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Subscribe to RSSBaby Boomers have a lot of bills to pay these days. Most of those bills aren’t theirs.
They’re helping to pay medical and utility bills for their aging parents, and even buying groceries for their moms and dads. And on the flip side, they’re chipping in for everything from car insurance to rent payments for adult kids they thought flew the nest.
All these handouts are creating uncertainty among the boomers about what the future holds for their own financial well-being, according to a report by Ameriprise Financial released this week.
The study, titled “Money Across Generations,” surveyed more than 1,000 affluent boomers, 300 parents of boomers, and 300 children of boomers, at least 18 years old, by telephone, and found tougher economic times all around for every generation. But the Baby Boom generation of about 77 million and born roughly between 1946 to 1964 is stuck between a family rock and an economic hard place.
“Boomers are feeling the pressure financially and emotionally,” said Suzanna de Baca, vice president of wealth strategies at Ameriprise Financial. “In many cases they’re sandwiched between children who are unemployed or struggling to pay down their student loan debt and aging parents who are facing complex health and financial issues. At the same time, they’re trying to prepare for their own retirement.”
About a quarter of boomers surveyed said they were saving for retirement, compared to 44 percent who were doing that in 2007, the last time this poll was taken.
And because of the financial pull from both parents and kids, twice as many boomers are focusing on clinging to the retirement funds they already have, up from 12 percent in 2007.
“Family and personal values are important when making any kind of decision, but it can be difficult to prioritize our family members’ needs against our own,” de Baca said. “Unfortunately, unconditional financial support can threaten or even sabotage retirement goals and security. It’s important to have open conversations with your family about your current financial situation and evaluate your ability to meet your own goals before offering any kind of support.”
Here are some more findings from the study on what boomers are doling out:
- 58 percent of boomers reported helping parents in some way with purchasing groceries (22 percent) or paying medical expenses (15 percent) and utility bills (14 percent).
- 93 percent said they provided financial support for their adult kids, including college tuition or loans (71 percent), allowed them to move home and live rent-free (55 percent) or helped them buy a car (53 percent) and auto insurance (45 percent).
- 34 percent said providing financial assistance to their kids has slowed down their contributions to retirement savings, and 10 percent said aiding parents is keeping them from squirreling away.
While most boomers don’t regret backing their adult kids financially, they’re not sure all this financial handholding has helped their offspring prepare for the future. Nearly half of those polled said, “they worry that their children do not understand what it takes financially to prepare for retirement, and 35 percent express concern that their children have not learned responsibility when it comes to money.”
Is it time to cut the kids off?
A new study from the University of Michigan found that parents with children ages 19 to 22 are helping their children with college tuition, rent and transportation averaging out to several thousand dollars a year. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Related stories:
Delaying retirement for our families
Gen Y’s upbeat thanks to mom and dad
Moving in with your parents isn’t that bad
Leave a Comment:
Like I always say, if you can't afford a child DON'T HAVE THEM!!!!
Agree, but
I'm in my 60s and it occurred to me, who's going to take care of me? Guess I'll have to check myself into assisted living.
My nieces and nephews in their 20s and 30s fit that article. My brother is a soft touch and is always giving giving to them. Their mother is either too broke or doesn't want to give. So it falls on my brother. He won't stop. He's in his 60s and I wonder how long he can keep giving to these grown-ass people?
Even if you can afford children when they are born - you may not be able to afford them when they are grown.
The economy has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. There has been no way to plan for the stupidity build into our economic and political system. There has been no way to plan for the broken promises made by self indulgent and self centered business and finance.
Your comment sounds so reasonable - yet is just another self indulgent rant.
Hogwash.
I'm in my 60's and have had to help out my adult daughter in the past before she finally moved and found substantial work. It's not those kids who work for lower wages, but those with degrees who can't find decent paying jobs as many of them, through the courtesy of the politicians, have out-sourced them China and India. Some start with enormous loans, move out, play by the rules, then lose a job only to end up taking 2 or 3 low wage part-time jobs. My daughter had to return home at age 30 to live in our bsmt apt rent free for 3 years.
Some people just assume that all these kids are lazy bums. Of course, there's a crowd of kids who are irresponsible, such as having kids with no support, taking drugs or going to jail. They're a real burden on their parents as the help they need never ends.
That's about the dumbest thing a person can possibly say here. We aren't talking about new births.
