By Milo Boyd
Adults should stop taking their kids on holiday at 30, at least if the results of a survey are anything to go by. After a decade of carefully planning mealtimes, noting nappy-change facility locations, forking out summer holiday rates for a resort with a kids’ club, and then another decade of ensuring teenage children don’t gain illicit access to an all-you-can-drink wristband, parents may be forgiven for deciding to go on holiday without children. However, a significant chunk don’t. A 2023 study found that two-fifths of adults (42%) were planning holidays that year with their parents, as rising living costs squeeze families’ travel budgets. And the Starling Bank poll revealed that more than a quarter鈥27%鈥攐f parents who are going away with their grown-up children said they are paying for some or all of their travel expenses to help them out during the cost-of-living crisis. Not everyone considers the set-up to be ideal. Mums and dads hope the financial scales will tip in their favour and they’ll no longer have to cover their child’s costs by the time they turn 30, according to a new study by digital wealth manager Moneyfarm. When their child reaches 33, a majority of parents would love for their offspring to take them on a staycation or minibreak, while they aspire to be taken on a foreign holiday by the time their child reaches 36 years old. This may be a pipe dream for most. Seven in ten (69 percent) say they still regularly buy and pay for things like clothes, holidays and even bills for their adult children, doling out an average of 拢324 a month. While 79 percent say they always buy their children a birthday and Christmas present, 17 percent only receive gifts back occasionally, while one in ten (13 percent) never get one in return. As a result, four in ten (41 percent) admit that they get annoyed about having to pay out so much for their adult kids. Chris Rudden, head of investment consultants at digital wealth manager, Moneyfarm, said, 鈥淚t is evident that many parents are quietly hoping for a financial tipping point, where the years of giving gradually give way, from the age of 30, to moments of receiving. 鈥淲hile it is clear that most parents are happy to continue financially helping their children well into adulthood, there is clearly a growing desire to see that support reciprocated in meaningful ways. From small acts like an invite to dinner or a home-cooked meal to bigger gestures, if they can be afforded, these milestones reflect a shift in how families view financial inter-dependence. 鈥淭hese financial milestones represent more than transactions, they are about finding joy and satisfaction in your children thriving enough to be able to give back.鈥