When did you stop paying for your kid’s cell phone?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, it’s a great way for them to establish credit at a young age - paying their own cell plan every month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know, I know, a family plan is much cheaper but we didn't want to be enmeshed. When kids went to college, they got their own plan. We paid their bill while they were in college. Yes, I know it was more expensive but that was ok.

What about having a family phone plan is "enmeshed"? I don't look at my kid's phone calls/texts/etc. I just pay the bill. Why pay more?

Hint: one kid is out of college and a fully functioning adult. Even if their cell phone is still on our "family plan"

I'm 40, married with 2 kids and still on my parents plan.

Omg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop room and board 6 months post graduation.
Stop car and insurance 1-2 years post graduation. The car from college died. The younger child's car died around year 2.
Stop healthcare 26.
Stop phone at 28-30. Depending if their work gave them a phone or when they got married.

It sort of just worked out that way.

Who relies solely on a work phone?

Well, few people as most private companies rely solely on an employee’s personal phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We currently pay for car insurance, cell phone and health insurance.

No clue when we will stop.. Not an issue for us.

Goodness. How are they able to establish credit?? This is bizarre to me.

[Anonymous]

It's cheaper to keep them on it and just venmo the money each month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's cheaper to keep them on it and just venmo the money each month

4 of my adult kids are on my family plan and they venmo me $ each month.

[Anonymous]

LOL. My 36 year old DH and 40 year old BIL are still on their parents plan. Idk who even pays it, but the four of them are all on one. Me and SIL have phones paid through our work. Do I think it’s a bit weird? Yes. Does it also greatly benefit everyone? Yes. Dhs parents barely know how to work their phones or apply for upgrades or dispute bills, so having the “kids” on the plan helps with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We currently pay for car insurance, cell phone and health insurance.

No clue when we will stop.. Not an issue for us.

Goodness. How are they able to establish credit?? This is bizarre to me.

You can establish credit by getting a credit card. Discover has a college credit card for kids that is no fee.

The problem is how cell plans are structured. Ours is $100 for the first two lines and then $10 for each additional line. It makes no sense to go out and get your own cell plan based on these economics.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are both on his parents' plan. I had been on my parents' plan before that, but it was cheaper for me to move to his parents' plan, since I couldn't convince my parents to switch networks (they live rural and needed the coverage from the more expensive network they're on). My brother is still on their plan.

We pay my ILs monthly for our share of the plan, and reevaluate the payment amount when we get new phones. They're happy for us to stay on their plan, since it means they're paying less per line for themselves too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both on his parents' plan. I had been on my parents' plan before that, but it was cheaper for me to move to his parents' plan, since I couldn't convince my parents to switch networks (they live rural and needed the coverage from the more expensive network they're on). My brother is still on their plan.

We pay my ILs monthly for our share of the plan, and reevaluate the payment amount when we get new phones. They're happy for us to stay on their plan, since it means they're paying less per line for themselves too.

I should add that when our kids are old enough for their own phones, we will probably get our own family plan. But they're currently 7 and 5, so we've got time.

[Anonymous]

When they get a full time job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can stay on our plan as long as they want. It's easier and much cheaper to have a large family plan. We still have all kids on it, and my parents phones.

I suspect once my kids get married they might get their own plan. Until then, we happily just keep them on the plan.

If you feel the need, you can have them pay you for it. For us, it's $50/month (plus cost of new phones every 2-3 years) and we don't need the kids to pay.

+1

All kids are still on our plans (out of college), my own parents are on our plan. It's significantly cheaper this way. We can afford the $60/month so we just pay it, but our kid knows what it costs and appreciates it

[Anonymous]

This is the one bill I'll keep paying for my kids (currently teens), probably until they have a spouse and their own family. Why? Because it's cheap. It's only an extra $20-$25/line on a family plan. But they will need to buy their own phones.
I actually pay for my widowed mom on my plan now. We have 5 total lines for $190/mo. Cheap.

[Anonymous]

I was on my Dad's plan until I got engaged at 29 .

But then when my mom was getting a phone, I added her to our family plan. She loves not managing this and sends us some money (NOT needed) here and there.

I will keep my kids on our plan for however long. If I get annoyed about managing their plan, I'll cut them free.

[Anonymous]

We have a kid graduating from college this month with a FT job. Will have DS pay 1/4 of our phone plan. He can decide is he's rather shop around for his own plan. He'll immediately go on his own health insurance. Switch to his own car insurance in September when the payment for the next term for ours is due.