Parents shell out $5,000 a month and delay retirement to support 27-year-old daughter living at home

While some parents are enjoying their lives as empty nesters, others are taking financial care of their adult children.

One California-based mother, 66, who chose to remain anonymous, recently spoke to CNBC about how much she and her husband pay to financially support their 27-year-old daughter.

The mother told the publication her daughter moved back into their home in early 2024. Since then, she and her husband have been paying an extra $5,000 per month, including $1,500 on food, $700 on transportation, $400 on her pet cat, plus other miscellaneous expenses.

With the extra money being allocated to their daughter’s expenses, the mother said she and her husband would no longer be going on vacation this year, and her spouse is considering delaying his retirement.

“We were not planning on this kind of expenditure at this point of our lives,” she said. “The reason we do it is because we don’t want to see her on the street.”

The father explained to CNBC that his decision not to retire relies on his employer-sponsored health insurance, which currently runs him and his wife $600 for their daughter.

“At this point, I was hoping to do a lot more travelling … we’ve really put that on the back burner,” the mother said. “I thought my husband and I would have the house to ourselves with the dogs, and we wouldn’t be worried sick about her all the time.”

These parents aren’t alone, as a survey published in May by financial services provider Thrivent discovered that almost 40% of parents in the U.S. claim that supporting their adult children has impacted their savings goals.

Some, like the California parents, have turned to Kim Muench, a parenting coach who specializes in young adults. She told CNBC how clients who are financially affected by their children living at home are coping.

“Parents sometimes hesitate to get help for themselves and invest in their health … because they’re already spending more than they would like to support their adult or emerging adult children,” Muench said.

When the arrangement becomes prolonged, she said parents end up becoming worried that they will be providing for their child for the rest of their lives.

According to Muench, the best method for trying to get around the problem is for parents to continue having conversations with their children and to set financial boundaries. “It takes consistent conversations, because it’s probably not going to happen in the first conversation,” she said.

“And it takes an emotional maturity level on both the parents and the emerging adult side to figure out how they can work together.”