<p>Interesting research on what parents pay for:</p>
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<p>Source: [59%</a> Of Boomer Moms Pay For Their Adult Child’s Cell Phone – And That’s Not All](<a href=“59% Of Boomer Moms Pay For Their Adult Child's Cell Phone -- And That's Not All 11/17/2011”>59% Of Boomer Moms Pay For Their Adult Child's Cell Phone -- And That's Not All 11/17/2011)</p>
<p>article is defining adult as over 18…still in college for a part of that…not particularly surprising given that…</p>
<p>if they divided it up and segregated over 23, let’s say, then I would be intrigued…</p>
<p>I read this after reading this one. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1240784-selfish-baby-boomers.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1240784-selfish-baby-boomers.html</a> Hmmm - I guess it just depends on the point of view. Selfish or spending too much on the kids?</p>
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<p>Expecting your adult child to support himself on a budget (which often means “doing without”) and knowing that when they do, they will feel a tremendous feeling of accomplishment is not “romanticizing” the experience.</p>
<p>The cell phone and insurance make sense to me. To keep D on our plan, it costs $14.99 per month, but for her to get her own plan would be $39.99 per month, minimum. We have not asked her to send us a check for $14.99 every month, yet… Our insurance automatically covers D until age 26, so she stayed on it for awhile, but then got her own insurance through her employer. I don’t know whether she is still eligible under ours or not.</p>
<p>The only thing I pay for is my daughter’s cell phone, at $12/month as part of our family plan. In exchange, she always answers the phone when I call.</p>
<p>Yup count me in on the cell phone…S1’s contract doesn’t expire 'til next year and he graduated this past spring. It would cost me more to drop him and break the contract that it would to play the contract out. Had paid for one year’s car insurance also in the spring so check I’m in on the car insurance 'til spring. No to the rent, food, clothing, computers, travel and furnishings…he’s got those covered…he’s on my health insurance until his kicks in this spring hopefully when his contract rolls to FTE.</p>
<p>I don’t romanticize anything about it…I remember what it was like to be young and broke but that’s just a life step and they have to go through it whether they are 22 or 27 or heaven forbid 30.</p>
<p>I’m with Rodney…tell me about the over 23 crowd. Under that is a large proportion still in college. Or at least just starting to work.</p>
<p>We have a family plan for cell phones, too. Our kids pay their share ($10 or $40, depending on their service) via auto-pay directly to our account through online banking each month. They also benefit from dh’s employee-benefit discount on phones. (Don’t quite understand why his company offers that, but it’s a nice little perk.)</p>
<p>While we don’t routinely pay for any regular expenses now, when one kid was struggling to make ends meet I bought new tires and an overcoat for my own peace of mind. However, we did gift each one a significant amount upon graduation; it was enough to cover deposits (such as utilities) and initial living expenses. </p>
<p>If asked a decade ago if we expected to do as much as we have, the answer would have been no way.</p>
<p>One would have to be silly to NOT pay for adult childrens’ cellphones if they have a family plan…</p>
<p>While adult son was using a ‘dumb’ phone with limited texting plan, I was willing to pay
for his $25 per month charge on our family plan.
Now, he has a job and his own $80 ish plan with the newest ipone 4S.
I think it’s dopey but he can afford it so I keep my opinion to myself.</p>
<p>S is still “researching” the phone plan he wants. Meanwhile, we are all on a family plan for 3 of us. It “only” costs a bit over $100/month with unlimited texts and 700 minutes, which is way more than we use together. S wants web & other bells & whistles & will let us know what & when he decides. Not planning to subsidize that, so until then, he’s a happy tag-along on our family plan. Dropping him would only save $10/month vs. however much he’d have to pay for his own line. </p>
<p>It makes no sense to include young adults in college in any study. It should separate out those who have full-time or whatever jobs and are not primarily students to have any conclusions worth being interested in.</p>
<p>The author of the original article says in the comments that anecdotally he saw lots of parents subsidizing cell phone plans, even after their children were employed…or married! :eek: For the reasons stated above I’m fine with paying for cell phones under a family plan, but after they’re married/in a committed relationship I figure it’s time for them to move on to their own plan.</p>
<p>One more noting the impact of cell phone family-plan rates. There’s just such a huge cost differential between the family plan/individual plans that it often doesn’t make economic sense for a young adult to get their own plan. This is coupled with the whole 2-year contract thing, which kind of promotes staying with the status quo.</p>
<p>S1, who has been on his own for over 3 years, is still on our cell phone family plan, but pays for his share. </p>
<p>I agree with others who’ve said that this study should’ve broken down the results for those above and below 23 years old. I don’t know what to conclude about the results with it referring to children above 18.</p>
<p>I WISH we could have DS on our cell family plan but he has a different area code. His cell was gotten long enough ago that he needed that to have a “local call” on his cell where he went to college…no national plans then.</p>
<p>Our 3 kids are on our family plan, but the 23+ year olds reimburse us for their phones and data plans, and our daughter who is still in college just for her data plan. (Her brothers got a free phone while in college so she does too.) All of our cars are on a group insurance plan as well, with the same system of reimbursement - the one in college gets a free ride. And when our oldest aged out of our pre-Obamacare health insurance we bought a major medical plan for him at our expense. He would have gone without but we wanted the peace of mind in case something serious befell him. When he turns 26 we’ll negotiate; his employer doesn’t have very good medical benefits and being a healthy young man with no family history of serious disease he doesn’t want to buy it (individual mandate, anyone?)</p>
<p>The rest of that stuff? Fuhgeddaboudit! But I’m not surprised at the story - when our sons took a 2 month trip to Europe after the younger one graduated their peers’ parents in our affluent community were surprised that we didn’t finance it. We know lots of people who are paying for the other items on that list for their 23-26 year old kids…</p>
<p>On the shared plan: off & on, at different times, my kids have reimbursed me for their share of the family cell phone plan, depending on circumstances and employment status. Being on the plan doesn’t necessarily mean I pick up the whole tab… it’s just that it’s a small amount of money. </p>
<p>Actually, one reason I recently invited my son to join my plan was that I was starting to use up minutes talking to him, and there would be no charge for same-carrier calls – so being all on the same plan is saving me money – and it’s pretty easy to see from the bills that the vast majority of calls are within-family. I mean… when I look at a bill and see a bunch of calls to/from me, their dad, their grandparents, etc. – I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.</p>
<p>21 yr. old college senior…we pay for tuition,room&&board,cell ph., car insurance,clothing (not a choosy guy,happy w/ thrift store fashion).
24 yr.old college grad. gainfully employed S…we pay for nothing.</p>
<p>22 years old living at home with my parents…</p>
<p>They pay for my car insurance, health insurance, and many “normal” home expenses. I have my own personal cell phone (prepaid) and a work cell phone so I left their plan last summer. Groceries are often paid for by my mom along with the rest of us who live at home. We pay for things as they come and don’t worry too much about it… </p>
<p>Much of my salary goes to paying down student loans and saving money… </p>
<p>It works for us 
Hopefully in 8 months I move off to graduate school and on my own…</p>