If your adult children cant take care of themselves, you've done a bad job raising them. The whole point of "childhood" is to prepare them to be an independent, productive adult.
My grandmother lived on less than $10,000 is Social Security about 13 years ago. The mortgage on the house was paid for. I know because I prepared her tax return every year.
When she had medical issues, I went on her checking account. All of her bills were paid with her own funds. She would NEVER want me to pay for any of her bills.
Time came for the nursing home situation and the house was sold and proceeds over to the nursing home.
I will not discuss how much money she had saved in a safety deposit box that was closed out many years earlier and money stuffed in an empty suitcase.
She was a wise woman. She worked in an era when women didn't work. She never used credit cards and only used cash for purchases. And she had an amount in savings stored.
It can be done.
<shakes head in disbelief>
That is such a rash statement. Surely you don't actually believe that? Everyone tries to blame parents for everything but kids cease to be sponges past a certain age. They develop their own ethics, attitudes and personalities and there is nothing you can do as a parent to change that. Sure, you do your best to keep them on the right track but if they choose not to live productively that is no fault of yours. There is no parenting style that produces good kids or bad kids. Seriously, that's a 1950's way of thinking. Psychology has come so far since then. I suggest you catch up.
I've done a bad job of parenting? Jeez, I guess I should have taught them to get and education and get a job. Oh wait, they did.
Annette - that sounds like my grandmother. Her husband died young (a drunk) and left her NOTHING. She got a job as a school teacher (in an era where school teachers really WERE paid poorly) and lived independently.
She supported herself.
I have older friends (I live on a retirement island at age 52, hate me) who ask me for money. When I look over their finances, I see lots of areas they could cut back. What they want is not money for food or clothing, but money to pay the cable bill, high-speed internet access, brand-name liquors, meals at expensive restaurants, designer pets, etc.
You call them out on this, and they reply, "It's our only luxury!" or some other nonsense.
The point is, they are living a better lifestyle than I am, yet claim they are "broke". Well, they are broke - because they spend all their money.
A lot of what people think are NEEDS are really WANTS.
Before you hand out money, make sure someone really needs it, and doesn't just WANT it.
It always kills me when some well-meaning parent buys their kid a brand-new car, claiming that they "need" it.
Sheesh!
Thankfully, both of my kids are very independent. However, with the extreme downturn in the economy, many adult children are caught in that unemployment situation that so many are in denial about. I know many hardworking individuals who are without a job, or a job that actually pays to work it. They aren't looking for handouts, but sometimes just a hand will do. They are responsible people working very hard to keep their heads above water. It's not fair to disrespect them for a situation they did not create.
As far as the boomers' parent(s) go, some have been very careful with their money, other--not so much. (This is true across every age level of society. ) Some have left themselves in the lurch, while other have been so thrifty that they will never be able to spend it all. Medical costs have not declined, but seniors' incomes have stagnated. It's becoming a question of what gets paid first: prescriptions, utilities, food, clothing, housing. Many of the elderly are unable to work (at all). Some are a little luckier and have found ways to supplement their incomes.
Lastly us boomers, who are paying the bills on both ends of the stick, and the middle, too. Over the past few years, we boomers have been dragged through the mud (by the younger generations) on how we are going to suck the system dry. However, now we are the "money bags" who are supporting the them (the youthful complainers) and the old, as well???? Sorry folks, you can't have it both ways. We boomers are doing the best we can with what we've got. It's not a lot, and it's not a lot to look forward to, either. We've shouldered our burdens the best we can, and most of us will help, as we can; but we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. We can't continually hold it together for everyone.
It's time to work together to figure out and solve some of the problems. They might not be the best solutions, but until someone comes up with better ideas, we may all may need to start living together, in smaller quarters; grow our own food; turn the heat and cooling way back; stop traveling; and be ultra conservative. It's not my idea of a good time, but when times get tough, the tough get going.
This economy now is not anything that any of us could ever have imagined. If there are individuals out there who can - and wish to help their family members - then, hats off to them. Perhaps a little more family closeness and compassion is what is needed now. There is also a lesson to be learned here for all those younger than us boomers - and that is, you must take more responsibility for your own future financial welfare.
You must be living with your head in the sand.
