<p>Getting closer to retirement, and looking at my expenses. I realized that my cell phone plan costs more than my gas or electric bills for the year! I have an unlimited data plan with AT&T that is no longer available. The kids use the unlimited data plan heavily.</p>
<p>One of my kids has an entry-level legal job. Two more kids are graduating this year in careers that are likely to make them employable (PharmD/nurse). Their ages in 2014 will be 28, 26 and 22.</p>
<p>I’m sure the $40 I pay for each kid’s cell phone service helps them, but my total monthly cell phone bill is about $240/month. I don’t need the data plan or so many minutes, especially after I retire within the next 2-3 years. At some point someone is going to want a new phone, and I’m going to have to face renewing the phone contract again.</p>
<p>When do you cut your kids off your family plan? When they get married? When they become employed? Never? Do your kids reimburse you for their cell phone service? </p>
<p>I anticipate being in a nursing home and my kids insisting that I keep up the phone contract because of the unlimited data…or adding spouses and grandkids to my phone contract someday.</p>
<p>I just made a “deal” with newly employed DS for him to pay me $40/month for his part of the family plan we are on. I have some mixed feelings as he needs a new phone and not sure I want to obligate us to a new 2 year contract, but then again, I might want to stick with Verizon. I am thinking of steering him elsewhere. What plans would the rest of you use for a single person?</p>
<p>We have chosen to keep the kids on our phone plan because if they change they will lose the discount we get and also the unlimited data plan. That would be a problem for them. So, while we could ask them to reimburse us for their portion of the bill (it is broken out so we can see it) we haven’t. Older s was getting reimbursed for some phone expenses at one point, and was going to reimburse us for the extra add ons he temporarily put on the phone (international stuff when he travelled). They are more than happy to repay us if we want them to, and that might be your best option.</p>
<p>This is where it has helped to make them self sufficient from the start. I never paid for their cell phones. They were on our plan, but paid their portion from when they first got them in their teens. My 30 yr old and his wife are still on our plan, but pay for it.</p>
<p>Just until about 2 weeks ago, both D (29) and S (25) were on our cell plan. S had the only smart phone and we were paying the $30 unlimited data charge, knowing that if he switched, he could not get the unlimited anymore. But he arranged with his employer to put his phone on their plan. He gave back his work cell and now uses his personal phone as also his work phone with the employer picking up the tab. I will have to ask him if he still has unlimited.</p>
<p>But I pay the whole bill and did not ask them to reimburse me for their part of it. I get much more in return from them than the cost of their cell plan. H and I are still working, so it is not a big deal. If we retire and finances become an issue, we will revisit the issue at that point.</p>
<p>Lol, that was kind of the last step in the complete launch of S. He is in another state and he just changed his license and H signed over the car to S, so S now has his own auto insurance, registration and all that good stuff. I don’t think I pay anything for him now.</p>
<p>Our 2010 graduate works abroad so dropped from our plan when he graduated from college. Our 2013 graduate is on our plan and pays us his share in periodic lump sums (we just got a big check when we saw him at Christmas). Being on our plan probably saves him about $60 per month, but isn’t a benefit he needs from us. He has a high paying job (and also has a company phone). I think we should find an appropriate time to end that, such as in conjunction with his first promotion or something and I doubt he would object, particularly since his brother is not on our plan.</p>
<p>We are in the same position and have been having the same discussion. My daughter is 21, a junior in college, but my son is 27, well employed and can easily afford his own plan, but would lose our discount and unlimited data. It just seems silly to give AT&T anymore money than they already get from us by having him pay for a new plan! He has offered to pay his share now and take over the entire bill when my husband retires, not sure how that will work for my daughter, I’m guessing she will pay her share when she is employed.</p>
<p>Both of our sons went off our plan and got their own as soon as they graduated from college and went to work fulltime. Both have smart phones. DH and I do not. Their phone expenses are much higher than our two “dumb phones”. They have good jobs that pay well. They are paying all their other bills/living expenses so why would they stay on our phone plan? Both are single so have no one to take care of but themselves.
