<p>"Few are proud to carry the stigma of a 'boomerang kid' someone who moves back in with their parents after failing to make ends meet on their own. But the move makes a lot of financial sense, and could serve as a springboard that can get boomerang kids off to a flying start when they head back out into the cruel world.</p>
<p>Amanda Grad Meets World justifies boomeranging, describing how the plan is working for her. Thanks to help from her parents, she's able to plot out her career without burying herself in debt.</p>
<p>'Think about it how many of you would rather be in debt up to your eyeballs instead of having the ability to put money away in the bank? How many of you would rather struggle, and I mean really struggle, during a Recession rather than taking it easy and trying to do things the smart way?</p>
<p>Quite frankly, if "the right path" involves being stupid with my money then I don't want to take it.'</p>
<p>Many people don't have the option to move back home, and many would rather suffer financially than submit to such a perceived humiliation. But it's tough to argue that living with free or low rent and a built-in support network is inherently worse than enjoying the 'freedom' of subsisting with little money or resources. ..."</p>
<p>I moved home after graduating from college. The plan was for me to live at home for 6 months before heading off to graduate school. I was able to get a fulltime job and it ended up becoming long-term. I have lived at home working fulltime for almost a year now and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.</p>
<p>It has allowed me to pay on my student loans and save money at the same time. My sister, two years older, went off on her own right out of college and makes about the same amount of money I do. She struggles financially because of this. </p>
<p>It may not be the right choice for everyone, but it has definitely been the right choice for me. I am much more prepared now financially and professionally to return to graduate school.</p>
<p>I’m a high school junior. I believes that it does make some sense financially. But it is not right for people who are more likely to go out into the world. However you can build stronger bonds with your family as you lead a social life (ignoring all those drama from the teens year). However sometime it is just not possible to manage.</p>
<p>There’s no way I was going to move back in with my parents after graduation. Once I was out of the house just after having turned 18 I was OUT. OTOH I never received any money from my parents through college either and paid for it all on my own through student loans. I had no problem at all with my parents - it’s just that I wanted my independence and valued it highly.</p>
<p>This isn’t an either/or situation. There are ways to avoid taking on a ton of debt achieving a major with difficult employment/income prospects. </p>
<p>I don’t see an issue with some grads deciding to move back in with the parents after grad and don’t knock them for it if it works for them and their parents but I also understand the desire to become independent which by definition doesn’t happen if one moves back in with the parents with the parents providing support. This desire isn’t due to what one thinks others might think of them, it’s due to how they feel themselves.</p>
<p>In the olden days (the real olden days) everyone lived with their parents and vice versa unless they were striking off across the frontier to stake a land claim in which case they probably would never see their families again. To think that just because the few generations before this one left home at 18 that this generation has to do the same to be successful is wooden headedness. It’s a brand new world out there each and every day and conditions change. When we boomers were leaving home there was a wide generation gap (music, clothing, hair, values, civil rights, hawks vs. doves). Kids needed to leave home because home had an intolerable clash in values for many/most. It’s just not the same today. You can’t pack up your VW and buy gas at (25cents/gallon?) and rent an apartment with 10 other kids for just about nothing. It’s just a very very different world. So to live at home and save up? Pay off college loans? Spend a few more years with your elderly - ish parents (my folks were 40 when I left…)…yeah. It’s just different now.</p>
<p>Both H and I each lived with our parents for 2 years after college graduation. It enabled us to save for what turned out to be the downpayment on our first house.</p>
<p>My S (college class of 2011) is currently living with his grandparents. He’s working in mid-town Manhattan, and his grandparents have a 4 bedroom house in NJ near the GW bridge. He’s living in his dad’s old room and making the same commute his dad made when he first got out of college. His grandparents love having him there. After 8 months there he’s really ready to move out on his own and has started apartment hunting, but given the astronomical cost of rent in the NYC area he’d have been nuts not to live for free for a while. He’s saved a good bit of money, which will definitely come in handy when he does move out - which I think he’ll do this summer, if not sooner.</p>
<p>It is VERY COMMON and has been as long as I can remember, for folks in HI to move back with their extended families. Housing in HI is astronomical (we’re among the highest in the US while wages are pretty low–among the lowest in the US). The imbalance makes it most practical for folks to live together instead of everyone staking out his/her own place. Of all my 6 sibs, I was the ONLY one who live with my parents when I got out of college/grad school. I moved out into my own place in a few months because it was just too crowded–in the 6 years I had been away at school, my space had been swallowed up.</p>
<p>Most of my other sibs lived at home until they married or bought a place of their own – sometimes decades AFTER they had finished school. My sister lives in a home with her MIL. Her BIL & SIL live in a home with SIL’s folks! My sister’s BIL lives in a home with his MIL & FIL. One of my friends has her folks now living with them, so she could help care for them as they are aging (the friend paid for remodeling the home by selling her home when she moved back to care for them).</p>
<p>Back here, they just consider it extended family or “Ohana” living, not so much “boomerang.” This occurs in all socio-economic classes, including among professionals who are pretty well-compensated.</p>
Not that different - both of my kids were able to move out as well quite comfortably in a high cost of living area. Maybe one difference - we’re all employed as engineers.</p>
<p>
