I mean, I was only just starting my junior year in college at 21. My parents red shirted me back in the day, so I’m not entirely sure that’s a fair standard. It wasn’t by my choice that I was that old at that stage of life and was not yet supporting myself.

Hello, how do you think people starting out can afford to buy a $600,000 house on an entry level salary ? Does not come to a surprise to those of us who are struggling to do it ourselves.

It's not new. Parents have been helping children for generations in many cultures. We are immigrants (moved here when I was 10). But my grandparents pod for a nanny for me when i was little and my parents were working late nights and studying back in our home country. My parents paid for my kids nanny while I was working and getting promoted. I'll help my kids out as they need it no matter their age. It's a family thing. Plus they benefitted from the rise of real estate when they moved here and bought their house for less than 1/2 of our house cost at the same salaries. So different costs of living at similar stages of life.

Anonymous wrote:Baby boomer.

Life was simpler then--cell phones and computers did not exist and so no need to pay for internet and cell access. If you really needed to call someone you could use a pay phone. TV was not a necessity--plenty of us had just a radio. Also, almost no one worried about health insurance. You could buy a used car for not much and gasoline was cheap if you lived where there was little public transportation.

Uh phones were very expensive; I remember a household moratorium on long distance calling bc so expensive but

Food was also more expensive.

However, education, medical, and ultimately housing have dwarfed the expenses of previous generations.

Anonymous wrote:I would rather give with a warm hand than a cold one.

I wish my ob/gyn felt similarly.

I also think it's more visible now because of the boom of wealth in the mid to late 20th century. Parents help their kids and grandkids as much as they can, and we are in a period where we grandparents and parents can. It remains to be seen if this is a blip and in 20 years we'll go back to when adult kids were on their own and/or worried about taking care of their parents because there isn't a lot of leftover wealth in families to share with the next generation.

It’s a really wide age range. My parents gave me $100/month during grad school even though I had a stipend and free tuition. It allowed me to eat food that wasn’t ketchup on saltines.

But an allowance for a 37 year old? That’s a horse of a different color.

Anonymous wrote:I would rather give with a warm hand than a cold one.

I like this quote, made me laugh- thanks

I secretly envy my friends when it comes to this stuff. It would be nice if I didn't have to worry about my parents' financial stability, or their retirement, or spot them money for bills. A friend of mine doesn't even pay for their own gas. Just stop by every weekend and dad will fill it up, no big deal. And we're talking about young professionals making 100k or so.

But it is what it is, I try to make the best of my situation. At least I can say that I don't depend on anyone to bankroll my lifestyle.

This is not new. My family was never one of means, but my grandparents gave my parents money to help when my dad went back to school - as did the government since we were on foodstamps. My parents bought their first house only when my mom's parents died and she got a small inheritance from selling their house. We bought our first house with a down parent gift from my parents who even now regularly gift us Christmas checks of 1,000-5,000. We are not rich and not poor, and this help has made a world of difference for us. It is the same story for everyone I grew up with, none of us were rich and all of us had grandparents who helped out financially or materially. Kinship networks and the help they provide have been going on since the beginning of human time. Perhaps it is more visible now that people have fewer adult and children on whom to spread their wealth.

Anonymous wrote:I would rather give with a warm hand than a cold one.

That's my ILs philosophy. They pay most of our extended day bill and give a yearly gift, around $5,000. I grew up working class and have significant student loans so I am very thankful for this help

Anonymous wrote:What's the problem? In some cultures, people don't even move out of their parents house until they're married.

True, however in our culture the kids move out when adults and the parents are still paying their rent, car payment, you name it. That's the difference and quite sad for these Man and Woman children.

Recent grads and millennials often need support from parents because: (1) the cost of education is exorbitantly high, (2) earnings have not caught up to cost of living, (3) housing is expensive and (4) childcare is expensive.

Everything has gotten SO, SO expensive without much increase in wages. Look at how expensive tuition is. How can you work and pay for school if tuition alone is pushing ~$30K/year? How do you have time to study/work?! This is why you need parents' help.

What's the problem? In some cultures, people don't even move out of their parents house until they're married.

Clearly we live in a meritocracy and people who do well simply deserve it.