OUR ECONOMY HAS CHANGED. The cost of college is astronomically higher than it was when I went in 1973. I paid $100/semenster; now it's closer to $1,000/credit. Few students can make it through without a loan of some sort. Jobs are not paying as well as they once did, if you manage to find one at all. My son graduated in 2010 and is working 2 part-time jobs, so I can hardly call him lazy or irresponsible. He is paying on his current student loan, but will take on a new loan for grad school because, obviously, a BA is not enough. So if he needs a little help, I'm giving it to him. I wouldn't buy him a car, but I'll help him keep the heat on.
In the meantime, I try to save for my retirement, but every year it gets more difficult.
@peanut: That's a wonderful blanket statement that certainly isn't full of any logical holes.
Or wait.
You know, people vary between intelligence. My sister is significantly less intelligent than I am, and we differ tremendously when it comes to fiscal responsibility. We also differ tremendously in paycheck comparisons, and earning potential. But I'm sure you can blame my mother for the way we were raised.
Teaching financial dependency is never a good thing.
Yet I see parents - and grandparents - do this all the time. "Well, Suzie needs a BRAND NEW CAR to get to work, so we co-signed the loan for her. And she lost her job, so we're making the payments, now."
Kids don't need brand-new cars - heck, they can't afford the insurance.
Supporting kids in your home only serves to make them dependent. Many, if not most, of these "bounce-back" kids have drug and alcohol problems. It is not that they cannot find a job, it is just a lot easier to sit at home and smoke pot.
When they do get a job, they quit, citing the boss being an "@!$%#" or the "whole thing is just a hassle, man!"
Cut the cord. It may be harsh, but kids learn to sink or swim pretty quickly.
When I dropped out of college, my Dad gave me a week to find a job and a place to live. I did it in four days. And I went back to school, paying my own way.
My friends whose parents were "kind" to them, ended up living with them until well into their 30's - and "borrowing" money for the rest of their lives.
It takes two to tango.
One of my friends with "bounce-back" kids also has a "bounce-back" parent. She is constantly complaining she is broke, and the daughter gives her $500 a month. Mom spends it on televangelists and home shopping - running up credit card debt into the five-digits, in her late 70's.
The kids all chipped in to buy Mom new tires for her car. A month later, she comes home with a new car. "Do you like it?" she says, "I traded in that old clunker for this!"
The son says, "Did you take those tires off that I bought for you? Because they would fit my car, and I need a new set!"
Same story - grandma defaults on the car loan, leaving the kids to clean up.
Trying to "help" people can be problematic. Be sure they really need your help, and you are not just paying for their cable bills and restaurant meals.
And not funding your OWN retirement, so you can "help others" is idiotic. Your first obligation to society is to NOT create more destitute people!
It is like that speech they give you on the airplane - In the event of an emergency, secure your OWN oxygen mask before trying to help others. If you pass out trying to "help" someone, your inert body just blocks the exit for everyone else.
Take care of yourself, and teach your kids (and parents) to do the same. That is the real kindness - not giving handouts (which may make you feel like a big shot and give you something to complain about, right?).
By 18, a kid should be so prepared and confident that they JUMP in the pool themselves. Having to cut the cord/sink or swim is your first indication that you've failed as a parent.
I couldn't wait to leave home. And I could never understand my friends who never left - how they could endure being a child for so long. Ick!
Maybe if the most selfish generation of all time the "baby boomers" didnt horde all the resources for themselves their would be more for the older and younger generation. What job could a regular kid get realistically now that could both pay their rent, bills and be able to feed themselves without a college degree? When the baby boomers went to college, it cost a fraction of what it does now. They were never burdened with the crushing debt of student loans. Also I think a lot of baby boomers drank and did drugs in their 20's..ever heard of the hippies? Also the social safety net was much better when they were young than now. They had lyndon johnson great society programs taking care of them. What happened when they got to political power (the baby boomers)? They voted themselves huge tax cuts and gutted the social safety net. Only time baby boomers care about the social safety is protecting their own social security and medicare (note entitlement reform always set to the idea that older people will be grandfather in under previous system while the new system will be alot less benefits for the next generation). What happened when the baby boomers became CEO's and stock holders in companies? They closed the factories and shipped the jobs overseas in order to boost its stock price to make themselves richer. This has had lasting effects that impoverished the newer generations. Their are no jobs for high school graduates anymore that pay greater than $10 an hour. So yeah the baby boomers are paying for their parents and children (whats so new about that?) because they are hording the wealth of america.
