What are your thoughts on giving your dc “launch money” as a graduation gift? Is this something you would do? How much would you give? Would you give it with “suggestions” as to how to use it? Or just give cash and not label it as “launch.”
I’m thinking of things like deposits, first month’s rent, work wardrobe, starting an emergency fund, etc.
Ds is college Class of 2018, so I am just starting to think about this.
We did not give launch money… but then…neither of our kids needed that when they graduated. One went into the Peace Corps, and the other toured with a music ensemble.
Our gift to both was repayment of their undergraduate Direct Loans.
I offered my daughters the gift of paying off their student loans. D1’s total was approximately $30,000. She accepted. I financed this with a home equity loan and have reduced the balance to $8,000. D2’s total was approximately $12,000. She chose to pay it off herself immediately when it came due but has accepted a raincheck for the equivalent amount when she needs or wants it. This is something I always wanted to do but I didn’t know if it would be possible for me to accomplish. If I hadn’t been able to give the gift or the promise of the gift, I would have given them something else.
It cost us approx $8000 to get my S settled into new city after graduating and he had a relocation package which helped out! So before you promise, just a heads up,
Of course, it depends on where your kid moves as to cost. Mine is in Boston.
I honestly don’t remember if we got him a regular gift and he graduated in 2015. 
My daughter’s college graduation gift was help getting her launched - all stuff for her apartment (she had only lived in dorms before graduation) furniture, TV, AC, convection oven, etc. It was greatly appreciated!
My gift was same as Kiddie’s. We picked up many items second hand, but it still proved expensive.
We went with S to the city were he’d live for his new job and helped him find and rent a place he liked. He did the legwork to figure out which place(s) he was interested in. We rented the car and hotel room and paid his airfare and all our expenses. We also paid the deposit and a month of rent. The owner was impressed that we flew from HI to D.C. To find a place with S. He brought his letter of employment from the new employer, the fed govt, which stated his starting date and gross salary.
S was later reimbursed by employer for airfare for hunting for a place to live. We let him keep it, as well as the money we paid toward his housing.
He lived with us for a few months before his job started. We didn’t have him contribute toward any expenses, tho he MAY have purchased some gas and he did pay for his own entertainment and out of country travel.
He and D graduated debt-free.
Gave S, oldest, a car beginning of his senior year as a graduation gift. Kind of a launch gift. Figured it would help him move to wherever. But he didn’t graduate on time and crashed the car soon after the extra year it took to graduate. And he has never really launched.
Gave D1 all of her bedroom furniture for her new apartment in NYC after she graduated. It came from Ikea. Now, a few years later, she has bought her own place in Manhatten and given away all the Ikea furniture. We just gave her some money as a gift for her first “ownership.” Suggested she buy a special piece of artwork as a gift from us. She does not need any money from us at this point in her life.
D2! Don’t remember what we gave her. Haha! Only a few years ago. I guess a car. Although it was in our name. A family credit card that helped her establish herself?
Anyway, all three had their education paid for by mom and dad.
We also gave each of our kids a mechanically sound used car and had it shipped up to them their respective SR year in college. It was useful to each for getting to interviews and moving in and out of apartments.
Son’s car died a few years later but his aunt gave him her gently used car that he had transported from SF to D.C. and it still provides him with reliable transportation.
Thanks for all the thoughts. Ds has no loans. He already has a car which we bought used in high school. I can’t recall what year it is. I like the idea of helping him get settled wherever he winds up.
It was very important to DH to get the kids to start retirement savings early. We gave them a “nest egg” when they graduated (both had jobs lined up) and will help them max out contributions moving forward as needed – and as long as it’s financially feasible for us. They don’t take this gift lightly and do include personal retirement savings in their budgets.
We signed over pink slips to the hand-me-down cars the kiddos were driving. The oldest sold his and bought a new car. Youngest (new graduate) is still driving hers.
@roethlisburger - interesting article.
I was not planning on doing this in an on-going basis. Just a one-time gift.
I gave my 2 that have graduated so far $1000 and a framed copy of the running $$ total for all 4 years I paid from the burser’s office…true story. #1 has his in a closet and #2 hung it in the bathroom of his house. I plan to do the same for #3 if and when he graduates but his will be 4.5 or 5 years still waiting to hear on that one.
DH and I are still trying to decide how much of the unused 529 funds to give to our son when he graduates from the military academy. The Military Family Tax Relief Act enables us to withdraw these funds without penalty, minus taxes on the gains, but how much to gift and over how much time is still unanswered. Our feeling is that because he is choosing to serve and his college is not costing us, he should receive some of the funds that were set aside for his education; the rest will go into our retirement accounts. USMA gives each cadet $30K during junior year to use as launch money, so the 529 funds would help seed his long-term investments. That is what he plans to do with it, but we will give it to him with no strings from our end once we figure out how much and when. We are talking to a CPA about how to handle this.
@ChoatieMom - very interesting! So, you can take it back out for yourselves? Just have to pay tax on the gains? I would assume there are still restrictions for gift taxes if you turn around and gift some to your ds.
$30,000 is amazing! I never knew that! We were thinking in the neighborhood of $10,000. May parents gave me $5,000 back in the dark ages when I graduated from college.
My D will get a sizeable college graduation gift to get her started.
Any chance you want to save some of the launch gift for a wedding?
We did not give older son an official launch gift but did help him furnish his apartment, and gave him a gift when he made the jump to CA. He’s a responsible, self-supporting kid and we were happy to do it.
Re: gift taxes, they don’t really come into play for most people. A Couple can jointly gift $28K to an individual annually without having to report it. In excess of $28K per year, they would need to report it but not necessarily pay taxes on it. It would just apply to the lifetime gift exemption limits which are up over $5 million per individual or basically $11 million for a couple. Just pointing it out because I think a lot of people get confused about the gift tax issue.
https://www.thebalance.com/gift-tax-exclusion-annual-exclusion-vs-lifetime-exemption-3505656
@doschicos - not confused at all.