MINNEAPOLIS — Young people today are entering adulthood at a tough time. There's record-high inflation, skyrocketing housing costs, and student loan debt. It's no surprise parents are stepping in more to help their kids get by.
A new survey from Bankrate shows seven in 10 parents with kids 18 or older have made or are currently making a financial sacrifice to help them. Nearly one-third (31%) of that group says help is significant.
The survey found that about half of these parents have sacrificed their emergency savings (51%) and debt payoff efforts (49%). Some are even sacrificing their retirement savings to help (43%).
Financial experts say there's nothing wrong with helping your kids, but be smart about how much you're helping them.
"Definitely don't give more than you can afford to lose, and consider setting strict parameters," said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. "Maybe you really want to help your kid through a tough spot, but you don't want to be a blank check either. So, maybe set some really specific guidelines in terms of how much money, what it's going to be used for, how long that's going to go on because it can't be indefinite."
We caught up with one parent who says he still helps out his 26-year-old daughter. She's a working professional with a master's degree. But he says life is just too expensive right now not to help.
"Your parenting doesn't end at a certain age. It just doesn't disappear," said James Christopher Ryan. "When you have a child, it changes as we get older and our relationships evolve. So, to me, parenting ends when I die. It just doesn't end at 18, 21, 26, 32. It just doesn't."
The survey also found that each generation has a different idea of when a person should start paying bills on their own. You can find that poll here.
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