How much should a parent fund bank account?

worried_mom
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:59:58 +0000

I think the real questions are, “How much do you trust your son and/or how financially savvy is he?” Has he had any experience actually living with a budget? If not, do you think he would follow one if he had it? Is he pretty frugal, or is he the type of kid that blows through money as fast as he gets it? (I’ve got one of each, LOL!)

If he knows that you are just “seeing how long the thousand lasts” and will replenish it when it runs out, you may find yourself shelling out lots of money! I think a better approach might be to sit down with him now and try to come up with some sort of monthly budget for various items (hair cut, laundry, etc.) using whatever information you have (even using East Coast costs if you have nothing else). Then have him track his expenses the first month or two in LA, compare them to the initial estimates, and you can then make appropriate adjustments based on his actual costs.

Each kid is different.