Adult Kids Are Returning to the “Nest” in Record Numbers, But Do They Know Its Financial Impact on Their Parents?
When one of my friends recently told me her nephew whoâs in his mid-20s was temporarily moving with his girlfriend to her parentsâ home to save money and pay down their student loans, I had flashbacks of my own family doing the same through several generations. My brother temporarily moved back to my parentsâ house with his very pregnant wife and very large dog back in the late â80s, and my parents did the same when they were new parents.
In order to give my friend some unsolicited (!) advice for her nephew, I called my mom to ask what their financial arrangements were way back when. Turns out both my brother and parents were freeloaders! All kidding aside, my parents did not pay rent to my grandparents and, in turn, my parents gifted rent-free accommodations to my brother and sister-in-law.
But that was several generations ago, so I wondered if and how adult children living at home today financially contribute to the household.
According to a survey of 700 young adults living with their parents conducted by Securian Financial Group earlier this year, only a small percentage of millennials (adults age 18 to 31) living at home pay rent. Asked to select all that apply in a list of options for compensating parents for room and board, the large majority (82 percent) said they help with household chores and nearly half (49 percent) said they contribute to household expenses. Only 10 percent pay rent.
The Securian article also reveals how the move home is financially impacting the survey respondentsâ parents, whether their parents delayed retirement to help cover the cost of them living at home, whether their parents asked for compensation, and if their parents set a deadline for moving out or conditions for how long they may stay. Also, find out the percentage of respondents who said they would house their parents if the shoe was on the other foot. Itâs an interesting read with surprising statistics.
So I asked my mom if she had any regrets or resentment all these years later as either tenant or landlord of her relatives, and she only recalled a set of kitchen curtains that were accidentally dyed pink in the laundry by an errant red towel. Iâm not at liberty to say in which house this occurred or who was at fault, but ruined curtains seem a small price to help family in a financially-strapped world.
Securian Financial Group, Inc. is the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for Credit Insurance and Debt Protection. More educational resources and contact information are available at www.nafcu.org/securian.
Also available: Paddling Through NCUAâs Guidance on Multi-Featured Lending (Blog Post) »
Post written by Carol Green, Marketing Manager, NAFCU Services Corp.