I had nearly $40,000 of student loans. I paid them off.
But - and this is key - I stopped smoking pot and majored in Electrical Engineering.
Kids graduating with junk degrees and a lot of debt need to look in the mirror to see who is at fault. It wasn't Wall Street that forced them to make POOR CHOICES.
And when will students get off their arses and PROTEST these tuition hikes?
When the $40,000-a-year janitor at the school goes out on strike, the students protest in favor of HIM - not realizing that when they graduate, they won't make as much as a Union janitor will - and that their student loan debt will finance that person's cushy lifestyle and retirement.
People can go to college and still not learn anything.
Maybe they're paying all the bills because they're the generation with all the money???
Most silent generation folks, if they are even still alive, are probably tapped out because they have been retired for 30+ years and didn't plan for it. Rather depending upon SS, pensions, Medicare. Which in their day worked but they were short sighted and didn’t think about the long term consequences of the programs they introduced. Call them the ignorant generation even now they “don’t get it.” Retired for longer than you worked..duh!
Gen X & Y, well they have pretty high unemployment and aren't really making much even if they are employed since the real wage hasn't got up in 30 years or basically their entire working life time. They basically earn the same as their parents but everything costs more. Let’s rename them to generation F*#Ked.
So, Boomers are where the money/assets at. Yeah their 401ks have taken a hit in the near term but they made their money up in real estate appreciation over their lifetimes, even with the recent declines. They are the Robber Generation that mortgaged their offspring’s futures in order to sustain their own conspicuous consumption. So, yeah they should be helping folks out since they basically stole from an entire generations to fuel their insatiable appetites for material possessions and wealth.
You've just made an excellent point, but probably not the one you realize.
Blaming everyone else for your problems, instead of looking at your own mistakes.
I never said I had any problems. I'm doing fine; just calling it like I see it.
Hey Prighello - Boomers haven't robbed anyone. Boomer's parents caught an economic upswing following WWII when this country was truly an economic world leader and teaching the world how to produce manufactured goods among other things. Many boomers naturally enjoyed the lifestyle that their parents were able to earn back then. (Notice I said "earn".) In the 1960's through the early 1980's, boomers were able to continue the tradition. By the mid to late '80's on, our country was well on the way down the economic ladder due to global competition. Guess what...we taught many of the competitiors how to beat us at our own game and our nice government imposes such high taxes on businesses that they chased many american employers overseas. Now we have boomers losing their jobs left and right with no new job to go to and we have whiney piney x's and y's like you playing the blame game and looking for your next free ride while you play with your Ipod.
Underemployed,
I appreciate you candor up until the end there. I think you discount the economic boom cycle of the 90s, but yes this nation has been on the decline for some time with cracks appearing in the 70s and 80s. Post millennium the decline has been precipitous and Americas have really begun to notice in the past several years. I still place much of the responsibility for our current state upon the Boomer generation as they have been in power politically for some time yet have not enacted policies to turn the tide. Under Boomer reign income inequality and poverty have risen well beyond the norms of the past 60 years.
As for your assumptions about me, I am not looking for a free ride. Nor do I believe many of my brethren are. We simply wish to have the same treatment and opportunities our forefathers had.
I come from a broken home, raised by a single mother. It was all she could do to put a roof over our head and food on the table. My first job was at 10 delivering papers and I’ve been steadily employed since 15. I put myself through school working 40+ hours a week; it took six years. By the time I retire, if I retire, I will have worked well over 50 years. Everything I own, everything I am, is because I went out and earned it. No handouts here.
Duh!
Do you even have to ask that question? If you keep handing out money, they'll keep taking it. Why wouldn't they?
I have very financially responsible parents who saved enough money to put me through college, pay my books, tuition, living expenses, etc. However, once I graduated in 2010, I got a full time job with benefits and am completely independent from my parents. I have friends who moved back in with mom & dad after college and friends who are still relying on their parents to pay their car insurance, cell phone bills, etc - Grow up! I cannot understand why you wouldn't want to be on your own!
As for helping financially with my grandparents, they give them gifts that are practical (i.e. $1,000 gift card for heating oil or something), which I think is a good idea. My grandparents are on a fixed income, as many of our senior citizens are, but would never dream of asking for help!
