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The rising cost of living is impacting many people, but new data shows parents are financially responsible for their adult children longer than they anticipated.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One out of three young adults are choosing to keep on living at home with their parents, and an even higher percentage admit they are still financially dependent on their parents just to make ends meet, specifically 50% of young adults.
This new data from savings.com shows how today’s inflation is not only impacting them, but also the parents who are still picking up the financial responsibility.
High rent prices combined with entry-level salaries are making it nearly impossible for young adults to make ends meet. Not to mention, the thousands of dollars in student loans a young adult may have.
It’s a problem experts at First Florida Credit Union say didn’t exist a decade ago.
“It’s going to take a little bit longer for this generation to be able to get their financial independence,” Ashley Avery with First Florida Credit Union told First Coast News. “In times past, it was a get out of college, get your job, get your home, move forward and at that pace. Today, it’s going to be a little bit of a slower pace for this generation.”
Even if a young adult is living in their own place, their parents still could be buying their food, paying for their cellphone plan or covering their health insurance, shelling out around $1,400 a month on average, a report from savings.com found.
“And even gas, auto insurance, anything transportation-wise, it’s really hard for young adults right now,” Avery said.
Parents having to help or house their adult children longer than expected can take away money from more than the parents’ savings account.
“For the parents, I think the biggest challenge is that it’s costing them a little bit of their independence they thought that they would have at this point in their lives,” Avery said. “It’s really affecting how much they can save for retirement, [and] affecting things like paying off their homes sooner so that they can plan for that retirement stage of their lives. And they’re having to delay that.”
Avery suggests for families who find themselves in this situation, to create deadlines for when the financial assistance will stop. Also, define what expenses the parents will cover and make sure the adult child is also contributing to their bills.