And thank you for your concern. This young adult that graduated from #1 university knows that if she needs more money she can always pick up another high paying gig.
It is always interesting to see what people spend their money on-cars, houses, jewelry, travel, education, personal maintenance-the options are endless depending on one’s priorities and values.
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Speaking of priorities, this reminded me of a boyfriend I had many years ago. I remember him chastising me for “wasting my money” on a $20 shirt. This was right after he’d spent $500 on a TV. When I called him on it, he said “my TV is an investment”. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before he was an ex-boyfriend. 
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Yep, some people spend tens of thousands of dollars on a dress or purse or botox or whatever. To each their own.
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Mine wants first class, not even business, she already flew first class domestically to Hawaii.
Mine blew through almost $10k(2008 time frame), Christmas money from one set of grandparents that I saved through the years for her. She knew how fast it went. Maybe they are girls, they spend money on things that boys don’t, like $350 a hair cut, lol.
Whatever they want to do :-). If they can afford it.
While they are not earning, it is also better to give the kids a credit card than giving them cash I think. You will know where the spending is going.
Chiming in to say that the divide between the “learn to budget with a limit” versus “be reasonable” strategy of having kids practice living within their means may be a cultural one. I’m from a family on the Neela1 side of the divide and we’ve raised our kids that way, too. I can see that from the outside perspective it seems like it shouldn’t work as well as budgeting, but it has indeed worked so far for us (like Neela1). That being said, the eldest kid is about to head off to a very expensive city for college so I hope I don’t have to eat my words!
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This is one of those questions that has no good answers, IMO. The actual number varies but it’s more about the lifestyle you can afford with salary. If you’re not living paycheck to paycheck and have enough to save for a rainy day, it’s a good salary. Anything more (can pay for kids college, a couple of family vacations a year, can eat out once a week) is a better salary. If you can afford house cleaning, childcare, eating out whenever you want, or buy big ticket items like a car without much hurt, it’s a fantastic salary.
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We’ve been very transparent with the kids from a fairly young age as to what we have and what he don’t, how much we make (maybe by 8th grade or so), what school or vacation costs, how an annual income gets divided up etc. I may sometimes ask them to shop / look up stuff for me. I will consult them on major purchases. They are an integral part of the home. My dad used to consult me (a teen) when buying / selling property. I never told them I will pay only until they are done with undergrad, even though practically that is what will happen.
On the flip side I get full transparency on course choices, grades (I don’t ask, but I am curious), career choices in minute detail, who pays what and why, what the current thought process is for picking this or that internship etc.
It all loosely works out.
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I can tell you that most new graduates do not spend 3000/month for rental. They usually have a roommate for the first few years. They also do not spend 200 every time they go out.
D1 had a fairly high paying job when she graduated. She had a roommate for 3 years. They started with 1500 then went up to 2000. By then they each were making close to 200k.
I subsidized D1 the first year (500/month) so she could have some going out money. I wouldn’t have been happy if she was spending 200/night.
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Lol, not sure if that was a typo (did you mean "what we don’t?). But it’s undoubtedly accurate, and quite funny, as written.
Thanks for the feedback. Good to get a reality check on my numbers. I have a young colleague who just told me that he rented something at 100/sft per year. I figured 750sft is reasonable for two strangers – as opposed to living with a gf. I counted 200 because I don’t know what the etiquette is these days when you go out on a date. I don’t expect to subsidize at all.
Typo. Yes. What we don’t 
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I hope you leave it as is. Your point is clear, and it’s a good chuckle.
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Given the increase in house prices, I would expect even those with good salaries are struggling to save for a home.
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Not all single high earners in early twenties have goal of homeownership in the nearest future.
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Anyway the market is frothy now. Likely not the best of times to buy.
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I wasn’t referring to the near future. For most people, including high earners, it takes a while to save up the money for a down payment, or even for the cost of educating any future children they may have.
Decades ago, when my children were born, I ran the numbers and found the cost of a year of private college, assuming the same level of tuition increase, would exceed $80k for my youngest. My spouse, and others, assured me that would never come to pass, that college could never cost that much. Well, here we are. I can’t even imagine what the costs will be in perhaps 30-35 years, if any future grandchildren then exist and attend. Regardless, my kids are committed to start saving now. Never a bad approach, but that reflects our values. YMMV.
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haircuts - my son who got a good job after graduating last year (good = higher salary than either H or I make working in state government in a poor state) but retains some of the thrifty ways he was raised with, went to a recommended barbershop in the city he lives in and they offered him a beer while he got his hair cut. The beer was “free”; the cut was more expensive than he’d ever paid. He went late afternoon but had to go back to work afterward so turned down the beer. He’s not going back there. But he enjoyed telling us the story.
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