I think you answered your own questions. What, pray tell, would you have done if you didn't have the job with benefits? If you had said you moved out after college while working at a retail store, or fast food chain, making near minimum wage for 60-80 hours a week until you found the job you mention above your point would carry a lot more weight.
Essentially, you got lucky. Planned well and increased your odds of being lucky, but still lucky.
I do think people should get out early though regardless. That's what roommates are for.
Adolf, she didn't work. She just said her parents paid for everything.
I wonder...has she ever offered to pay them back?
Ashley, how about this- you said YOUR parents paid for your education, books,living expences, etc. Maybe, unlike you, your friends had to WORK for these things, had to take on LOANS. Then you got job with benefits right out of school. That is awesome for you but not everyone is so lucky. I don´t know if you checked out job market lately - it is not easy to find a job right now.
Sign of the times. Many kids not able to secure a good career so they live with Mom and Dad after high school or college. We'll see what happens in 10 - 30 years when more gen x and y's kids who don't have a career, can't afford to support their parents and their kids can't support them.
It is already very easy to see exactly what will happen, because that is already the way it is in many other countries. In those places the children will live with their parents right up until they get married. Then as the parents get older it goes the other way and the parents go and live with their children. Nobody but the very wealthy have large amounts of savings, or 401ks to fall back on. There are no retirement villages or nursing homes, because nobody can afford those. Family will have to depend on family.
This article is proof that we are already well on our way. I'm already quite confident that I will have at least one of my parents living with me when they retire, and it is likely my children will be living with me well beyond the age i was when i left my parents. It will be a 3 generation household, and it will be the norm.
Honestly, I don't feel too bad for most of them. Many have experienced substantial economic gains in part due to things that don't exist or won't exist for the generations that will follow them (affordable college, affordable housing, etc) and simply being born at the right time in history. Plus, some of the helping children comes from setting unrealistic expectations for them. For example I work with someone who has whined about how he has to wait a few more years to retire b/c his youngest child wants to attend an Ivy League college.
KIPPERS ..... Kids In Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings.....
Jello heads!
It'll all get better as the massive amounts of baby boomers die off!!
That's an awful thing to say.
What about the grandparents who helped out boomers' parents in the 60s and 70s? My grandparents were comfortable while my parents were middle class raising four kids. My grandparents paid for some expenses. I know of other cases where financial help was given to friends' parents. This is not unusual.
A family helps when they can. There is nothing wrong with that.
Don't know about your parents but my father's response was always, "Hey, you made your bed so now lay in it.". My father figured his pockets were his period.
Unfortunately some of the issues are entitlements. I see my son's friends, all in early thirties, and they have no sense of putting things off. They must have cable, high speed Internet, top of the line phones and plans and there goes four hundred dollars. Try to explain that they can do without, we did as young adults and parents, and we just get blank looks indicating we must be crazy. Too many want to have the same lifestyle their parents have worked for for over thirty years but they want it now. And parents cave.
LOL
As our country prospers, more and more Americans slide into poverty and homelessness. The explanation of this seeming contradiction -- the rich are retaining an ever larger of the nation's wealth.
In 2011 the top 1% captured 93% of the all income growth and have accumulated fully 40% of the nation's wealth. The rich have NEVER been richer while their taxes are the lowest in over a hundred years. Sales of multi-million dollar estates, private islands, jets, yachts, luxury cars, art and jewelry continue to soar while 49 million American cannot food and 1 in 4 of it's children live with hunger.
Class mobility, where American once led, ranks the lowest for any developed nation even as government slashes funding for education and childhood nutrition. Corporate profits and productivity are at record highs even as the percentage paid to labor is at a record low. CEO pay is at multiples never before seem in history and income inequality now ranks below Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopian.
Clearly American must slash taxes on the "job creators" and tell children, elderly, sick and hungry to "suck it up and get a job". America well on the path to reaching utopia for extremist Republican -- Somalia.
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?"
-- Isaiah 10:1-3
Gees people, most comments have been 'mean', self-centered and/or narcissistic. If we Baby Boomers don't help our parents (who gave us life) or our children (who we chose to bring into this life), who is going to??? Oh, that's right, you would all rather they be supported on some type of tax payer assistance. Then, you could all complain about that, saying why doesn't their family help... Ugghhh !!!
