Reply to How many parents still financially support their middle age adult children?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My husband and I fully support ourselves off our salaries (combined about $340k). We live in a small apartment with our two kids in the Bay Area because homes are $2 million or more. BUT I inherited stocks when I was young and my grandfather died (which pay dividends), my parents gift the full allowed amount annually to me and my siblings / our spouses as part of their estate planning (this year they exceeded it) and they are finally generous in other ways. Like last summer they vacationed and wanted us to join them - we paid for our flights and car but they paid for our condo. Could we have paid the $2k for the condo? Yes! But they wanted to and like spending their money on things that mean more time together.

I find myself wondering how many people in their 40s you know who are truly relying on their parents to make ends meet vs receiving money that is “above and beyond”. The gifts / inherited wealth mean we’ve built up substantial savings, but we certainly live well within our salaries and would be doing okay without the gifts. [/quote]

The gifts/inherited wealth = you started on third base. [/quote]

I’m the pp who wrote this and completely agree. (For instance, my experience is very different from my husband’s, who worked through college, had loans and need-based scholarships.) I didn’t read the complete thread but the op asked if people in their 40s haven’t figured out how to be financially independent when will they. I’m not saying we haven’t received a leg up - far from it! - but if my parents today announced they were never giving us another penny we’d be totally fine. I greatly appreciate the money and it does help us - so in that sense we are supported by my parents still. But in the sense of when will they be independent it’s different. Like my brother makes well over $500k in a typical year. I doubt my parents’ $20k gift is making much difference in his life these days but absolutely them paying for college (and when he had crappy insurance when trying to start his company helping to pay for an emergency surgery) made a huge difference. [/quote]

DP - but the question isn’t what would happen if your parents cut you off now, after you’ve benefitted from years of these gifts, it what would have happened if you’d never had them.  Your choices would have been different.  You have not only a financial but an emotional safety net that many of us never did and never will.  It’s hard to calculate the true value of that.[/quote]

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