How much board should adult kids pay Mum and Dad?
One in two young Australians still lives at home. Here's how much they should be paying their parents in board.
Unless you've been living under a rock (which is becoming more attractive given Australia's high property prices), you may have noticed a new social trend.
Grown adults are living in the family home for longer. It's an arrangement that can have upsides for everyone as long as clear rules are put in place from the outset.
How many young Australians still live with their parents?
Among Australians aged 18-29, one in two (54%) men and 47% of women shares a roof with their parents.
Those numbers have jumped in the last 25 years. Back in 2001, 47% of men and just one in three (36%) women aged 18 to 29 lived in the family home.
It's easy to put rising numbers of KIPPERS - Kids in Parents' Pockets, down to poor housing affordability and a tight rental market, but other factors are at work too.
We're marrying at an older age, and increasingly choosing to attend university, both of which are contributing to young adults staying on in the family nest.
Some parents relish their grown-up kids remaining at home as it delays becoming an 'empty nester'. For young adults, living with Mum and Dad may mean sacrificing some of the adventures of early adulthood, but it certainly beats being fourth in line for a share house shower.
Even so, by the time children are in their 20s, parents need to start thinking seriously about their looming retirement. It's not that adult kids are 'bludgers'. It's more about everyone chipping in financially.
How much board should adult children pay, and why does it matter?
The question is: how much should adult children pay in board? And how can parents use board to help grown-up kids learn essential financial skills?
Phil Slade is a psychologist, behavioural economist, Money columnist, and founder of Switch4Schools. He says, "Waiving board entirely isn't always disastrous (context matters) but in most cases it delays an essential developmental shift.
"Paying board is not about revenue for parents," notes Slade. "It's about introducing friction. And friction is how character is formed. Without some cost attached to lifestyle, young adults can drift into what economists politely call 'extended adolescence'."
Slade acknowledges that allowing kids to live at home for free is often seen as a helping hand to let them save for a first home. It may not always be a successful strategy though.
"The greater risk is not financial, it is emotional," says Slade. "If parents quietly subsidise adult life without boundaries, resentment tends to bloom like mould in a bathroom. That rarely ends well for anyone."
Slade believes that paying board develops three crucial adult 'muscles': planning, delayed gratification and trade-offs.
"When money leaves an adult child's account on a predictable schedule, budgeting stops being theoretical and becomes painfully real," says Slade.
How can parents structure board to build good money habits?
He adds that parents can enhance the financial lessons by being structured.
"Set a regular payment date. Encourage automatic transfers. If possible, redirect a portion of board into savings or even secretly into a future deposit fund," advises Slade.
"Some families charge board and gift it back later, which is both kind and psychologically clever. The point isn't to simulate hardship. It's to simulate reality."
In terms of how much board to charge, a January 2026 survey by Compare the Market found that, on average, $144 per week is seen as 'reasonable'. That's down from $153 in 2023.
Compare the Market's Chris Ford says, "This downward trend is interesting given living costs have continued to rise, but it may reflect concerns about future expenses, with some parents choosing to charge their children less, or nothing at all, to give them an extra leg up."
How can parents ask kids to pay board?
After years of raising kids free of charge, parents may feel uncomfortable broaching the subject of board.
According to Slade, parents need to avoid turning the conversation into a moral lecture. He says, "It is not about 'you're costing me a fortune'. Instead it should be along the lines of 'you're an adult now. Let's design what contributing like an adult looks like in this house'."
He adds, "Tone matters enormously. If it feels like punishment, it will be resisted. If it feels like preparation, it will be respected."
It's also important to be transparent.
"Show your kids real household costs," says Slade. "Let them see the electricity bill in all its terrifying glory. Agree on a number that is meaningful but not crippling. The goal is not extraction. It is education."
Can supporting adult children put parents' retirement at risk?
For all the potential upsides of kids living at home for longer, supporting adult children indefinitely can quietly derail retirement plans, increase financial anxiety and create power imbalances in the household.
In some cases this can be taken to extremes. In 2023, an Italian woman took her two sons, both in their 40s, to court in a last-ditch effort to get them to leave home.
The judge, noting that both sons refused to chip in for household costs, sided with the mother, and slapped the brothers with an eviction notice.
Why is an exit plan essential when adult children live at home?
While this may be an exceptional example, Slade points out that parents often underestimate the emotional cost of prolonged dependency.
He recommends creating a clear plan that addresses how long adult children are likely to remain at home, their savings goals, and their likely exit strategy - be it buying a first home or moving into rental accommodation.
Families who can tick all these boxes, stand to enjoy a win-win experience.
Mum and Dad aren't being financially squeezed and are less likely to experience growing resentment.
The 'kidults', on the other hand, have the security of an affordable and familiar roof over their head and, at some stage, they will fly the family coup, taking their newly honed financial skills with them.
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