I know opinions on this vary a lot depending on the country and culture, so I’m curious what others think. Personally, I have a 22-year-old son. I bought him a house and a car, I pay for his university tuition (his grades are high enough for a state-subsidized spot, but we feel that should go to someone more in need), and I basically support him fully. We want him to focus on his studies and enjoy this stage of his life. He will finish his dentistry degree in 2028, and then we plan to finance the opening of his private practice. We’ll stop providing financial support once he’s earning enough to live comfortably on his own. I see many parents online (especially in North America) talking about kids moving out at 18, paying rent to live at home, and covering their own bills, and it honestly shocks me. That feels unfathomable to me. I believe that as parents, we have a duty to give our children a good life since we brought them into this world.
That is one side of the coin. But what if he gets into financial trouble later in life, when you’re no longer there, or otherwise able to support him? Addictions, accidents, bad business ownership, legal trouble - there are lots of ways people can inadvertently lose everything they have.
If you’ve never learned how to build stuff up from the ground up, it will be a lot harder to recover.
There are valuable lessons in earning your own house and working for your keep. If everything comes easy it’s going to be a problem when things get tough. You can only hope you set them up well enough that there’s never going to be financial woes.