More than half of Atlantic Canadian parents are still supporting their adult children between the ages of 30 and 35, and providing that support is putting a damper on their retirement plans.
Those findings are the result of an RBC survey released on Thursday. The Family Finances Survey found that 58 per cent of Atlantic Canadian parents are supporting children in that age group and 30 per cent of parents are worried they will have to prolong their retirement plans as a result.
In Canada as a whole, 48 per cent said they are subsidizing their age 30-35 adult children’s lives. Thirty-six per cent said they were worried about the impact on their retirement savings while 88 per cent said they were happy to be able to help support their adult children.
On average (national), $5,623 annually is spent by parents supporting adult children ages 18-35 and $3,729 annually for those with adult children ages 30-35.
In Atlantic Canada, the average amount spent by parents was lower than the national average. Atlantic Canadian parents spent on average $3,941 annually supporting adult children ages 18-35 and $2,334 supporting adult children ages 30-35.
The top three expenses Atlantic Canadian parents were helping with were education costs (63 per cent), living expenses, including rent, cable and mortgages (74 per cent) and cell phone bills (68 per cent). By comparison, nationally 69 per cent of parents were helping with education costs, 65 per cent with living expenses and 58 per cent with cell phone costs.
The online survey was conducted by Leger from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9. The survey involved 1,004 Canadian parents (age 36 and older) with adult children ages 18-35.
