Gen X just turned 60. They’re still tapping parents for cash.

JUNE 14, 2026

Americans are waiting longer to reap an inheritance. – Lisa Shumaker, REUTERS

Half of millennials and one-third of Gen Xers are still financially dependent on their parents, according to a new survey.

The finding suggests that financial relationships between aging parents and their aging children may be changing.

By long tradition, young adults have leaned on parents to cover some of their expenses as they launch careers and start families.

But America’s millennials are no longer so young. The youngest are turning 30. Generation X, for its part, now ranges in age from 45 to 61.

In newly released data from Northwestern Mutual’s 2026 Planning & Progress Study, 42% of adults surveyed said they feel financially dependent on their parents. Here’s the breakdown by generation:

Aging adult children are waiting longer to inherit

Americans are having children later and living longer. That means adult children are waiting longer for any inheritance, a traditional gateway to financial independence.

You’re most likely to reap an inheritance between the ages of 56 and 65, according to researchers at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. And fewer than two-fifths of Americans ever inherit, according to an analysis in the Washington Post.

“The Great Wealth Transfer is real, but an inheritance isn’t something most Americans can rely on,” said Jeff Sippel, chief strategy officer at Northwestern Mutual.

The survey data, released June 1, draws from interviews of 4,375 adults in January.

The Great Wealth Transfer is a projected exchange of $124 trillion, primarily from older to younger generations, by 2048.

Aging parents have a lot of wealth to pass down.

Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, hold 51% of American wealth: a mountain of real estate, stocks, pension benefits, private businesses and other assets, collectively valued at $90 trillion in late 2025.

“Parents are in a pretty good position. They want to help,” said Ryan Nelson, president of emerging affluent wealth management at U.S. Bancorp Advisors. “They want their kids to maintain a higher quality of life.”

But the money may arrive slowly, and some of it won’t arrive at all. Not only are Americans living longer: They are also spending more on assisted living, nursing homes and other forms of long-term care.

“Longevity is a great thing, but it also puts more stress on the amount of money that we need in order to retire,” said Douglas Benson Jr., founder and private wealth adviser with Northwestern Mutual’s Benson Wealth Management.

Financial independence came easier to earlier generations

Most Americans feel that achieving financial independence is harder now than for previous generations, the Northwestern Mutual study found. Roughly 20% of adults surveyed said they do not expect to ever achieve independence.

One reason is rising home prices. Young adults today have more mortgage debt than prior generations, even after adjusting for inflation.

Adults ages 29 to 34, for example, had $190,000 in mortgage debt in 2022, compared with $120,174 in mortgage debt for the same age group in 1992, after inflation, according to an analysis by Pew Research Center.

Adults under 35 are much more likely to have student debt today, Pew Research found, and balances are higher.

In 1992, the typical young adult owed $6,000 to $7,000 in student loans. In 2022, young adults owed $16,000 to $20,000, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

“Young adults are more likely to have student debt and large mortgage debts,” said Rachel Minkin, a senior researcher at Pew Research.

In the 2024 Pew Research study, 44% of young adults said they had received financial help from their parents in the previous year.

What expenses do parents cover for adult children?

Here is a breakdown of the areas where young adults got the most help from parents:

Among parents who provided financial help to their kids, 36% said the handouts hurt their own finances.

“Lower-income parents were much more likely to say it had hurt their personal financial situation,” Minkin said.

The Pew report drew from surveys conducted in October and November 2023.

Although many mid-life adults depend on parents for financial help, they aren’t necessarily ready to talk about money with Mom and Dad.

A 2024 U.S. Bank survey found that just over half of Americans are comfortable discussing finances with parents: 49% of Gen Xers, 55% of millennials and 58% of Gen Z.

The U.S. Bank survey also found that 37% of parents, across generations, worry their children will remain financially dependent well into adulthood.

Courtesy: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY