Boomers who have cut the financial apron strings to their grown children are more than twice as likely to be retired as boomers who are still helping their kids with money.
That's the verdict of Hearts & Wallets' latest topic brief, which found that nearly a third of boomers are still supporting their children, whether adults or minors.
While overall 35 percent of boomers are retired from full-time work, only 21 percent of parents who are still supporting their adult children are fully retired.
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If you add in minor children, only 17 percent of boomers supporting either minors or adult children are retired.
But 52 percent of boomers whose grown kids are financially independent and who are not helping support anyone else, such as members of an extended family, are retired.
Boomers who are supporting adult children are not only out more money, but suffer from less peace of mind as well.
They are 25 percent more likely to have increased financial anxiety than other boomers. And unsurprisingly, they're also the group within the boomer population most worried about being able to save enough for retirement.
How weighty is that worry? Pretty consuming.
The study divided boomers into five segments: those who support adult children, but not minor children; those who support minor children; those who support extended family but not children; those who don't support anyone else and whose adult children are independent; and those who don't support anyone else.
While four of the five segments cited outliving their retirement funds as their top worry, those supporting adult children are more worried about saving enough for retirement. Fears that they'll outlive their money? Not even in the top five; they have to get to retirement first.
Nearly 8 million boomer households are supporting adult children. They account for nearly $4 trillion in assets; that represents a sixth of the $23.4 trillion in total assets of the 47.4 million boomer households. Boomers who are providing financial support to someone control about a third of all boomer assets.
The study also suggested that Gen Xers may be in a similar position once their kids reach 18.
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