Suze Orman: 4 Best Ways To Financially Support Young Adults
Written by
Adam Palasciano
Edited by
Maria Concepcion
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Suze Orman reported that, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, many young adults still rely on a parent for financial help. Just 45% of young adults between the ages of 18-34 say they are completely financially independent. That means that at least 55% of young adults still receive at least some help from their parents.
In addition, the number of parents who provide financial support to their adult children is up from 2023 to 2024, according to Savings.com.
The percentage of parents who financially support at least one of their adult children is 47% in 2024, up 2% from 45% in 2023. At the same time, the percentage of adult children living with parents who don’t contribute to all household expenses is 61% in 2024, up 7% from 54% in 2023. On average, parents providing financial support give $1,384 to their children monthly.
Financial guru Suze Orman is notorious for her expertise in all things money and finance. She’s one of America’s most influential personal finance experts. In one of her latest blog posts, she explained how to help your kids without hurting yourself financially.
4 Ways To Financially Support Your Kids
Here are four important ways to help your adult kids without putting yourself in financial jeopardy:
- Find Teachable Financial Moments: If you dole out cash every month to help your kids, be sure you’re instilling a sense of financial responsibility while doing so. For example, if you’re still paying for your kid’s cell phone bill, explain that it might be time for them to take over the payment. This can be done gradually, with your kid contributing half of the monthly bill for the next six months and having them fully take it over afterward. It’s a small start but can pave the way for them to take over larger financial responsibilities later. Offering financial help that’s eventually coupled with transitioning financial responsibility instills good financial values.
- Be Sure That You’re Actually Helping: Contributing money to your kids’ needs should always focus on how you can help build them up. For example, giving your kid $200 per month towards housing so they can simultaneously pay down their student loan is helping them build financial security. That might not be the best decision if you’re simply giving them cash so they can go on a vacation.
- Always Live Within And Below Your Means: This is a virtue for you and your kids to live by. If you haven’t instilled the lesson of living within and below your means from the beginning of life, explain it now. Helping them with financial needs (if you can comfortably afford to do so) is one thing, however, helping them with wants is probably not a good idea.
- Gifts Must Be Generous For You And Your Kid: Follow this simple premise: “For a gift to be generous, it must be generous for the giver as well as the recipient.” This means that providing financial help to your kid should not hurt you financially. In fact, providing too much financial support to them, especially if it’s for wants and not for needs, can create a sense of financial dependency and entitlement. If you’re going to offer financial help, be sure that it’s comfortable for you and responsibly helps them.
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