A quarter of survey respondents said they took withdrawals from retirement accounts to channel funds to adult kids, and about 20 percent report delaying retirement. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The 173 million Americans who count themselves as parents are spending twice as much supporting adult children as they are on saving for retirement. That's according to a new study by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, a private research think tank that explores the impact of aging on the economy.
About $250 billion of elective contributions to retirement plans are made annually. But parents are spending $500 billion on adult children age 18 to 34.
Nearly three-quarter of respondents to Age Wave's survey say they are putting their children's interests ahead of their own need to save for retirement. Age Wave is not affiliated with Bank of America, Merrill's parent company.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
