1 in 3 Adults Under Age 45 Still Get Financial Help From Mom and Dad

For parents these days, supporting your child often doesn't end when they turn 18.

A survey by the Society of Grownups found that one in three adults between the ages of 21 and 45 receive some form of financial support from their parents, MarketWatch reports. Paying for their child's cellphone bill is the most common type of aid, with 17% of respondents saying their parents foot the bill.

After cellphones, food, bills (such as utilities and cable), and insurance are the things parents help pay for most often. Other young people reported their parents help them with "fun" expenses, rent, clothing, and student loan bills, though those responses weren't as common.

While some may use this as further proof that all millennials are lazy and entitled, Nondini Naqui, the chief executive of Society of Grownups, says it's more a reflection of the rising costs of living millennials must contend with: student loan debt, rising rent and food costs, and stagnant wages all compound, and something has to give.

"These are people who are really forging their own way forward, they’re responsible, they take accountability," Naqui said. But at the same time, "they’re really getting squeezed."

So why are parents paying for cellphone bills more often than anything else? MarketWatch writes that it's largely a matter of inertia; parents were already likely paying for the family plan when their kids lived at home, and just kept paying. Writes MW, "[t]he cellphone bill is the last vestige of their financial ties to their parents and they haven’t severed it, mostly because it’s more trouble than it’s worth."