At What Age Do Most People Become Financially Independent from Their Parents? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Some people begin covering all their own living expenses starting from age 18. Others become financially independent in their 20s or 30s.
Developmental Readiness: Many experts suggest that independence can begin in the late teenage years, around 16 to 18 years old, as teens develop the cognitive and emotional skills necessary for making decisions and managing responsibilities.
That said, the typical age of financial independence should be between 20-23 years old, according to a Bankrate survey. Break the numbers down by cost category, and differences of opinion can be pretty wide.
There is no universally correct age that parents should stop supporting their children once they reach adulthood, as each family will need to make the determination based on what is best for their wallets and to best support their values.
In most states, parental obligations typically end when a child reaches the age of majority, 18 years old. But, check the laws of your state, as the age of majority can be different from one state to the next. Many parents support their children after the age of majority, such as while the child attends college.
Pocket Money Age 17-18
A reasonable amount of pocket money might be £20-£30 per week. Again, by this age children may have become heavily involved in a particular interest and parents may choose to support them in this by giving more money to help them develop their skills.
Among the key findings: 45% of young adults say they are completely financially independent from their parents. Among those in their early 30s, that share rises to 67%, compared with 44% of those ages 25 to 29 and 16% of those ages 18 to 24.
Self-esteem first begins to rise between ages 4 and 11, as children develop socially and cognitively and gain some sense of independence.
At what age should you be financially stable? Financial stability is more about maintaining control over your finances rather than hitting numbers at a specific age. However, aiming to attain stability by your late 20s to early 30s can be beneficial, allowing time for savings, debt reduction and investments.
Amid an optimistic outlook, the survey found that 73% of parents are having trouble keeping up with current expenses. The top financial difficulties parents reported were paying bills in full (30%), paying bills on time (29%), and building savings (28%).
Gen Z adults said they shouldn't have to start paying rent until age 23 on average. Baby Boomer and Gen X parents beg to differ, saying their kids should pony up starting at age 21. When it comes to cell phones and credit card bills, Gen Z thinks they should start paying for them by age 21.
Children who are around 8 years old might be ready to have a sleepover, attend an overnight camp or even walk to school alone (so long as the conditions are safe). At this age, their independence really starts to shine through as they do not rely on their parents or guardians quite the same way as younger children do.
Rising feelings of financial insecurity: Just 1 in 4 (25%) Americans say they are completely financially secure, down from 28% in 2023. Whereas 72% of Americans indicated they were not completely financially secure in 2023, that number has now risen to 75% in 2024.
Self-esteem appears to increase quickly in young adulthood (up to age 30), and more gradually until middle adulthood (up to age 60). After peaking somewhere between 60 and 70 years, begins dropping—quite quickly after age 90.
A new study is suggesting that the personality of a child is fairly set by as early as the first grade. The attributes that define your 6-year-old as a chatty extrovert or a shy wallflower may provide a telling glimpse of how he or she will behave for the rest of their life.
The median age at the time of moving out was about 19 years. (See figure 1.) Table 1 shows that the likelihood of moving out before age 27 was correlated with several individual characteristics. Women were more likely to move out than men were, and Whites were more likely to move out than Blacks or Latinos.
By the time you're 25, you probably have accrued at least a few years in the workforce, so you may be starting to think seriously about saving money. But saving might still be a challenge if you're earning an entry-level salary or you have significant student loan debt. By age 25, you should have saved about $20,000.
In a recent NerdWallet survey, 57% of Americans said they were living paycheck to paycheck.
Someone between the ages of 18 and 25 should have 0.1 times their current salary saved for retirement. Someone between the ages of 26 and 30 should have 0.5 times their current salary saved for retirement. Someone between the ages of 31 and 35 should have 1.1 times their current salary saved for retirement.
Even children need money. They might not be buying their own food or paying their own bills, but pocket money can be a great tool to help children learn how to manage their own money. By giving children a fixed amount on a regular basis, you can help them learn how to budget and teach them good savings habits.
As a guide, by 18, a teen should aim to have a few thousand dollars in savings. Ideally, around $10,000. But again, the exact amount will vary. Some teenagers will have graduated high school by 18.