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AITAH for wanting my husband to retire even though our adult children still rely on us financially?
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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The son, age twenty-eight, has made unemployment an art form. He’s searching for the job that matches his soul, good luck to him, but he’s got rent, groceries, and streaming services running on parental Direct Deposit. The daughter, twenty-five, manages a part-time gig but shrugs at the idea of moving out or picking up a few more shifts. Cars wear down, bank accounts wear thin, and somehow “helping the kids get started” turned into funding their adulthood by the decade.
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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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The husband thinks the solution is to keep working till the kids magically turn into functional adults or at least get a taste for instant noodles. The wife’s had enough. Retirement dreams start to feel like bad reruns every time another expense pops up with “but Mom and Dad always paid.” The only thing these kids have mastered is resetting the bar for learning self-reliance.
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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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At some point, the money train needs a last stop. Parents want beach trips and freedom, not more years sponsoring grown-ups who think “fending for yourself” is a plot twist. retirement isn’t just about budgets, it’s about finally prioritizing sanity over handouts
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Wife pushes husband to retire as planned and cut off financially dependent adult kids who refuse to grow up, compromising parents’ retirement plans: ‘I want to be able to travel and enjoy life with my husband before we’re too old to do so’
For this 60-something-year-old couple, retirement was supposed to be about cruises, golf, and not knowing what day it is. Instead, it's frozen pizza and bankrolling adult children who treat the parental wallet like a lifelong rewards program. The plan was simple: sixty-something, married, and finally clocking out for good, until the realization hits that the family nest now doubles as adult day care.
When I think about retirement, which I don't because I'm 33 and one thing I am not is delusional, but for the sake of this text, let's say I am, I think of sitting around in my own garden, reading books, listening to good music, and basically doing nothing else.
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