I posted this topic in 2008 in a little different light, but it seems to be an even more current issue today. So I’ve edited and reposted and am curious as to what you think. Is it better to get out on your own as quickly as you can, or find a way to keep your financial responsibilities as low as possible for as long as possible?
From the original post:
I was reading along on a news story the other day and saw a stat saying something like 1/3 of American men are still living at home. With their parents. Wait…back up…AMERICAN men? In a nation of independent, over-achieving capitalists, 1/3 of those capitalists between 22-34 are living at home?
I thought the movie “Failure To Launch” with McConaughey and SJP was a cute story about an improbability, but now I wonder. Combine that with the amount of women I know saying they won’t date someone who still lives with their parents, it really made me start to wonder if this is contributing to the marry later in life stats we see creeping into American life. It’s a little chicken and the egg. Are guys staying at home longer because they aren’t wanting to get married or are they not wanting to get married because they live at home and have a lot of those needs provided for? (And can get the sex pretty easily.)
Of course some people, like this blogger, think living with your parents is a great way to save money and keep your responsibilities low. Granted, with the current economy, any way to save money can bee seen as a good way to save money. But I’m not sure that seeing your parents as a free ride is the best way handle the economic crisis (especially considering you are chewing into the only cushion they have for retirement.) If you’re contributing while living at a lower rent level, well, then maybe you are helping the family as a whole. But probably at the expense of your dating life.
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Last week, my wife (who is universally regarded as a hard act to follow) used this space and provided an insightful, touching, and thoughtful portrait of the last part of our first year of marriage. We’ve had some hurdles already – I’m not sure I’ve ever had as much asked of me emotionally, physically and mentally as I did for four weeks in March and April.
Or at least I try very hard to be. But she is too – to an extent that I could probably never be, and she makes me a better person because of it. A person better able Continue reading 
