Young Adults Living at Home and Receiving Financial Support for Longer

[bjl584]

Parents Are Risking Their Retirements to Support Adult Children (msn.com)

[disneysteve]

I actually saw that article. As with many of the articles you’ve posted lately, this is old news. It’s been happening for years. This trend isn’t new. We’ve discussed it here before. Rising rents have worsened the problem but it’s been going on for quite a while.

I moved out immediately after college but that’s increasingly rare. I was also living on student loans or else I couldn’t have done it for another 7 years probably.

[srblanco7]

I read this as a parent being an enabler, e.g., "$900 a month on a sports car and insurance".

Not sure about this statement either "Most agree younger generations are navigating a broken economic system". I recognize that things are more expensive - but I'm challenged to identify things that are "broken" or perhaps I'm just not part of "Most".

That being said, my daughter is planning to move home post college, and I'm sure we'll help out (e.g., we'll cover basic living expenses - housing, food, utliitiies, etc) to allow her to get a head start,but there will be a line in the sand.

[kork13]

That being said, my daughter is planning to move home post college, and I'm sure we'll help out (e.g., we'll cover basic living expenses - housing, food, utliitiies, etc) to allow her to get a head start,but there will be a line in the sand.

Articles like this always try to highlight more significant/extreme examples. Having a child home for some period to get established isn't a problem, as long as boundaries are established, and they start getting treated as an adult. If they need 6-12 months to find a job, new apartment/roommate(s), prepare for a move cross-country, work to pay off student loans, etc.... I'd have no qualms. When it's become 3-5 years with no forward progress, that's when it's a problem. The family home should be a launch pad, not a hammock.

[ua_guy]

This started with my generation, Millennial. The oldest of us graduated from college on the heels of the dot-com bust, and before the big recession. It just wasn't a bright spot or a good time to be starting out. Some of my peers toughed it out, like I did, we got our start. It wasn't easy, not that it's ever easy, but a lack of good job prospects and skyrocketing rents and home prices made it even harder. Those of us that did, we were poor for a while and things really sucked, we took jobs we didn't want, went down career paths out of necessity, and made it work.

Kids these days, I don't know. I trust they'll do it their way, and they'll do what they need to do when the time comes. I see so much hesitation from parents to let their kids struggle. I think what hardens us and motivates us to be independent and make a life for ourselves is being pushed out of the proverbial nest whether we're ready to fly or not. Sometimes you learn on the way down.

[Fishindude77]

As one who moved out right out of HS and never went back (as well as most all of my friends) I find this very weird. Our kids were out of the house very shortly after finishing up school also.
Perhaps the weirdest part is that it seems to me many of the kids don't even want to move out and many of the parents don't seem to be pushing them towards living on their own. Our neighbors have a 32 year old, able bodied, employed son living in their basement, still doing his laundry, feeding him, etc.

Kids 18 YO + are quite capable of growing up behaving like adults if they're just given a little inspiration and direction. Plenty of 18 YO's in the military with serious responsibilities.
It's pretty poor parenting allowing this to go on for an extended period, in my opinion.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Youngest of generation xer here and I don't recall any of my friends moving home. Most sucked it up and graduated as the dot.com bubble burst in 2000 be had job offers rescinded. Lots of them had layoffs an scrambled. Then they were prime home buying in 2007/2008 and most lost their places or had to struggle to stay in their places way longer than expected. I find most millennial are better off than the youngest of the Xers and most of the Xers never considered going home to live or did. They just sucked it up and rolled into living with roommates a long time.

[srblanco7]

Articles like this always try to highlight more significant/extreme examples. Having a child home for some period to get established isn't a problem, as long as boundaries are established, and they start getting treated as an adult. If they need 6-12 months to find a job, new apartment/roommate(s), prepare for a move cross-country, work to pay off student loans, etc.... I'd have no qualms. When it's become 3-5 years with no forward progress, that's when it's a problem. The family home should be a launch pad, not a hammock.

Fully concur. We're thinking along the same lines. Our daughter will have a bit of student loan debt to pay off ($17k), she has a job lined up - starting in June 2024. She'll stay at home to pummel her student loan debt, build her emergency fund, and get used to the rhythm of managing her paychecks & expenses. She's got a solid head on her shoulders - don't think things will devolve to the point of pushing boundaries.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Fully concur. We're thinking along the same lines. Our daughter will have a bit of student loan debt to pay off ($17k), she has a job lined up - starting in June 2024. She'll stay at home to pummel her student loan debt, build her emergency fund, and get used to the rhythm of managing her paychecks & expenses. She's got a solid head on her shoulders - don't think things will devolve to the point of pushing boundaries.

Sounds like a plan!