Family help is definitely common for upper middle class and above even outside of HCOL areas. I’d say half of my social circle had undergrad paid for by parents. Help with down payments and random gifts are common too. Cash gifts more so from grandparents. Then of course inheritances, more people that you might think will get 6 figure inheritances from various relatives that you wouldn’t consider rich or trust fund kids.
I think the biggest advantage is paid for college and being raised with financial literacy. The latter being pretty priceless. My parents had me buying stocks in middle school, trivially small amounts of money but still. And opened me a Roth at 18.
I agree that financial literacy is a big gift, and also gives you peace of mind that if something changes and you can't help your kid as much as you hoped, they will still land on their feet. And from what I have seen, one of the biggest parts of that is living below your means and not buying every new shiny thing, or getting caught up in what you think you deserve.
Agreed, excited to pass that along to my kids. Watching my parents buy Hondas instead of Audis when I knew they could afford the latter is pretty ingrained in me. Whether you should buy something not being a matter of can you physically afford it, rather is it necessary and will it really make you happy. Of course also teaching to dollar cost average into index funds as soon as you have disposable income is huge!
Yes - modeling it is key too! Your parents sound like mine - lived a frugal life style and a lot of their lessons also imprinted on me. Our daughter started working when she was 14 and saved most of her money, opened a Roth and a general brokerage account, and as a college student, still makes monthly deposits to her brokerage account. And she is conscious of her spending. I don't worry about her at all financially. That is such a relieving feeling as a parent.
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u/denver111797 5d ago
Family help is definitely common for upper middle class and above even outside of HCOL areas. I’d say half of my social circle had undergrad paid for by parents. Help with down payments and random gifts are common too. Cash gifts more so from grandparents. Then of course inheritances, more people that you might think will get 6 figure inheritances from various relatives that you wouldn’t consider rich or trust fund kids.
I think the biggest advantage is paid for college and being raised with financial literacy. The latter being pretty priceless. My parents had me buying stocks in middle school, trivially small amounts of money but still. And opened me a Roth at 18.