Feb 28, 2010
‘Yuckie’ debts for many parents
According to The Children’s Mutual, the cost of supporting 18 to 30 year old children is expected to go beyond £30,000. This revelation came about following a survey which also uncovered that 93 percent of parents are funding their adult children, labelled ‘yuckies’ – an abbreviation for ‘young unwitting costly kids’.
In fact, findings show that 28 percent of parents have either remortgaged, or they are planning to remortgage, to financially support their 18 to 30 year old children. Over half of all parents reportedly turn to borrowing in order to meet expenses. Furthermore, it was found that two thirds of parents either have, or will, reduce their day-to-day living expenses in order to fund their ‘yuckies’. For example, 28 percent said that they will be more economical when it comes to food shopping, 7 percent will sell their cars, and 42 percent will be careful with their heating and lighting usage at home.
Chief Executive of The Children’s Mutual, David White, commented: “These figures unveil the stark reality of the cost of being a parent. No longer does turning 18 mean financial independence – in fact 16 per cent of parents questioned expected their child to remain financially dependent on them into their thirties and beyond.
“The families we questioned had just one message for parents whose children are still young – save, save, save! More than half agreed that if they’d have known when their child was born what they now know about the cost of having an adult child they would have saved more through the years, with just 13 per cent having saved regularly in preparation. These figures give us a very clear warning – children aren’t financially independent at 18 and parents need to plan for this to save their whole family’s financial future.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Homeowners who may have accumulated a number of credit cards or personal loans in the past due to supporting their grown up children, could consider tying these up into one place by means of a secured loan. One of many finance options available, a secured loan for debt consolidation could leave borrowers with a single monthly repayment as opposed to juggling several. Furthermore, this replacement monthly repayment could even be lower than the sum of current outgoings – thereby freeing up useful money each month. This extra money could potentially be set aside in a savings account for future use. However, if opting for a secured loan to consolidate debt, it should be remembered that consolidating your debt may increase the amount you pay back overall and extend the repayment periods of your debts.
Related posts:
- Schooling creates £129 billion bill for today’s parents The latest "Schools Sums" index from the Norwich Union has...
- 20 Something children get the better of their parents The Children’s Mutual recently reported that over 5.5 million young...
- Over 25s still rely on pocket money from parents According to research conducted by Engage Mutual, over a quarter...