My husband and I are baby boomers (53 & 51). We have one parent between us still living (my 80 yr old f-i-l). He lives by himself in another state. Every year, we update something in his home (because we want to), ie; new flooring, new appliances, furniture. The return-on-our-investment is the brightness in his eyes, the constant smile on his face, and the proudness that exudes from him. He is also the envy in his community because he has a wonderfully close and loving family. We also set aside a small amount of $$ in a savings account for him monthly for something unexpected like his ac breaking down.
My 59 yr old sister-in-law lives in my finished basement for less than the price of a carton of cigarettes per week (about a third of market value rent). Why? Because she is 'family', she can't afford the rents in this area (this is not new because of the economy, she's been here over 10 yrs) and lastly, because we want her to be here.
My 22 yr old son (only child) is attending college in another state since Oct 2008. We pay 100% of his college tuition, because we want to. We purchased a home for him to live in because we didn't want him in an apartment or dorm. We pay 100% of all the house bills, because we want to. He has learned on his own how to do laundry, cook, clean an entire house, mow lawns, bag leaves, wash windows, vacuum, etc. all while attending school full time and working a part time job in order to feed himself and his gas tank. Also, by us owning the home, we are able to have another student from the same college room with our son, charging 1/2 of what the market value rents are in the area, thereby helping someone else.
None of these additional expenses has negatively impacted our anticipated retirement. We have always save for retirement first. Then we pay our bills and help our family next.
Food for thought: My f-i-l is eligible for some forms of our various low income programs. He doesn't need it though, because we help. My s-i-l would most definitely be eligible for food stamps and even tarp funds (housing) if she didn't live with us (yes she works a full time low paying job-it is what it is). Our son is technically eligible for both food stamps and unemployment (just lost his part time job of 2yrs). I told him I would 'break his legs' if he even thought about trying to 'use the system'. We are very fortunate that we can give him a little more cash til he gets another part time job -or- finishes college and hopefully becomes full time employed in his field.
Family, it's all about family and sharing the good and the bad.
p.s. NO, my husband and I are not 1%ers. We are planners and savers, and we love our family.
How is buying him a house because you can't stand to see your poor little boy slumming it in an apartment teaching him anything? Jeez, when I was in school, apartments were barely fit for human habitation and if your mac n cheese said "Kraft" on the box it was a banner day.
That's what teaches them how to budget their money and prioritize. A little hardship won't kill them.
Wow, you sound like real nice folks. Wish I was in your family :). God bless you.
@kristin... I did not say we bought 'him' a house. I said I bought 'a house' for him to live in while going to school. He has no financial or legal claim to the house. As far a 'slumming it in an apartment', hmmm. I grew up in the 'slums' in an 'apartment' (actually a low income federally subsidized housing project) and although I had a happy childhood and was loved, it was not nice. I told myself that when I was all grown up, I would get a good job (did it) hopefully get married (and stay that way, I'm also from a broken family), did it 23 yrs so far, and have a child whom I would love to the best of my ability and shower with any fortunes I may be blessed enough to achieve... DID IT!!!! Oh yeah, and never never never live in an apartment again.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese...Ewwww
@prighello...thank you for your kind words. and God bless you as well!!!
not everybody has family...
@niftyfifty...your statement breaks my heart, because it is true. I hope you have someone to love who loves you back.
The ONLY reason my baby boomer father has been able to amass his wealth was by not helping his children pay for college, nor medical insurance, nor buy a car, etc.
Unlike him. My grandparents DID help my dad pay for college. (Grandparents paid for most of his education.) Did help buy my dad a car. Let my dad live with them for free. They even gave him money when he wanted to move out of state. So it's irronic that you'd say that many don't know how to survive.
I'm surviving I just didn't get all the opportunities that my father and mother both had when they were growing up so it has become a struggle. No cheap gas. My Dad's parents paid for him to go to college. Now when it's time for my dad to fulfill his promise. Nothing! And then you wonder why we're struggling. Are you kidding me?
My dad amassed his wealth by neglecting his children and our futures for his own selfishness. (Still hasn't paid his court ordered portion of my college education as stated in the divorce agreement he signed so I get to keep paying off his part of my education he agreed to pay before I can spend my income elsewhere.) I'm generation X and this has been my experiance of the last 36 years.
