This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. Kimberly King, a single mom to three adult children, enjoyed a rewarding career as a kindergarten teacher for over a decade. Then, her 23-year-old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized for a year before later having to move into her home in Stratford, Connecticut.
Unfortunately, because King’s son had only held a series of small jobs, he did not qualify for disability benefits, so he became financially dependent on King. Adding to the financial stress of her situation, King had to quit her teaching job to be a stay-at-home caregiver. King is part of the nearly one-third of parents with adult children who provide them with financial support, according to a Credit Karma survey of 1,008 adults in October 2022. For many of these parents, helping their child has taken a toll. Of all the respondents who said they were financially supporting their adult children, 69% said doing so caused them personal financial stress.The costs of charity One of the biggest reasons people turn to their parents for financial support is suddenly losing their job. Unfortunately, in the current marketplace, job security is anything but guaranteed. Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer estimates that in 2022 alone, the biggest tech companies dismissed more than 120,000 people. Announcements of layoffs continued in 2023. In January, Microsoft
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