Parents continue to bankroll adult kids’ lives
By Akane Otani, BloombergBusiness
Jordana Gilman, a 24-year-old Ivy League graduate, is studying to be a doctor at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She has worked part-time jobs since she was 15 years old, balancing babysitter, restaurant hostess, and camp counselor gigs with heavy course loads to save money and carve out a little bit of financial independence. Yet as an adult living away from home, she gets an occasional check from her parents to cover the cost of groceries, movie tickets, and meals out.
“I feel embarrassed that I can’t support myself,” Gilman says, adding that she’s “immensely grateful” for the help. Her investment in medical school left her strapped for cash and time, she says, and it would be nearly impossible to make ends meet without her parents supplementing her income.
Gilman has plenty of company. In 2015, 36 percent of parents said in a poll published this week that they expect to support their child for more than two years after graduation, up from 18 percent the year before. More than 16 percent think that arrangement will last more than five years, according to the poll, conducted by massive education lender Sallie Mae. According to a report published last month by Bank of America, 40 percent of millennials regularly receive financial assistance from their parents. Financial advisers have taken to warning clients their grown children may destroy their hope for a secure retirement.
Nothing wrong with parents giving a helping hand while their children get started in life. However, I think it’s crazy when I see some of my peers still giving large sums of money to their adult children, who apparently financially challenged,still manage to drive top-of-the-line cars and openly brag about their most recent exotic vacations. This goes way beyond the parents just “helping out” and only teaches those “children” to remain irresponsible, perhaps for life.
Dan, I hear you. There are certainly those kids out there. I was one of the lucky ones. I wound up with a great job right out of college. So many aren’t so lucky. I’ve watched plenty of hardworking and intelligent people struggle to find employment.
Heck, I’m watching post-docs currently struggle to find work. So it’s no wonder so many need their parents support. I think this is systemic of two problems.
1. College isn’t preparing kids for the real world.
2. Companies aren’t hiring enough entry level positions. IE the youth get passed over for the more experienced.