Financial security: Parents making this ‘alarming’ mistake with their adult kids
It’s getting very expensive for American parents to have an adult child.
A recent study from Merrill Lynch found that parents are spending $500 billion per year to support their adult children. That number represents twice the amount parents are spending on their own retirements.
What’s more, 64 percent said they are forfeiting their own financial security to keep their kids afloat.
Financial expert Chris Hogan said the statistics are “alarming,” and explained the steps to move them in the right direction.
“What their parents need to do is set their kids up for success,” Hogan said during an appearance on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” on Tuesday. “Help them to learn how to be independent by teaching them money skills and how to deal with it.”
The survey also found that one in four people at home aren’t either working or going to school. Hogan said parents need to understand the difference between helping and hurting their children.
“Help them do a resume,” he said. “Help them get out and get any kind of job to have income coming in.”
However, millennials don’t have it easy. Over the last decade, things have changed dramatically. Kids are coming out of college with much more student loan debt than ever before and wages have slowed in a tightening labor market. But Hogan said there are plenty of ways to pay for school without getting into debt.
“You can work at night, go to school during the day, or work during the day and go to school at night,” he said. “There are pizzas that need to be delivered. There are jobs that can be done. What we don’t want to do is make an excuse for people not moving forward.”