A shocking number of adults are still mooching off their parents

Flickr via orangeacid

Young adults who graduate from college but still rely on their parents for financial support have become commonplace since the Great Recession, but a new report finds that the arrangement can last for decades.

Nearly a third of 30-somethings and more than a fifth of those in their early 40s receive “significant, ongoing” financial support from their parents, according to a new report from the Society of Grownups, a financial planning company for young adults.

The report found that 35 percent of all adults ages 21 to 45 receive financial support from their parents. Of those, more than two-thirds said that they could not get by without their parents’ help.

Parents seem to agree. A 2015 report from Bank of America found that more than half of parents of millennials think that it’s harder for today’s young adults to live within their means than it was for their parents at the same age.

Adult children who continue to rely on their parent for financial assistance may be jeopardizing the older generation’s financial security. Baby boomers with financially dependent children are half as likely to be retired as peers who are still footing their kids’ bills, according to a 2015 report financial research firm Hearts & Wallets.

In addition to keeping them in the workforce, supporting adult children may be increasing Boomers’ stress. The Hearts & Wallets survey found that Boomers providing financial assistance to their kids are more likely to have financial anxiety, and they’re most concerned about being able to save enough for retirement.

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