Living independent of your family and supporting yourself financially is a daunting responsibility for most. This is especially true if you are still studying, or have just started a life of employment. In this piece by personal financial consultant Michelle Singletary, for her Washington Post column The Colour of Money, she advises parents on how to help their children manage their money, and in turn, prepare them for financial independence.
Singletary’s piece details the fact that extremes are never the way to go. Parents should neither cut their children off completely, nor help them out with all their expenses. The downside of the latter defeats the entire purpose of training your adult children to live on their own two feet. It is a good way to teach them how to budget their expenses, and to prioritise between needful spending and wasteful spending.
However, the downside of the former can prove to be even worse. Singletary’s summation of this is “some people believe parents should shove graduates out on their own. Got a degree? Well, time to get out. It will build character. Graduates will become better money managers if they suffer and struggle. Or maybe they will accumulate debt, or more debt. My advice isn’t intended to suggest that you blindly support your young adult — and certainly not one who may need some tough love. But your children have a lifetime ahead of them to fly on their own. In some species of birds, the young stay in the nest until they are strong fliers”. Click to read the article