Not All Millennials Live With Mom and Dad

In another sure sign we’re living in one of the most bifurcated haves and have-nots economies ever, consider today’s data on millennials. These are the much-maligned 27- to 42-year-olds with the rap of living in mom and dad’s basement because they can’t figure out how to be adults. 

As The Juice noted a couple weeks ago:

• 19% of millennials live with their parents. 
• 26% say mom and dad helped them pay for “something” within the last year. 
• 17% admit that “something” was a rent or mortgage payment. 

All those numbers trend considerably higher for Generation Z, since they’re younger, between 11 and 26 years old. 

RentCafe recently released some statistics about millennials – and the other generations – that might surprise you. 

The graph above shows how many people from each generation own homes. 

18.2 million millennials have attained this primary element of the American dream. 

While some of these homeowners require financial support from their parents, the numbers imply most don’t. So chalk one up for millennials. 

It gets even better. 

Just 17.2 million millennials rent, making it the first time more millennials own rather than rent. 

They’re setting a high bar for Gen Z. 

If you have any Gen Zers in your house, it might be time to set some ground rules. Because their attitudes toward when they should start paying their own way indicate they could be in for even more financial pain than (allegedly) non-home-owning, basement-dwelling millennials. 

According to a recent Bankrate survey, on average, Gen Zers think their parents should help them pay for life’s needs (and some wants) well beyond their teenage years. 

The most eye-popping datapoint: They think their parents should cover their travel expenses, credit card bills, Netflix subscriptions, and cell phone bills until age 21. 

While you can argue you need a cell phone, the rest of the items on that list scream discretionary spending. 

For what it’s worth, millennials think their parents should cover the aforementioned costs until age 20. So it’s pretty close. 

The Bottom Line: Roughly 68% of parents say they’ve made significant financial sacrifices to help their kids with money. 43% have sacrificed retirement savings, and 49% have slowed paying off their own debt so they can help their kids. 

Some might ask what happened to tough love. Others might claim there’s nothing wrong with giving your offspring a leg up. The Juice sees the merit in both these points. 

Regardless, more than ever, the macro trends that make for scary headlines are impacting us all differently.

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