"Money, so much money" and other answers to Asian Americans’ visions of a good life
We asked Asian Americans what they'd need to live their best possible life. Here's what they said.
This year, Asian American Futures is launching groundbreaking research into a growing and urgent question with profound implications for racial justice and democracy: Why do many Asian Americans—despite broadly inclusive values—drift toward positions that align with authoritarianism or reinforce structural inequities? This tension threatens multiracial solidarity, complicates coalition-building, and exposes a narrative gap exploited by the right. Issues like affirmative action in college admissions–which 70% of Asian Americans supported, but who also became the face of dismantling it–is a classic example. We’ve also seen this happen with public safety, DEI, education, and more. Through listening sessions, interviews, and surveys, we aim to unpack this complex paradox and identify pathways toward justice-aligned engagement. We are sharing a look into our process and learnings as this project unfolds.
“Most people just want to feel good, and they don’t,” said one of the participants in a listening session we hosted with frontline Asian American organizations in April. This statement has stuck with me ever since. Not only were many of the concerns highlighted by the organizations we spoke with rooted in the idea of living a good life, but it’s been impossible to ignore how economic anxiety is motivating even middle- and upper-middle-class Americans these days.
I wanted to know, what did Asian Americans think living a good life would require? In our second survey, we got to ask them, and read their open-ended responses.
The question was, “When you imagine living your best possible life, what do you think you’d need—that you maybe don’t have now—to truly live a ‘good life’?”
Here’s how the 100+ responses were categorized:
Here are some highlights from the open-ended responses:
Butt tons of cash.
Money, so much money.
Resources to survive.
To be debt free.
Money is key to success and happiness and the best thing you could ever hope to do
I need money, status, a business and a lot of free time.
Pay all debts, better health, travel more, enough generational wealth to pass on to my next generations give more to charity.
The freedom and resources to tailor my life towards my passions and goals.
Having more time with family or myself. Less work.
A handy boyfriend.
I think of having a white fence with a house and a family.
I would need a lot of money or a job that pays me a lot of money to be able to afford the necessities and pleasures in life.
Children go to college having a nice big home surrounded by family having a job a good job living wealthy.
I don’t have any money I want more money for my life to be good.
Laws that protect my rights as a person trying to make a living in the United States.
Living life means being financially stable mentally stable and worry free.
I need change. Equality for all. Not a leg up... but a level playing field. I just want the same opportunity that everyone else has. And I want everyone to have food and clean water.
The responses are illuminating for a few reasons:
They describe, in simple terms, how Asian Americans see money as a key to a good life. It is money, not healthcare, not “affordable housing”, having “enough” or “thriving”, that people associate with a good life.
Although buying a house is often associated with Asian Americans achieving the American Dream, this category was much less prominent.
We have seen stories about the freedom to be ourselves resonate repeatedly across issues. It’s no surprise that freedom / status was the second-most common category.
There are too few responses to analyze them based on factors like class background, ethnicity, or immigrant generation. However, I still believe it’s incredibly grounding to complement our quantitative surveying with these open-ended insights in respondents’ own words. Nothing encapsulates the desire for more money, or the economic anxiety that defines our times, like wanting “butt tons of cash.” Yes, meeting materials needs through policies like housing, healthcare and more is incredibly important. And, this survey reminds me that nothing offers the freedom, status and agency like simply having more money in your pocket.
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