In a new Merrill Lynch/Age Wave survey, a full 70% of the early adults said they received financial support from their parents in the past year and 58% said they couldn’t afford their current lifestyles without it. The most common types of financial support include cell phone plans, food, school costs and car expenses. Parental financial support of early adults, said Ken Dychtwald, CEO of Age Wave, is “the new normal”.

But 64% of the young adults surveyed said parents’ financial support to children age 25 to 34 is “a bad thing”, because it makes those kids dependent. By contrast, only 29% thought supporting men and women age 18 to 24 is bad; the remaining 71% thought that assistance “helps the adult children get ahead”.

Dychtwald believes the young women and men surveyed were saying that by 25, younger adults ought to be financially independent. In fact, the respondents said, financial independence defines adulthood. “Financial independence is something they were struggling with and challenged by. And it scared them a bit,” Dychtwald said. One big reason they’re struggling is attributed to college loans, of which the average amounts to $37,000. Many of the parents have taken on college loans for the kids, too, sometimes at the expense of their own finances. In the survey, 60% of early adults define financial success as being debt-free. Whether that’s likely, or even possible, anytime soon, is anyone’s guess.

Q22:What do welearn from a new survey By Merrill Lynch Age Wave? 

Q23:Why did mostyoung adults in the survey say financial support to children aged 25-34 is abad thing? 

Q24: What did therespondents in the survey say regarding financial independence? 

Q25:What Is onebig reason young adults are struggling