An ever increasing number of grown children are moving back home and whether it's because of crushing student debt, layoffs or personal crisis, the move is bound to cause upheaval for parents. Here are some key issues to think about before moving day.
1. Quiz: Are You Ready for Your Grown Child to Move Home?
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Depending on distance and family dynamics, a grown child's move back home can be a major undertaking. If you're pondering whether you're ready to refill that empty nest, this quiz can help you decide whether this is the right option, or whether you should explore alternatives.
2. The Emotional Side of the Move Back Home
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Anger, anxiety and joy are all part of the mix when grown kids move home. Here's a guide to understanding where the boomerang trend and its accompanying riot of emotions are coming from... including that parental second guessing that makes you wonder, "Did I do something wrong?"
3. Boomerang Kids and Rent
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Grown children usually move back home for financial reasons. They’re job hunting, paying off college loans, or saving for a place of their own. So most families wrestle with a basic issue - whether or not to charge rent on a childhood bedroom. About half the 20-somethings who move home pay some sort of rent, but there are many options between zero and market rate.
4. Sample Rental Contract for the Boomerang Kid
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When your grown-up child moves back home, it’s best to draw up a contract to outline expectations and financial agreements. Some families draw up formal paperwork, others use a rental contract simply as a guideline for discussion. This sample rental contract can get you started.
5. Alternatives to Moving Home
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Some 60% of young adults end up moving back home, at least temporarily. But that's not a solution for everybody. Here are three other possibilities, from parental loans to "Manny" gigs.
6. 6 Tips to Smooth the Transition
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Some 60% of the nation's single, young adults end up moving back home – enough to give any empty nester pause. How does this even work? How long will they stay? Do you charge rent? And do you still have to wash their socks? Happy “re-filled" families tend to have these six things in common.
7. Health Insurance for the Not-Yet-Employed
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Most 20-somethings seem to think they’re immortal, so it’s no big deal when they graduate from college and suddenly discover they’re no longer covered by mom and dad’s health insurance. In fact, nearly 30 percent of grown children, ages 18-24, lacked coverage in 2005, according to the most recent census data. But all it takes is a bout of pneumonia or a trip to the emergency room to make them – and you – wish fervently that they had medical insurance. Fortunately, there are three ways to bridge the gap until junior gets a job - and his own health benefits.
