Still Treating Your Parents Like An ATM?

Like it or not, it’s time to cut the financial umbilical cord.

What do Rachel from Friends and Hannah from Girls have in common? Apart from being lead characters in TV shows with one-word titles based on nouns, they both suddenly found themselves financially cut off from their parents. “No. More. Money!” Hannah’s mother pointedly declared in the opening scene of Girls. If, like Hannah and Rachel, this sounds like your idea of a living nightmare, it might be time to stop using your parents as a fiscal crutch. Experts say that speed-dialing mum and dad at the first sign of an overdrawn bank account is just setting us up for long-term financial failure.

But… bills

Elaine*, 26, graduated from university two years ago. Since that time, she has asked for roughly $8,000 to pay back loans, insurance premiums, and late phone bills.

“I know, it’s appalling. I’m an adult and I should know how to handle my money properly. But it’s hard and they don’t exactly teach you about budgeting in school,” explains Elaine.

“Sometimes, I just forget that there’s certain payments to make that month, and there’s a late fee imposed if I don’t pay on time. It just doesn’t make sense to shelve out more money when I can ask my parents to help me out first.”