Here's exactly how to respond when your college grad decides they're moving back home
In fact, about 40% of American millennials are shacking up with relatives these days; it can be a great opportunity to sock away savings for a costly down payment on a home or make a dent in those massive student loans.
So when your adult child decides to take over your basement or guest room post grad, don't freak out, Beth Kobliner, a personal finance writer and mom of three, told Business Insider in a recent Facebook Live interview.
Instead, make sure you're clear about how it's going to work.
Here's what Kobliner suggests you say: "This is an opportunity and we are so happy to have you back home … but we're going to have to really make sure you're saving that money. And the advantage of living at home is you're not paying rent and you're maybe not paying for food. So use it as a chance not to live beyond your means, but to live at home and save up that money so you can move out."
The next step is encouraging them to set specific and viable goals for saving - like how much they'll want to have saved to move out in one year - so they don't get caught up in the comforts of home.
"I think the talking part is really important because I know so many parents … where kids are coming home and they're like, 'My kid is lying on the couch watching "Law and Order" reruns and I want him to get out and get a job.' So I think talking about expectations is really important," said Kobliner, whose new book, "Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23," offers tips for helping your kid get financially established in young adulthood.
One strategy to help them save while they're under your roof, explained by U.S. News, is to charge rent, even if it's just $150 a month (a fraction of what they'd be shelling out for an apartment of their own). Collect that money and build up a nest egg in their name that they can get their hands on once they move out.