Everybody has a different relationship with their parents, and those differences extend to finances. There is no shortage of 26-year-olds whose parents secretly pay their rent, but that doesn’t cancel out the 18-year-olds who pay the mortgage on their parent’s house. Some kids support their parents, and some parents help their grown kids. Of course, there are fewer and further between parents and kids who haven’t exchanged cash with each other since the kid became an adult. There’s nothing inherently wrong with accepting help from your parents or asking your adult kids for some money when you genuinely need it. But there’s a big difference between asking for money and taking copious amounts for a frivolous purchase. 

The adult child of two retirees recently went viral after sharing their harrowing tale of fraud at the hands of their parents. Let’s just say they now have $30K in debt, and it’s not due to a medical emergency.