Rent for newly graduated child

[Anonymous]

My daughter just graduated from college and has a 2-year fellowship in her field near our house. She plans to apply to graduate school after that and will be getting support to do that as part of this program. The fellowship is paid, but not much. Not enough to live on in our area, anyway.

She doesn’t love living at home, but she wants to save money for grad school which we respect. She’s still on our insurance (medical and auto), and doesn’t really need a car or drive ours too much. I am trying to figure out how much to charge her in rent.

If you have been in this kind of situation, what have you done? My dad charged me a token $25/month before I started grad school but I was only home for a few months and I wasn’t making a real salary.

We talked about sharing chores. And that she would be responsible for any special food or booze she wanted to have around. We also agreed that she will pay for medical co-pays and contact lenses and dental visit costs beyond what is covered by insurance. Is there a book I should read?

She’s very amenable to whatever we say. I don’t want to either be too harsh and weird, or too like, whatever and don’t pay us anything, lahdidah. Would love suggestions or BTDT stories.

I posted this first in adult children but realize it belongs here probably…

[Anonymous]

No, have her save and pay for basic expenses.

[Anonymous]

I'd charge her somewhere between $200-$400 per month. And then keep it in a separate account and give it back to her when she moves out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd charge her somewhere between $200-$400 per month. And then keep it in a separate account and give it back to her when she moves out.

+1 and tell her that you're doing this – it's to help her budget and she'll read the rewards for at the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd charge her somewhere between $200-$400 per month. And then keep it in a separate account and give it back to her when she moves out.

+1 and tell her that you're doing this – it's to help her budget and she'll read the rewards for at the end.

!!! I hadn’t thought of this! Thanks for this idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, have her save and pay for basic expenses.

Better yet, charge her rent but put that money into something like a CD, and hive it back to her when she moves out or starts grad school

[Anonymous]

Yes to charging a fair amount and then returning the money. However, I would not tell her anything about returning the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd charge her somewhere between $200-$400 per month. And then keep it in a separate account and give it back to her when she moves out.

My dad did this for my brother and he was really grateful.

[Anonymous]

Oh just stop. Don’t play any games. The kid lives with you rent free. End of story.

[Anonymous]

The post was fine where it was. By deleting it, you wiped away the posts of several people who were trying to be responsive to you. What, you are going to make them answer all over again? Most people read all this in Recent Topics, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Charging her rent and then giving it back is a whole lot of nothing. Why doesn't she already have an investment account on her own that she manages or Roth IRA if she has worked? Roth has a maximum and she is wasting it away if she doesn't max it out every year. Also, she is not learning anything if she is not picking her stocks on her own.
Are you trying to teacher her that she needs to pay rent when she does move out? A 3-year old knows this.
My 18-year old is already on his own. He will do his own taxes to get earned income credit and savers credit after contributing to Roth IRA.
She needs to be investing the money, not just saving. Everyone in my MA program was working. If she won't get paid a lot for the fellowship, why can't she work night and weekends already now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The post was fine where it was. By deleting it, you wiped away the posts of several people who were trying to be responsive to you. What, you are going to make them answer all over again? Most people read all this in Recent Topics, anyway.

Sorry. I was just trying to follow the rules about not cross posting and thought I would get more info about IRAs etc here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Charging her rent and then giving it back is a whole lot of nothing. Why doesn't she already have an investment account on her own that she manages or Roth IRA if she has worked? Roth has a maximum and she is wasting it away if she doesn't max it out every year. Also, she is not learning anything if she is not picking her stocks on her own.
Are you trying to teacher her that she needs to pay rent when she does move out? A 3-year old knows this.
My 18-year old is already on his own. He will do his own taxes to get earned income credit and savers credit after contributing to Roth IRA.
She needs to be investing the money, not just saving. Everyone in my MA program was working. If she won't get paid a lot for the fellowship, why can't she work night and weekends already now.

technically that is tax fraud if you provide greater than 50 percent support for kid.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry, OP and other posters, but this whole thread is a ridiculous pot of nothingness. Do you know how many college students graduate and live at home for a little while while getting their act together? And this kid already has a plan – they’re going to graduate school. So, she lives at home for free. End of story. None of this cute “charge her rent and give it back to her“ stuff. Yeah, just help the kid out. Why are we making this so much more complicated than it needs to be? You don’t need to teach her anything, she’s already doing fine lol. Just help the kid the hell out for Pete sake!

[Anonymous]

We’re in same boat with our recent grad at home. They have full time job and plan to live at home at least 6 months so they can build up a little savings and hit the ground running.

My advice is to talk with them. Get an idea of what they’re trying to do and how they’re trying to save. We’re giving our perspective in regards to 401k, Roth, brokerage, savings and even credit reports. Our grad created a budget with future rent, utility and other expenses. After a few months they’ll see where their savings are and go from there.