Baby boomers help keep millennial kids aflfloat, to tune of $11K a year

As a parent, it’s your job to support your children on the path to adulthood. But plenty of parents continue to support their children fifinancially even after they’re adults with kids of their own.

That’s the fifinding of a new 2,000-person survey by TD Ameritrade. On average, millennial parents ages 19 to 37 said they received $11,011 in annual fifinancial support and unpaid labor from their boomer parents, ages 50 to 70. Without that help, many millennials couldn’t support their current lifestyles, the survey found.

“Faced with record-high student debt, stagnant wages and rising child- care costs, millennial parents are facing the growing bundle that their bundles of joy cost,” said David Lynch, managing direc tor and head of branches for TD Ameritrade. “Grandparents are the secret to making it work — eager to help with fifinancial support, child care and running the household.”

Child care

Millennials report that the bulk of support they received in the past year — $8,684 — came in the form of unpaid labor. More than half of those surveyed said they got help from their parents with child care or running the household.

On average, boomer grandparents provided 14.3 hours of primary child care per week and 9.2 hours of backup care or babysitting. Millennials also said their parents spend more than 10 hours a week helping them prepare meals, clean the house and run errands.

A quarter of the millenni a l s sur veyed s a i d t hey couldn’t afford their current lifest yles if their parents weren’t donating time or labor. However, grandparents need to consider the impact that providing care has on their lifestyles.

“Keep in mind there could also be fifinancial implications of providing child care if it means a grandparent is leaving or scaling back on their paid work,” Lynch said.

Paying the bills

Nearly half of millennials said their parents helped them fifinancially in the past year and gave them $2,543 on average, according to the survey. Grandparents said they provided their children with $4,527.

Here are some of the bill payment estimates provided by millennials and boomers respectively:

Rent/mortgage: The biggest bill boomers helped pay was the mortgage or rent. The 15 percent of millennials who got help with housing reported receiving

2,033, on average. However, boomers reported providing $3,462 in support.

Car payments: 14 percent of millennials said they got help making car payments and received, on average, $787. However, parents said they gave their adult children 2,239, on average. Groceries: Almost a quarter of millennials said their parents help them pay for groceries ($423). Boomers said they gave $898.