Are Your Adult Children Still On Your Payroll?

Are Your Children Still On Your Payroll

There has been a tremendous spike in financial support given by families to their adult children in the last twenty years. This can come in the form of a place to live, paying expenses like cell phone bills and care insurance and even paying off debt. We all want the best for our children, but at the same time this may present a tremendous burden to the parents if they do not have enough income or assets to continue this level of support.

The days of children leaving the home and being responsible for their own personal and financial wellbeing seems to have gone the way of the rotary phone. According to the U.S Census Bureau, 34.1 percent of people aged 18-34 lived under their parents roof in 2015. This is up from 26% in 2005. An astounding 25% of young people living in their parents’ home do not work or go to school. These are staggering statistics and yet another contributing factor to people working longer. The financial dependence of their children are draining resources that otherwise would have been available for their own retirement.

It is important for our kids to be prepared to take on the world and be financially prepared for it. Financial education is a key to their success and the earlier you begin the better. I remember when my kids were young we wanted to teach them about money. One of the best tools we used to help educate the kids was a piggy bank, but not your ordinary piggy bank. The bank we provided to our kids had three slots, instead of one. There were slots for savings, spending, and charity and when they would receive money they would portion out the funds to each of these areas. It created a great opportunity to discuss the concepts of needs, wants and helping others. Educational ideas like this will stay with a child for a long time. We find that many financial habits of adults come from what they learned as children and how they observed their parents with money.

The help provided to adult children come at a price, far more than the dollars you spend on their behalf, and have the potential to put them in a bad financial position for much of their adult life. What happens when you are no longer here? How will they be able to support themselves? Take a look at your household bills and see what type of support you are currently lending to your child. Sit down and provide them with a list of the current expenses you are paying and develop a game plan to shift those expenses from you to them. In addition, this will offer an opportunity to work to educate them about the importance of long term financial stability and independence for themselves. You will see that this is a gift that will help them immensely in their life going forward.

Helping your children become and remain financially independent will not only be a gift to them, but you as well. It will put you in a better position for retirement, remove worry and stress from your life and most likely help your marriage, if you are married. We find that usually when a child is being support by their parents one spouse is typically in favor, and the other not, of helping them out financially leading to stress in the relationship.   I think financial independence is summed up best by this proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”. Provide your child with support, and you help them now. Teach your child how to handle money, and you help them for a lifetime.

We would welcome the opportunity to help you get your children on the road to financial independence. Feel free to contact us, Mitlin Financial, at (844) 4-MITLIN x12 if you or someone you know needs assistance in this area.

This article represents the opinion of Mitlin Financial Inc. It should not be construed as providing investment, legal and/or tax advice.

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