[alistairSH]

33% of GenX is still depending on their parents? That's shocking... I'm at the young end of GenX at 49yo. So, a slice of the population that is fast approaching retirement age is still reliant on their septuagenarian or octogenarian parents for money? Wow.

[ryandrake]

Well, that's where the money is.

The 55 and older demographic holds 70% of the wealth in America[1].

The 70 and older demographic holds 31% (almost 1/3) of the wealth in America[2].

1: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/older-americans-control-70-we...

2: https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-...

[10000truths]

I got curious what the wealth distribution looks like when normalized to account for retirement account growth. The historical average of the S&P 500's inflation-adjusted rate of return is ~7%. According to [0], the actual YoY increase of net worth between age bands is less than that:

  Median household net worth by age
  35-44: $135600
  45-54: $247200 (+6.19%)
  55-64: $364500 (+3.96%)
  65-74: $409900 (+1.18%)

  Average household net worth by age
  35-44: $549600
  45-54: $975800 (+5.91%)
  55-64: $1570000 (+4.87%)
  65-74: $1790000 (+1.32%)

[0] https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/average...

[alistairSH]

Source: https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-st...

OK, now I'm questioning the whole thing... it also claims 17% of Boomers reliant on their parents. So, we have some substantial number of 62-80 years olds relying on their 90-100 year old parents? Seems unlikely.

[piguin]

Maybe you're not familiar with the entire economy? There are a lot of households that depend on retirement checks of the oldest members and households that don't have traditional work but may have family homes, businesses and farms still in the name of the oldest relatives. Different groups would have different results as far as whether they will inherit independence or become destitute if parents die.

[fragmede]

Life expectancy doesn't reach 100 anywhere. 85 is about the highest. There are some areas of people who have lived to be 100, but that's not average life expectancy. So while I can believe there exist people who are dependent on their 90-100 year old parents, 17% is ridiculously high. Usually, the direction is the other way, with adult children supporting aging parents.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

17% of generally retired people are relying on the retirement checks of their parents ? Really ?

[mikestew]

I'm the last of the Boomers, and my parents are in their 80s and I was a prom baby (meaning "young parents"). There's no way 17% of Boomers are sponging off Mom and Dad, because the overwhelming odds are: Mom and Dad are dead, and have been for a while now.

OTOH, I guess that doesn't mean someone isn't still cashing that retirement check.

[piguin]

Looks to me like the older generation amounts to roughly 30% of the boomer generation. A couple has 4 parents and half of people are bellow average.

Sure maybe its wrong and people are counting inheritance similarly to living parents, etc, but I'm not surprised at all if the lowest quartile is reaching retirement age broke getting money from any relatives that can help and that are inclined to help.

[alistairSH]

Sure, totally get that, but we're talking about a cohort that is mostly retirement age themselves... How many of those 70-80 year old Boomers have parents left alive from whom to receive those retirement funds? That's why I'm hesitant to believe the number.

[crooked-v]

Are they counting free housing as 'financial support'? A number of states have perverse incentives to delay the legal transfer of a home as long as possible, like with CA's Prop 13.

[butlike]

It's plausible if it's an inheritable nest egg amount. Though I agree, seems unlikely.

[pessimizer]

Wait until you see the homeownership statistics, or the average age of homebuyers.

[chasd00]

yeah that's ridiculous. I'm 50 and fully support my MIL (she lives in my garage apartment) and my sister fully supports our mom (she lives with my sister). The boomers i know are completely financially dependent on their children.