Personal Finance Expert Dave Ramsey “Parents Stop Helping Adult Children with Financial Troubles”
By Benzinga

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsay has urged parents to stop helping their adult children who misuses financial help.

He pointed out that the demand for money out of guilt only reinforces the wrong fiscal habits.

Danyel, who has a 27-year-old daughter, asked Ramsey for advice on the situation in which she and her son-in-law have supported them financially for years even though they have a stable income.

She said, “Both of them have decent jobs, and I have no idea where the money is going. Recently she has been guilt-ridden and asking for us for money because she might not have what she needs.”

Ramsey gave a firm piece of advice.

“It’s long past time for my daughter and son-in-law to learn to manage their money like responsible adults.”

He advised parents to stop unconditional financial aid and instead ask their adult children to seek financial counseling and submit their budget proposals before helping them.

It also suggested a response to guilt-inducing needs.

“If my granddaughter says she can’t have dinner, bring her home and tell her to feed her a delicious home-cooked meal.”

He stressed the need to only support long-term financial responsibility and not support dependence.

Ramsay recently took a tough stance on Ramsay’s show, saying that overprotection of parents can hinder the development of adult children’s responsibility.

One listener dropped out of college, worked part-time at Walmart, and asked for counseling about his 19-year-old son, who lives at home free of charge while receiving $14 an hour and $10,000 in dividends.

Ramsey questioned his mother, saying, “Why didn’t you teach work ethics earlier?” and co-host Dr. John Deloney pointed out, “The lack of responsibility in the teens is a natural result as parents are paying for most of the costs.”

Both hosts stressed that the core of the problem is overprotection of parents, not mismanagement of money, and advised setting clear boundaries to grow accountability.

In July, a viewer complained that the father blamed his daughters for his financial woes, and Ramsey advised parents to set realistic limits and not to burden their children with unaffordable student loan burdens.

Another viewer shared the case of adult children earning $180,000 a year but living tight until payday and relying on loan cancellation.

Ramsey suggested his “matching program” as a healthy way to teach financial responsibility, warning that helping them only strengthens bad habits.

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