Boomers Struggle To Support Their Adult Children Who Return Home—The Boomerang Generation

According to a recent study by Fidelity, and the Stanford Center on Longevity, 75% of baby boomer parents claim that they are still financially supporting their (adult) children in some way.

And although much of this support is accounted for in arms-length financial support, such as loans, 1 in 9 boomers said that at least one of their children “returned to the nest” at some point in the last year.

This has given rise to the term “boomerang generation”—many adult children cannot afford to live on their own, and end up returning to live with their parents.

The boomerang generation is costing boomers money: 76% of boomers said that caring for their adult children increased their living expenses, while 68% said they were more stressed, and 53% said that they were less happy.

And this added stress has negative health consequences.

For example, 46% of boomer mothers with boomerang kids reported sleeping problems, while 40% reported gaining weight.

Of course, “boomerang” generation is a misnomer, since many children fail to leave (and return) in the first place.

Roughly 1 in 3 millennials still live at home, and a quarter of them are both unemployed and not enrolled in a post-secondary institution—that’s up to 2.2 million people, according to Bloomberg.

What’s Causing The Boomerang Generation To Come Home?

Most adults don’t want to live with their parents.

They want their own place. They want freedom. Many want families.

Most just want the same quality of life that their parents had.

But it’s not going to happen.

Millennials are worse off than the boomers were in almost every metric.

Why?

Offshoring to places like China and Mexico has hollowed out America’s labor market—there are more high paying jobs near the top, but also more unemployed people, or those trapped in low-quality service jobs, than ever before.

Essentially, many of the middle class job opportunities available to ordinary people, who might not have the aptitude to pursue advanced education, are gone—it’s why the middle class is shrinking.

And it’s why millennials are getting screwed.

Basically, many people just can’t make it in today’s economy—and it’s not their fault.

Not everyone can be a designer, a programmer, or a CEO.

By offshoring our low-middle skill jobs to developing countries, we’ve taken the bread from our own people’s mouths.