ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - More than three in five parents have been found to help their adult children financially, according to one survey.
According to Bankrate's new Financial Independence Survey, 61 percent of parents and guardians who have adult children ages 18 or older say they are currently sacrificing, or have sacrificed, financially to provide assistance to their adult children, with 69 percent of parents ages 44-59 saying they have made sacrifices to their retirement accounts or emergency savings.
"We do see a high propensity among Gen X parents than than Baby Boomer parents," said Greg McBride, Bankrate Chief Financial Analyst on KMOX's Total Information A.M. "I think a part of that can be explained through their demographics, with baby boomers in their 60 and 70s, while Gen Xers are in their mid-40s up to 59. The adult children of Gen X are going to skew younger, earlier years of adulthood than probably be in more of need of financial assistance."
According to the survey, only 56 percent of baby boomer parents say they have provided financial assistance for their adult children. A big reason for that drop according to McBride compared to Gen X parents is because many baby boomers didn't receive financial assistance from their parents when they were younger.
"Only about 10 percent of baby boomers say they have ever received any financial assistance from their parents," said McBride. "It was twice as high for Gen X at 22 percent."
McBride says he was rather surprised by the high number who say they do help their children financially, but the number has been consistent to what Bankrate has seen compared to a year ago.
"I think there is a high level of willingness I think from the parents to help out their kids wherever they can," said McBride. "But at the same token I have also seen some evidence that parents are increasingly prioritizing their own retirement too. There's less of a willingness to sacrifice or compromise their own retirement prepareness in order to help out their children."
