How to do it better: Use it as a learning opportunity
Eweka suggests using this time at home as an opportunity to teach your child about financial topics like saving for retirement, how to pay off debt, how to use credit responsibly, and other situations they'll come across as they venture into adulthood.
Teaching them about retirement savings could be a valuable lesson, as many Americans aren't starting to save until it's too late. Eweka says this is particularly important to encourage them to do while they're still young.
She suggests teaching them now that they can't wait to save, and uses the following example to illustrate why. "If you're 23 and move back home, now you have the cash flow to put $1,000 a month into your retirement plan. Over a 40-year period, you'll have $1.8 million if you assume about a 6% rate of return," she says. She continues: "Even if you put $2,000 per month away to make up for what you didn't save for the first 20 years, you're only going to have $882,000."
In this example, compound interest is key — teaching your adult child financial lessons like this can have a huge effect on how they save and spend when starting their adult life.