That .25/gal was real money back then and cars, even VWs, didn’t get nearly the gas mileage as the cars today and weren’t nearly as reliable (costing $$$ to fix) so I think people today are better situated now than then in that regard. On top of that I think more kids are liable to have cars handed to them today than back then so many of them nowadays didn’t even have to buy their own cars (I bought mine as did my kids). I always rented an apartment on my own and so have my kids - again, all in high cost areas (but not as high as Manhattan).</p>
<p>Many of the MODEST homes in our area are at or above $500K. Even for engineers, that’s a pretty steep price. Some of those I know who live with extended family include engineers, school principals, attorneys, RNs and others. It’s hard to be able to afford homes of $500K-$1M and up, even if you and your partner/spouse earn good incomes.</p>
<p>HImom - you’re in a pretty unique area when it comes to home costs. </p>
<p>OTOH people usually don’t expect to purchase a home immediately upon attaining their first job out of college. They usually rent for some number of years until they can manage to buy something and then buy up from there. I’ll bet an an average starting engineer could rent something reasonable in your area even if it means they have to live in a suburb or something to do so but maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Umm, those ARE suburb prices. Yes, rental prices are considerably lower. I know friends paying $800-$3000/month for rent, depending on what they want, with many paying over $2000/month PLUS utilities. It adds up, especially since many here only earn about $50,000, if they’re lucky.</p>
<p>Assuming an average engineer (CS anyway) is earning between $65K-85K per year to start, they s/b able to afford an apartment in the price range you indicated.</p>
<p>My one major reservation against piling up excessive student loans is the adverse impact it has on the student’s freedom after graduation, and moving back to the parent’s home in one manifestation of that. Many students must cast a wide geographic net to secure the best job opportunity for themselves. Needing to move back home may severely impact this ability. While in college job recruiters come to you and make the job search relatively easy. Extending the job search while living away from college makes the job search more difficult and expensive as many job interviews will require distant travel which is not only costly but may be difficult if the student has a full time job while living at home.</p>
<p>Having the chance to live at home after college is great. Especially during this incredibly tough financial time that we have been going through. I really don’t see any shame in going back home if it is temporary and it is because you are working toward a better arraignment. I have heard about some kids finishing college and then going back home and doing nothing. that is such a huge mistake on the part of the parent. Letting your grown child sleep the day away without looking for a job is not helping them.</p>
<p>I really see nothing wrong with staying at home until getting married or buying a house. As long as everyone is getting along and everyone is working together. It is terrible when the grown kids go back home and then begin to resort to old habits that they had as kids. Expecting mom to cook and clean is not mature.</p>
<p>Paying a little rent after going back home is smart too. If the parents don’t need the money they could put the cash into a savings for the kid. That could be a down payment on a house at some point.</p>
<p>My brother lived home for a while,2 years, helped our Mom after my Dad died, but pretty much had a lot of freedom. He saved up for a home with his finance and never felt bad he wasn’t paying 1000 a month or more somewhere else. My nephew did the same thing, for him it was a nice condo and some savings in the bank. They didn’t leech, helped pay for things but nothing compared to the rents in our area which are high.
My niece lived in a studio not to move home, cramped but “alone” which is what she wanted…to each his or her own. : )
Budgirl, when my sister lived home for 2 years, back in the 70’s,before my Dad passed, my mother didn’t need the money and saved her room and board it for her, it was a nice surprise when she needed a new car when she moved out.</p>
<p>I love that she saved the money and without her knowing it. That is such a nice surprise. It can be incredibly hard saving money, your mom doing the saving for her probably taught her how she could do the same thing for yourself.</p>
<p>I do it and don’t feel ashamed whatsoever. It was always my plan to do so for a couple of years out of college while saving up enough for a down payment/rainy day fund if I decide not to buy… I never comprehended the desperate need to have your own place when it’s financially imprudent. I completely understand those who don’t get along with their parents feeling the urge, but that’s not the case for most.</p>
<p>Co-workers and acquaintances are usually surprised when they find out, a healthy mix of jealous (“you save so much money!”) and japery (“Don’t tell the ladies!”). Overall I haven’t experienced much judging for it, including with women. So I don’t know why this is a big deal.</p>
<p>Our neighbors - empty nesters - just opened their home to their daughter, SIL and 2 small children. The young family s underwater on their condo (which is small) and can’t sell. They are renting out the condo and moved back in with parents to save money and gain childcare.</p>
<p>The neighbors on our other side - also empty nesters - hosted their daughter, SIL and baby for 2 years in basement MIL while SIL finished dental school, studied for boards and tried to set up a practice. Their D is an OB/GYN working long hours and parents helped with childcare etc. They still do - and often overnight - although the family has moved to home of their own now.</p>
<p>My own DS swears that he will never move back in with us once he is gone, but that is mainly because he wants out of this town. I moved away as soon as I could, but moving back with my parents would have made it impossible for me to find work in a town of 800 people. Maybe DS will let DH and I move in when he needs a babysitter someday. I am perfectly fine living in a basement if I get to see grandchildren.</p>
<p>Our S is living across the country, on the East Coast, so it was a non-issue for now. He is happy to have his own one-bedroom place, which he can comfortably pay for while saving a LOT of his salary. He would have moved back home & commuted–probably, if he had taken a job on our island. D plans to live in LA, so will not likely be moving back with us any time soon either.</p>