#BoomerangKids @AdultsLivingWithParents #EmptyNest
“Boomerang kids.”
These are the young adult children who move back home with Mom and Dad either because they don’t want, or can’t afford, to live on their own.
Of parents whose adult children returned in the last year, 68 percent reported more stress, and 53 percent said they were less happy.
That’s according to an article by Erin Arvedlund for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The article was also published Aug. 7, 2017, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One in nine parents surveyed by Fidelity and Stanford University’s Center on Longevity reported having children who moved back home in adulthood, the article says.
Not only were most of the parents more stressed and less happy about that, 46 percent of mothers reported worse sleeping and weight gain, the article quotes the study.
The study, as quoted in the article, also reports that more 18- to 35-year-olds live with parents than with a spouse.
To prevent adult children from moving home, some parents are resorting to buying houses for the children, the article says.
It may be oversimplification to pinpoint causes for this, but let’s start with the economy. After the 2008 meltdown, jobs, even for young people, became scarcer. Those that did get jobs don’t make the kind of money to would allow them to live on their own.
The article also points out that some of these adult children are moving back with children of their own, so divorce, or having children outside of marriage, plays a part.
It’s hard for many of us in a different generation even resorting to moving back home for any length of time, no matter the circumstances. But these younger folks don’t see it as a problem, perhaps because their life at home was so good.
As Kelly Yamanouchi reported in the Oct. 24, 2017, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the average pay for Delta Air Lines flight attendants is $25,000 a year. It’s tough for a young adult to pay rent, eat and otherwise have a decent life today on that salary.
It still begs the question of how one has a social life around Mom and Dad, and how Mom and Dad work a social life around adult kids at home.
From the parents’ viewpoint, money that you give to your children is money you probably won’t have to retire on.
Undoubtedly, it’s not an easy decision to turn away your children in times of trouble. Many of them don’t have the opportunities for earning a living that their parents had, because there are fewer good jobs.
If you are a young adult contemplating moving home, for financial reasons or otherwise, remember that there are more ways to make an income, potentially a great income, than a W-2 job. To check out one of the best, message me.
If you are a parent getting set to take in an adult child, try to discern the real reason they want to move home, and try to help them find an alternative – perhaps short of buying them a house – to moving back home.
Parents and adult children living under one roof can create so much tension, simply because each has his or her own way of doing things. Neither parents nor children need that stress.
It’s good for adults to live on their own when possible. It helps the economy and society as a whole. Make sure that if you have to move back in with Mom and Dad, that it will be very temporary, and for the right reasons.
Peter
Tag Archives: financial crisis
A DREAM RETIREMENT OR DREAMING YOU CAN RETIRE?
At age 45, some years ago, Denise McColister felt very secure in her job. She believed she would retire comfortably at 62.
Then, her husband became disabled. Their house, which was paid for, had to be leveraged to pay for his care. So now, at 55, she’s working a part-time call-center job. There is no retirement in sight.
McColister’s story was one of several told in an article by David Markiewicz, in the Sept. 23, 2012, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Over the years, retirement has evolved. Decades ago, workers longed for the day when their pensions, Social Security and retirement savings could be pooled into a comfortable life in the last years of life. They’d spent many years of hard labor and this was their reward.
They combined what their employers, their government and their own diligence did for them over the years to reach their dream. They hoped they would have enough good years of life, without sickness, disability or ordinary ravages of age, to travel, enjoy their hobbies or just relax with family and friends.
Today, the Baby Boomers look at retirement differently. If they are lucky, they have a pension, they have, or will have, Social Security and, if they were smart, a nest egg of savings and investments. But, presuming they are healthy, they can, and want to, still work at something that they can do largely on their own terms, so there is time to enjoy “retirement.”
The economy, however, has produced a number of folks like McColister who are not working at a job because they WANT to. They are working because they HAVE to. They are in this predicament through no fault of their own. The economy, or some other life catastrophe, has put them in a position in which, as Markiewicz quotes McColister, they will be working “until I am called home.”
If you are at or near retirement age, hopefully you have things in place that will allow you to enjoy some kind of “retirement,” or at least get you out of the rat race. If you are looking for something that will help in this regard, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. This vehicle could be the financial solution you are looking for, if you see yourself working until you die. Despite the ravages of a horrible economy over the last several years, there are ways out there to generate income. This is one of the best.
STILL YOUNG? START THINKING NOW!
If you are young, and not yet thinking about retirement, start now to prepare for that day. Check out a way you can work full-time at your job, and part-time on your fortune. Put a little money away each paycheck, and don’t touch it until you reach the age you want to retire.
Of course, should you be hit with a layoff or some other calamity,that may be easier said than done. Still, you must prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Bad things happen to good people. Having multiple streams of income will help cushion the blows. We must presume that promises made to us, either by employers or government, will NOT be kept. If we do what we can do to prepare for trouble, and it never comes, we are that much ahead of the game. We also have to learn not to blame ourselves, or others, if misfortune comes. If we’ve prepared for the worst, we can use our energy to deal with misfortune, rather than retaliate against whomever or whatever we believe caused it.
What should you do now? First and foremost, don’t presume anything, other than YOU having control over your adversity. Secondly, think about creating multiple streams of income. If you do that, it won’t matter much what happens to you. You’ll be able to deal with it comfortably, without the angst and stress McColister and others face.
The greatest moment of your life is being able to leave a job that has consumed you, on your terms, with a smile on your face. Then, to quote former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson in the AAG reverse mortgage ad, “live the life you’ve dreamed.”
Peter