I have a follow-up question, for those of you who are helping your adult children out--do you have an exit strategy? A date certain or possibly a salary or education goal, at which point you'll pull back from the support? I'm not asking to be snarky, I'm just curious. I can understand helping with some things, like health insurance or a cell phone, maybe car insurance. But at some point, the bird's gotta fly, right? They're going to need to figure out how to live within their means, even if they aren't in their dream job. What happens when they get married? Have a child? Do you continue to throw support their way, because housing is expensive, child care is expensive, cars are expensive... On a side note, will they be expected to help YOU if you can't afford retirement, or get a debilitating disease?
P.S. I'm talking about neurotypical adult children here--some of us have special needs adults, which changes the calculus. Some may never fly solo, but the goal is to get them as close as reasonable (for them).