Glamour USA - September 2016

Life / Working It
How to Survive the
Mooch Economy
Nearly half of all young people
now depend on their parents for
financial help. Not you?
Concepcion de Leon has money
rules for killing it anyway.
hen I moved to Boston for a job after
college, I had no savings—just the final
paycheck from my last temp gig, a suitcase
of clothes, and a thousand dollars in
credit card debt. I slept on a borrowed air mattress for weeks
until I could afford to buy a used version of the real thing.
And I paid for everything on my own: rent, groceries, nights
out, thrift store clothing. I thought everyone else did too.
Until one night when my new roommate
and I were commiserating over wine about
our low bank balances, and she mentioned
that her parents covered half of her living
expenses. Of course, parents often help
out in a pinch, but an allowance? I remember
thinking: That’s still a thing? I felt a
wave of hopelessness. No matter how hard
I worked, I couldn’t keep up with that.
I soon learned many of my peers were
getting “start-up money” from family.
(One poll found that 44 percent of young
adults receive financial support from their
parents.) Sometimes that’s help with rent
or gift cards to Pottery Barn. Other times
parents are footing the bill for their kids’
cell phones and credit cards or signing as
guarantors on a lease or loan. In my life,
my dad occasionally relies on my credit.
(Sometimes the situation is even more
dire—see “I Didn’t Even Have an Address”
on page 228.)
Any early support adds up. And not
just because it means you can go out
every Saturday night—it also affects
your wealth accumulation over time. A
young person who’s had help paying bills
or rent can buy a house a full eight years
earlier than someone who doesn’t have
that support, and research shows that
length of homeownership is the numberone
contributor to long-term wealth. That
unequal footing is part of the reason the
wealth gap has more than tripled in the
past few decades—especially along racial
and ethnic lines.
After about a year in Boston, I decided
I wanted to pursue a career in journalism
and moved back to New York City. I did
get some help—my dad let me move back
home—but if I want to live independently,
it’s up to me to make it happen. Now, four
years after graduation and with quite a bit
of financial stress under my belt, I’m on
my way to building my own foundation.
A few lessons I’ve learned along the way:
Figure out what’s important to
you (and spend your $$ there)
In Boston I charged a lot of small things—
dinner, drinks, the occasional lambskin
leather jacket. (I blame FOMO.) Before
I knew it, I’d racked up $6,000 in debt.
After that shocking realization, I took a
good, long look at my credit card statement
to figure out where I could cut
back. I felt embarrassed by how many
cab, vending machine, and Starbucks
charges there were. (I don’t even like cof-
BED: RYAN MCVAY/GETTY IMAGES
208 glamour.com
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