and you share it and then all of a sudden you get a bunch of angry looks and oh I can't believe you just said that no that's not true at all
and well actually and this differs by location so in my hometown I grew up in a city people feel a certain way if I drive an hour outside of that City people feel totally differently and so my speech
is limited based on my audience I can't just open up and share my opinion because it may strongly differ with the group of people I'm around and I've witnessed people especially in the Working World moderate their opinions to
get along and with the increase in cost of living there's more and more consequences toward not keeping your job you lose your really good job you may struggle to find another good job and so I found that people
modify what they're willing to voice in terms of opinions based on where they're located based on who they around based on the feelings of their company and this differs by state and whether you're in the city or you're
in a rural area and so you often can't really figure out how people feel you often struggle to figure out do they really mean that or are they just saying that because it advances their interests I think the
US used to be more intellectually open in some ways at one time but in recent years it seemed seems like you really have to just Pander to your audience and cater to a certain set of beliefs based on
who you're talking to based on where you're at I consider myself to be politically homeless my beliefs don't neatly fit into one group or the other at this point I just go along to get along if I hear
someone Express a strongly held belief then I just agree I nod I go along with it it doesn't matter to me if I agree with their belief or not the consequences and the stress of an argument is not
worth reinforcing somebody else's opinion it seems like these days people are less open to changing their minds and trying to tell them something they don't want to hear people tend to get upset and really worked up over it
and you might lose a friend or damage a relationship or maybe even get fired if it's at work I've been accused of oh you don't really have much of a personality at work and I explained well yeah and
just kind of dismiss it and change the subject because I've learned the hard way that if I express what's on my mind best case scenario I get a neutral response but more often than not it's not exactly in
line with what other people believe or want to hear they get upset they get stressed out if it's a key decision maker like like a manager or a leader or a boss's boss then them being offended could make
the difference and you keeping your job getting a promotion getting a bonus getting your vacation approved all these different factors most of us just want to do our job and go home and enjoy our free time so I
don't really believe in free speech anymore I don't believe that people can just speak freely I think there are too many consequences to saying the wrong thing for most people sure if you're Joe Rogan or you're Elon Musk
and you're super wealthy yeah you could say just about whatever you want with very limited consequences they're so wealthy that they're going to be wealthy and their kids kids kids are going to be wealthy that it doesn't really
matter at this point where for the average person you don't have the luxury of wealth to that extreme you can't just say whatever you want so anyway this has been five myths about the United States that I used
to believe before moving to Southeast Asia let me know of some myths that come to mind for you down in the comment section below it always helps to generate an interesting discussion next give us a thumbs up it
helps with the YouTube algorithm and finally subscribe to the channel down below if you want to see more content like this and we'll see you soon bye-bye
