Pew survey of 18-34 year-olds and parents of 18-34 year-olds

[Anonymous]

We were prepared for our kids to move back home after college to get started but none of them did except for very briefly. They quickly got decent starter jobs and rented inexpensive places with other kids. They had never received allowances so they were used to making it on their own. But they knew that we were always there for them as a safety net but they never needed the net. Now in their 30s and married with children they are all doing very well. For estate planning purposes we are pretty generous with them but they just sock it away. We’ve always had a good relationship with them and that has really helped.

[Anonymous]

Sounds about right. Ordinary, but good.

[Anonymous]

If choice is between HCOL and better career opportunities, its not that much of a choice for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Apparently I still count as a young adult in this study (just turned 35). I really don’t feel like one — I have two toddlers and haven’t lived with my parents since I left for college at 17. Since they live in a rural area, I didn’t even go back in the summers, but stayed in my dorm to work in the city. I think it’s interesting that only 20-some percent of us have kids of our own. I was beginning to wonder if it was just my friend group but it seems like it really is a high perfectage of 30-34 year olds who don’t.

I think part of it is cultural (my Chinese friends move back with their parents as a matter of course and end up taking on more hone maintenance and parent healthcare responsibilities than those of us who moved out for example), but part of it might be parental age? I’m the youngest child of older parents and I feel like maybe seeing my parent’s expectations of my oldest (solidly Gen X) sister informed my understanding of my expectations for myself. She was expected to be financially independent (except for college tuition) at age 18 and never came back home to live; ergo I should the same.

I think kids/grandkids also change the dynamics. My mother and her friends are surprisingly involved grandparents, providing either regular childcare or coming to stay and cover school breaks or help out when I have business travel. While I’ve always loved my parents, I feel much closer to them in some ways now that I have kids of my own.