Many but not all Baby Boomers in my opinion are selfish people who don't want to pay it forward after all the successes their parents helped them to achieve. I think my dad forgot about all the help HE got which is why he lets me stuggle and calls it tough love. <sigh>
Why do I get tough love... and my DAD got all the help in the world. It just doesn't make any logical sense at all to me!
.
And whose fault is that? Did these parents take the time to explain and demonstrate concepts like money, savings, budgeting to their children? I know of a few parents who want to shield their children from any worldly matters and just have them focus on having fun. Isn't part of parental responsibility to prepare the children for the world they are about to enter?
Its like a Lion not teaching its cubs how to hunt...
Pretty typical middle boomer here.
Grew up in a family with six kids but we did okay because my dad made good use of the WW2 GI Bill. Worked my way through college and graduated with no debt. Lived with my folks for the first couple of years while going to community college. Been broke and came back a couple of times including the early eighties recession. Gave all of our children the opportunity to go to college. Made the same deal with all of them. They could go to any college they wanted but we'd only pay the FASFA expected family contribution. Two started but didn't finish college. They are both married and self-supporting although I co-signed a car loan for our middle child this year. Our youngest is working on her Master's Degree with help from us. She finished college with a BS in something she couldn't parlay into a job, learned from that and will have a salable skill when she finishes her Master's next year. Of the our parents, only my MIL is still alive and she lives 1500 miles away. She hasn't asked for any help, but this summer well be taking our vacation to do some needed repairs on her house so she can sell it and move closer to medical care.
Between my wife and I we've got a comfortable income and don't mind spreading it around to our families but we won't be a financial burden to our children either.
Can't think of anything we would have done differently and not feeling guilty about anything regardless of the whining of some of the younger posters here.
LOL This post cracks me up. I"ll make one comment and then i'm signing off. The boomers were the first generation where the norm was two income earners in a family. In the 50's most women stayed home. Yeah, we did pretty good for ourselves. If you didn't -- shame on you. Two family income and not so many children. Do the math! I'm not apologizing!
Sadly no one values the parent role...more than anything they value things.
Boomers have a better sense of what it means to Profess, Protect, and (quote from: Steve Harvey), and Provide; for those, who are close, to them. It doesn't have to be a family member. It's just the right thing to do. Boomers have a greater sense of where charity starts. Just remember, (you siblings); to be grateful; because, they don't have to do it.
Does anyone see the writing on the wall? For the past 20 years, retailers, marketers and media have pushed the spend, spend, spend mantra to children starting at birth. From a young age, they want Disney movies, Disney character clothes, Fisher-Price toys, Tonka toys, Barbies, Xbox, Gameboy, etc. and it just goes on from there.
Is it no wonder that in this time of high unemployment, financial uncertainty, upside down mortgages that ipod, ipad, itunes and internet continue to thrive and everyone from the age of 10-50 HAVE to have one if not all? And the scary thing is that parents, even of young adults, consider these things necessities. But this is only the tip of the marketing and sales iceberg. throw in cars, first mortgages, and the over-the-top commercialization of Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and the like and you see where the millenials are headed.
Big business is not only stealing their unsuspecting parents' retirement, it is stealing this young generation's retirement and the next and the next. Easy to blame government for taking all their money, but big businesses' goal is to reduce taxes so they can take whatever additional portion of your paycheck is left.
Except for those in the 1%, caveat emptor to everyone else.
This post, isn't for those of you, who are still harboring, ill will, towards someone who you feel, wronged you somewhere in your life.
Enablers...parents are supposed to raise independent adults. So many helicopter parents...if you don't let them fall how will the learn to stand up. Teaching financial responsibility is also a part of parenting...not easy raising kids. Which is why so many kids are the way they are. Lack of good role models.
Take responsibility for your own stupid mistakes...student debt should never happen if you decide to take a huge loan then get ready to eat beans and rice for a long a$$ time. Nobody forced you to sign that loan document. But parents really should be teaching their kids the impact of debt.
Nifty, do you know how much education costs these days ???? I am in process of applying to study long distance in private european university. And you know what - tuition + two-three airtickets a year and still cheaper that local community college and about half the price of yearly tuition at University of Arizona. I mean, rice and beans go only so far. Nobody is forcing kids to sign these loans - but what is the alternative. Just saying Ok and being fine with flipping burgers for rest of your life??????? .
Major problem identified copy and paste: http://www.kentuckynewsnetwork.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=104668&article=10098569