Oh the ailing economy! The U.S. is in a terrible state of economic affairs right now, and Americans are feeling the crunch. Gas prices are ridiculous, real estate has tanked. It is nearly impossible to get a mortgage these days and for many that have a home, they are in danger of losing it to the banks. Many more already have lost their homes, forming a whole new kind of epidemic: adults moving back in with parents. The Gorilla is not talking about twenty-somethings here, he is speaking about older adults moving back in with their much older, retired parents, after losing homes, jobs, and more.
Imagine being 52-years old and having to move back in with your seventy-something parents, who as it is, are living off of their hard-earned retirement and life savings. We live in a society where parents are naturally giving and will do almost anything for their kids- even their grown kids But how good can this be for the parents? The Gorilla wondered the same thing and the simple answer is- it isn’t.
Parents “jeopardize their financial freedom by continuing to subsidize their children,” said Karin Maloney Stifler, a financial planner in Hudson, Ohio, and a board member of the Financial Planning Association. ”We have a hard time saying no as a culture to our children, and they keep asking for more.” Many financial planners report dealing with this same issue more and more and are becoming more like “financial therapists” than financial advisors, teaching clients how and where to draw the lines with their grown children. For many, the situation is just temporary. One woman said that she was living with her parents due to losing her long time job to the wobbling economy and necessary lay offs her company had to make. She says she is trying to buy a home and needs 3% to put down, and right now only has 2%. It is costing her parents approximately $1,000 per month for her to live with them. (Not to mention the stress on the elderly parents of now having her to worry about her). The woman, named Joanne Bauer, says she is certainly trying and says, ”I’ve had people say to me, ‘Oh God, I could never do that,”‘ she said. “But you take humble steps in order to move forward.”
And humble steps they are indeed! With the ailing economy weighing so heavily on everyone, there will obviously be sacrifices for many, and for now, we must do what we have to do to get by as a society. To that the Gorilla says…hang in there. Eventually this too shall pass.