DH and I are fairly frugal but our S’s both like to have the latest/greatest new thing out there.</p>
<p>Both S’s have jobs that require a lot of travel. We don’t even always know where they are. They pay all their bills online.<br>
DH is planning to retire this year but even if he wasn’t, our 24 and 27 year old S’s would not be on our phone plan when they have the ability to pay their own way.</p>
<p>We kept our kids on ours simply because we had a good deal family plan, finances were not challenging, and in the big picture it made some sense.</p>
<p>Things transitioned gradually. D became engaged, and when on a hike during which a soaking thunderstorm erupted, her cell phone as well as that of her fiance were ruined by the water. (Put them in plastic, kids!) So when they replaced their phones she upgraded from a very simple phone to a smart one and switched to her own account.</p>
<p>Son, a year plus out of college, is on our family plan still but pays us each month for his data plan which he wanted. He gives us a monthly check for the car payments he owes us (We paid cash for the car he needed to get to his job and he is paying that off to us monthly) so he just adds the phone payment to that. </p>
<p>When he marries (long-term relationship with GF in professional school; we anticipate a wedding when she is done) I imagine he will transition over to a plan with her.</p>
<p>So for us, we saw no reason to take any steps right away, just let the natural developments direct the process.</p>
<p>However, we too need to be looking at post-retirement budgeting, and will reevaluate our phone plans, so that may be another decision point re this topic.</p>
<p>I think many do as the above…their newly-employed child just pays the “difference” on the parents’ plan. This seems to work until the child marries and gets their own family plan.</p>
<p>We have a family plan and our kids know they need to pay us their share. Cheaper than doing it on their own. Younger son just graduated from college though in May and we are paying his part for the first year (as we did for his older brother) but he knows he needs to start paying us next year.</p>
<p>Our 26-year-old daughter, in her second post-college job, voluntarily left our plan a year ago when she wanted an iPhone and our provider didn’t support it. (If she had waited a few months, that wouldn’t have been a problem.) I got oooohs and ahhhhs from everyone I told about it – we were the only people we knew with an under-30, unmarried child not still on our cell-phone plan.</p>
<p>D had planned to pay for her share of our family plan after graduation, but her job came with unlimited cell phone use for both personal and business - so she is off our plan. S has a semester left. He will start to pay us for his share of the family plan when he gets a job. It is so much less expensive for him to be on our plan - H has an employer discount - so we don’t mind if he stays on, as long as he does pay.</p>
<p>We’re in the same boat JHS. Our 24-year-old daughter is on our family cell plan. She’s out of college and is pursuing an acting career. It’s a tough career path and she works two part-time jobs while auditioning or performing. Keeping her on our plan isn’t a hardship for us and it’s financially meaningful for her. My oldest went off the family plan when she got her first job after college–employer covered the cost of a cell phone for her.</p>
<p>Same as many above: Both kids on our plan. Oldest is employed and pays 1/4 of family plan, 1/4 of text and for her Iphone charges. She also gets a discount from work, which she applies to her portion of bill. She auto pays us every month.<br>
Youngest will also probably stay on our account even after graduation/employment, due to the unlimited data which he wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere. But he’ll be paying for his portion, like his sister.
I agree that there’s no need for them to leave/get their separate plans and make even more $$$ for AT&T</p>
<p>D reimburses us in full for her cell phone via auto-pay. In turn, her employer reimburses her. The only reason she’s still on our plan is that AT&T won’t allow her to keep the unlimited data plan if she moves off our plan, and she really does use a lot of data.</p>
<p>Both sons are on our family plan, but have paid their share since they graduated from college. S1, a grad student, couldn’t really afford to be on his own plan, but once he gets his PhD he’ll get his own plan,probably with his fiancee. S2, who’s been employed since he graduated, is in no rush to get his own plan and we don’t care if he stays on ours for now.</p>
<p>Our 24 year old is still on our plan. She set up auto-transfer with her bank to pay her portion directly to our checking account each month. Like so many others, why give AT&T more money? But I didn’t want to have to remind her, so the auto-pay was a good compromise. When she wants a new phone we will re-visit the subject.
Older kid always wants the newest phone and got her own plan because we didn’t support that habit.</p>