A TikTok star has reignited the debate about whether parents should charge their adult children rent to live at home.
Grace Lemire, 24, has enjoyed the home comforts of living in her parents’ house near Worcester, Massachusetts, since graduating from college two years ago.
But she has been called a ‘freeloader’ and a ‘fraud’ after she posted a video saying she was on track to earn $150,000 this year alone, but does not pay rent.
It is in stark contrast to a Texas couple who went viral after telling their almost one million followers that they charge their 19-year-old daughter $200 a month in rent.
Both have elicited furious debate and divided Americans on how parents can best teach their children financial maturity.
Erika (left) and Cody Archie (right) sparked a debate after telling their followers they would charge their 19-year-old daughter Kylee Deason (center) to stay at home
According to the Pew Research Center, as of July 2022, 50 percent of adults in America aged 18 to 29 were living with one or both of their parents.
In 2010, that was around 44 percent and a decade before that, in 2000, it was 38 percent.
Erika and Cody Archie from Gatesville, Texas, began charging their daughter Kylee Deason two weeks after she graduated high school in May 2022 and she decided she wouldn’t go to college.
The couple, who have garnered a following on social media by posting videos of their life on a ranch, argue that it helps teach their daughter to be smart with her finances.
‘200 bucks a month is plenty cheap to live like a grub in your parents’ house,’ said Cody.
‘That’s cheaper than she eats in food,’ said Erika. ‘We think it teaches them a good lesson in paying bills.’
Grace Lemire, on the other hand, does not pay a penny of rent – but argues that she is still financially savvy – and has managed to pay off almost all of her student loan.
She lives with her parents, Dan, an engineer, and Nancy, an instructional designer.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘I graduated with $70,000 in student loan debt and I’m on track to pay it off by the end of this year. That would not have been possible if I didn’t live at home.’
Lemire gives out financial advice to her 73,000 followers on TikTok and writes content for financial tech start-ups.
Despite her business growing exponentially since she started in June last year – and her monthly earnings soaring from $3,000 a month to a whopping $20,000 last month – she is still frugal with her spending.
‘I am on track to make almost four times the amount I made when I first started. If you look at my budget, I have a category for “fun” which includes eating out with friends, entertainment and the amount that I put aside for that hasn’t changed.’
Grace Lemire has opened up about living with her parents, despite being on track to earn $150,000 this year
Lemire says she has managed to pay off most of her $70,000 student loan in just two years
Lemire has had the conversation with her parents multiple times about whether she should pay rent, but their perspective has always been that she shouldn’t, she said. Her brother also lived at home when he left college.
‘For them it’s more important to see us get ahead and be on the best positive financial footing. They would rather see me pay off my student loan than me give them rent money for them to hang on to.
‘Down the line I’ll be 30 years old and I’ll be living debt free. They chose to bring me into this world so it really is their responsibility as parents to take care of their kids as much as they can.
‘Some parents have cut off for that – say when their children turn 18 – and other parents say they will take care of you as long as you need it. And my parents are the latter.
‘They see it as them giving me an opportunity and I can take it or I can move out and pay rent elsewhere. But I’m taking advantage of that opportunity and they see that as a smart decision.’
Lemire pays for her own gas and medical expenses – which comes to $1,000 a month – while her mom pays for her car insurance.
‘I’ve offered to pay for that too but again she says she’d rather the money go to my student loan,’ she added. ‘And when I move out I’ll take that over. I’m very very grateful – they’ve been incredible with the things they’ve covered.’
A poll conducted on behalf of Newsweek this year found that nearly two thirds of 1,500 Americans believed that adults in their twenties living in their parents’ home should pay rent, even if the parents do not need the money.
Lemire admitted there is a ‘big divide’ of opinions when she posts videos online about her situation.
‘I’ve posted videos before where the response is really negative. I’ve been called a fraud, I’ve been called a freeloader,’ she told DailyMail.com. ‘People say “she’s riding off daddy’s money and using it to buy stuff” but that’s just not true.
‘But then I have people who really relate to it and say it makes them feel better about the fact that they’re also 24 and living at home.’
She is also aware that her job is unpredictable, and despite her being on track to earn $150,000 this year, the income is not guaranteed long-term.
‘Just because I did well one month does not guarantee that I will do well again next month, so I have to be conservative with my money,’ Lemire said.
‘I could go and get an apartment for $4,000 a month and then things could totally change two months into it. I want to be prepared for that and make sure I have a consistent income before I make that choice.’
The number of 18 to 29-year-olds living with a parent reached the highest levels in around 50 years in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center
In the US, as is the case in many Western countries, it is customary for lots of children to leave their parent’s home as they enter adulthood.
But around 60 million American households are now thought to be ‘multigenerational’ – that figure has quadrupled since the 1970s, according to data collected by the Pew Research Center.
In 2020, it found that the number of people living at home had reached the highest level since the Great Depression.
Although the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic had an effect, the trend was observed beforehand.
Median monthly rent in the US hit record highs in 2022 and house prices continue to rise in major cities.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk