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Anonymous wrote:My parents paid for: expensive private college, expensive law school, and I was otherwise raised in privilege. Then funded the down payment on my first home. Then, they gave me a (run of the mill) car when I was newly married. Then, my parents started saving in a 529 to fund my kids' college costs. It is ridiculous. I won the damn lottery.

Now, I'm a professional worker-bee in a very expensive coastal city, earning in the $400ks, and not able to do all these things for my own kids. I know it is absurd to do this, and maybe bad for them, but I do wish I earned more to pay it forward to my own kids.

You sound bad with money…

Millions as a trust fund baby

$80k paid for undergrad, $10k for wedding, $50k for house down payment. $5k when my son was born to start his 529. We are extremely fortunate and I am super grateful for it. I hope to do the same for my child.

New car at 16 (I had sports practice at 5 am so this was a win-win), undergrad (full cost), law school (tuition only, I paid for housing and food), $10k toward the wedding, then nothing else. Right now I can at least pay for undergrad and a used car for my kids, probably not grad school or wedding.

My parents paid for me to go to college (undergrad), and I would like to do the same for my kids.
My parents paid for my wedding (appx $35K), and I would like to do the same for my kids.

When I got my driver's license, they had an old car that I was able to use as my own (and one of them got a new car to drive). This was never my car per se. I am two years older than my sister - and I could use it for my whole senior year of HS, and when I came home from college after freshman year. Then, when my sister got her license, it was the same for her. Both of us went to colleges in cities where we weren't allowed to have cars on campus. Eventually we got older, no one was using that car anymore, and my parents sold it - and they kept the money, as in the car was always theirs, but they let us use it for a few years - maybe they would have given it to one of us, if we wanted / needed it - but we didn't.

My oldest is 13, and we are debating what to do (because we have an older car that we need to decide whether to sell or try to save for him rn). I suppose I would like to have a car that he can drive when he gets his license. If I give it to him as a gift - it wouldn't be when he gets his driver's license. I guess it would be when he goes to college, if he needs a car there. When I got my license, I had to get a summer job and pay my parents $1K, which they said was the increase to add me to their insurance, and I actually recently told my son he will have to do the same, and he should consider saving some money for it, starting now, if he'd like.

When I was a kid, my grandparents would rent a big beach house for a week - and their kids / grandkids would go. I would like to do that when my kids are older.

I don't really ask my parents for anything now, except for some stupid things like I share all their streaming login/passwords.

No financial assistance from 17 to 35. Moved out of state for college, got a full ride and paid for everything else with part time jobs, moved farther away for law school, no loans or handouts. My mom did get me a mattress as a college graduation gift so I'd have a nice one in my law school apartment. After I graduated law school I actually loaned my mom several thousand dollars a few different times - she always paid me back.

Then at 35 my mom retired and moved in with us to provide childcare for our first kid. She's still here 5 years later and probably will be until she passes, although the childcare piece is finished. But it's good to have her close so I can keep track of her health stuff (boo cancer) and keep her from being so easily scammed as she becomes a little more vulnerable in her old age.

So not much financial support in my young adult years, but throughout she's always been a place I could go if I needed a place to live, a listening ear, support, etc. I didn't have to take her up on that front, but my brother and sister both moved back in with her at different points after college when they hit rough patches, and I know there are people navigating this world without that kind of safety net. Support comes in many flavors.

Why are you asking and what did you get/give?

We paid for college for our four kids, funded three very nice weddings (ranging from $40k to $80k depending on what she wanted) for the three who got married, provided the down payment for the two who now own houses and bought the house that a third now rents from us because they’re not sure how long they plan on staying in the area.

My parents gave me a car at 18 and fully funded my college education. I recall being filled with gratitude nearly every day of my college life for not having to stress about money and not having to work my way through school (I did waitress for extra spending money). Even today, in my 40s, I'm grateful that I didn't have student loans. My parents drew the line at paying for post-grad. I didn't end up working in the field I applied for my masters anyway (music), so I'm very happy that I didn't end up doing it.

They also fully funded my wedding. And they treat us to wonderful family trips every couple of years or so.

My goal is to do all of these things for my own children.

My parents paid for: expensive private college, expensive law school, and I was otherwise raised in privilege. Then funded the down payment on my first home. Then, they gave me a (run of the mill) car when I was newly married. Then, my parents started saving in a 529 to fund my kids' college costs. It is ridiculous. I won the damn lottery.

Now, I'm a professional worker-bee in a very expensive coastal city, earning in the $400ks, and not able to do all these things for my own kids. I know it is absurd to do this, and maybe bad for them, but I do wish I earned more to pay it forward to my own kids.

My parents paid for my undergrad education, and then gave us $10,000 in a downpayment for a house in 2000.

I will repay the favor for my kids, plus get them started with contributions to their Roth IRAs for the income they earn in high school and college.

Parents covered all college costs outside of scholarships for all of us kids. We got their old cars when we started driving. They also gave each of us a fixed sum for weddings and said we could use it as we please. We all have good jobs now so we don’t need any financial help.

My parents gave me a used car in highschool, paid for my college education and bought me a new car on me I graduated from college. That’s it. My husband and I paid for our own Wedding and bought our own house without help from parents.

I'm not sure what real information a few anecdotal stories would provide. Some parents kick their kids out at 18. Some pay for 9 years of education and buy them a house. The vast majority are in between. Personally, my parents paid for my undergrad (30 years ago) and had some money left over that they gave me to pay for part of grad school. My spouse also had undergrad paid for. We got married around 30 so we paid for our wedding. If we'd had real needs after that, our parents could have helped us but we didn't so didn't ask. We plan to do the same for our kids.

Just curious what kind of financial help people received from their parents or have given to their kids? Paid undergrad? New car as a college graduation gift? Help with the Down payment on a house? If so, how much? Help with wedding costs? If so, how much?