Half of parents with grown children provide regular financial help for rent, groceries, cell phones, health care, or car payments.
Posted by Real Time with Bill Maher, Checked
- Sources
- 2 support4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Real Time with Bill MaherOct 24, 2026
The claim matches a 2025 Savings.com survey, reported by Investors.com and WCNC, which found half of parents with adult children provide regular financial help covering groceries, cellphones, health care, rent, and car loans.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Hey, is this really the most efficient way to do this, by taking money from working people, giving it to retired people, who then give it back to their adult children so they can pay rent? Half of us parents with grown kids give them regular help with not just rent but groceries, cell phones, health care, car payments, coughing up an average of almost 1500 dollars a month. Beats the hell out of my allowance as a kid. You thought you raised a couple of young adults? No, you raised a subscription service that automatically renews. …
Real Time with Bill Maher · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Investors.com, citing a 2025 Savings.com report, says half of parents with adult kids said they provide regular financial assistance, covering groceries, cellphones, health care, rent or mortgage, and car and student loan payments.[2]
Supports. WCNC reports that half of parents with grown children give them financial support, with groceries, rent, and health care among the top expenses.[3]
Context. A 2026 LendingTree survey finds 71% of parents have ever supported an adult child, but only 44% in the past two years, a different measure from regular help.[4][5]
Context. A 2026 Wells Fargo study finds 64% of parents with Gen Z children say those children still depend on them financially, a broader and differently defined measure.[6]
Context. Census Bureau data for 2024 shows 2.6 million parents gave $26.6 billion to 3.7 million adult children living outside their households, a total-dollar measure that does not give a share of parents giving regular help.[1]
Sources
6 sources: 1 primary, 5 not rated
- 1Parental Financial Support Does Not End When Children ...census.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 2Helping Your Adult Kids With Money Could 'Wreck' Your Retirementinvestors.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 3New survey reveals how parents still help their adult kids financiallywww.wcnc.com › article › news › local › connect-the-dots › more-adults-p...wcnc.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 4Most parents support their grown kids financially, survey ...finance.yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 5Half of Gen Zers Get Financial Help From Parentslendingtree.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Wells Fargo reveals one reason parents are going brokethestate.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post