Will the surveys never stop? Here's another one--this time from Ameriprise Financial--on how generous we baby boomers are toward our grown-up children--and how worried we are about their future financial security and ours.
A December 2011 survey of baby boomers with $100,000 or more in investable assets reports that nine out of ten--93 percent--say they have provided some kind of support to their adult children. Paying for --or lending money for--college tuition comes in at 71 percent; help in buying a car, 53 percent. Parents are also helping with the upkeep of life's many expenses, like helping to pay for car and health insurance, rent and utilities.
Where does the money come from? 45 percent take it out of their spending money; 35 percent hit their regular savings accounts (about 8 percent tapped into retirement accounts) and nearly 15 percent take out loans to help their kids.
At the same time, more than one-third--35 percent--are worried that their children haven’t learned to manage money responsibly. More than that--nearly half--say their children don’t understand what it takes financially to prepare for retirement--even as they report that they are spending what they should save on their adult children.
As to those adult children at the receiving end, the survey found that more than half of them point their fingers back at their parents: they say they rarely or never talked to them about how they budget the family’s money.
Should we be surprised that kids coming out of college today are drowning in student debt? Or what the New York Times recently headlined as A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College
