Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2024 VA Tech grad is living at home in order to save as much money as he can before moving out three years from now. He makes 120K and saves about 95% of his income, after 401K & taxes. He is on my family healthcare plan, so he is also saving money there. His gf is also doing the same thing, so then they will have about 350K in cash when they move out and get married.

Does he do his own cooking, cleaning, tidying or does he expect a meal on the table like when he was little? Honestly as a VERY burnt out mom of teenagers that is the one thing that makes me dread this. The minute they are in college I will stop cooking meals. I'm not going back to servitude for years to come.

I have no sympathy for people who wear their crown of thorns so openly. My teen is capable of cooking a few types of food (at least) for themselves. If she can, so can yours. So can adult children living at home.

Cooking a meal here and there is nothing at all like being the default adult for meals.

My kids are too young for me to have strong feelings about this, but my goal is to launch them into a successful, independent adult life within a few months of college graduation. I plan to pay 100% of the undergrad expenses and give them a car, so they should be in a great position to get into an independet living situation, hopefully with roommates, where they can still save money. I've worked hard to provide a nice childhood for them and set them up for adult life, and I expect them to do their part when the time comes. I plan to set these expectations with them years before they graduate college, as my parents did for me. I know I was on my own; thus, I did several internships during undergrad and had a job lined up at graduation.

My teens could cook and were expected to tidy and help with chores before they even went to college.
After 18 I expect them to help pay a portion of mortgage and utilities. Much cheaper than going out in their own

It depends on your situation. Obviously if you have a job in DC and your fam lives in DC, then living at home is reasonable. But many grads are not going to only focus on DC jobs for free housing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2024 VA Tech grad is living at home in order to save as much money as he can before moving out three years from now. He makes 120K and saves about 95% of his income, after 401K & taxes. He is on my family healthcare plan, so he is also saving money there. His gf is also doing the same thing, so then they will have about 350K in cash when they move out and get married.

Does he do his own cooking, cleaning, tidying or does he expect a meal on the table like when he was little? Honestly as a VERY burnt out mom of teenagers that is the one thing that makes me dread this. The minute they are in college I will stop cooking meals. I'm not going back to servitude for years to come.

I have no sympathy for people who wear their crown of thorns so openly. My teen is capable of cooking a few types of food (at least) for themselves. If she can, so can yours. So can adult children living at home.

Our deal with 24 yo son is that monthly "rent" is paid but it goes into dedicated savings account that he gets back for housing when he wants to move out. He's not very good with money (ADHD and some other issues) and this approach has made him more disciplined.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2024 VA Tech grad is living at home in order to save as much money as he can before moving out three years from now. He makes 120K and saves about 95% of his income, after 401K & taxes. He is on my family healthcare plan, so he is also saving money there. His gf is also doing the same thing, so then they will have about 350K in cash when they move out and get married.

Does she live with you too? Or she lives with her parents? When DH and I were dating and very serious/discussing marriage, I would have wanted to live with him or stay with him often and not with his parents always around. We married right after grad school, but we were always staying over at each other’s apartments.

Yes, she lives with us. DS and his gf have the basement with a kitchen and a separate entrance to do whatever they want. They also do not have to pay for rent, food, and utilities, and they are both very grateful.

Anonymous wrote:That's great, I lived at home post college for the reasons you list. I was able to buy a condo in my late 20s and paid it off by 35 because of the leg up they gave me. I'm so grateful that I was able to do that.

Similar here. I was super eager to get out on my own, but parents suggested I live at home for a year to save up (while making it very clear it was limited to a year). In retrospect, it was wise and I’m grateful.

My DD stayed at home for 2 years to save money before getting married to her fiancé. We paid for the big fat wedding.

Anonymous wrote:My 2024 VA Tech grad is living at home in order to save as much money as he can before moving out three years from now. He makes 120K and saves about 95% of his income, after 401K & taxes. He is on my family healthcare plan, so he is also saving money there. His gf is also doing the same thing, so then they will have about 350K in cash when they move out and get married.

Does she live with you too? Or she lives with her parents? When DH and I were dating and very serious/discussing marriage, I would have wanted to live with him or stay with him often and not with his parents always around. We married right after grad school, but we were always staying over at each other’s apartments.

Anonymous wrote:My 2024 VA Tech grad is living at home in order to save as much money as he can before moving out three years from now. He makes 120K and saves about 95% of his income, after 401K & taxes. He is on my family healthcare plan, so he is also saving money there. His gf is also doing the same thing, so then they will have about 350K in cash when they move out and get married.

Not to mention a well funded retirement, so once they have kids in their 30s they don’t have to save as much for retirement.

Anonymous wrote:
I don’t get why people claim kid saves money living at home after college. I went skiing all the time in winter, went to my beach house all 16 weeks of summer. Went on vacation a lot, had a nice car.

I had more disposable income that was just spent differently.

Well if my kids want to live at home after college, a good portion needs to be saved, working toowards purchasing a condo/th/sfh and/or retirement savings I’m not helping support them so they can party like they may 200% of what they make

Anonymous wrote:I remember my rent in DC after graduation was $600 a month and I had no loans. I was able to easily pay for grad school at night while working full time without amassing debt. Fast forward now and rents for a 1 bedroom are $2,000-$3,000 a month, tuition has skyrocketed and while salaries have risen a little they are nowhere near enough to cover the increase in rent and tuition.

Back then living at home would have been failure to launch but now it’s totally different.

Even back then it was not failure to launch. Saving 3-4K per year and using it for retirement savings or a down payment was huge. We put $20k down as 10% on our first home, 2k sq ft 4 bed, 2.5 bath. Could have done it much faster without rent/utilities/etc

Anonymous wrote:I think the risk is getting stuck. Mine are in high school still but I see how comfortable they are being home. I'd be worried they'd feel too comfortable, and I'd end up either doing everything for them including dinner (I am so done with doing this every day at this point, I don't even want dinner!!) OR nagging them to help out. My neighbors have a 36yo at home still and they openly talk about how they wish he'd move out (he is employed, has a good job)

So why don’t they discuss with their kid and set a deadline. Thats on the parents.
But I agree with living at home for 2-3 years post college and saving $$

Around the world, people live with their family members in the family home. Only in US can we have a thread like this.