Advice

On parents paying the rent

I come from money. Not Bel Air travel the world and do designer drugs money, but Beverly Hills private school, parents can pay a cheap apartment without blinking money. Any advice on how to not turn out to be an asshole?

It’s pretty simple. Just don’t be an asshole. (Money isn’t what makes you an asshole. Money merely amplifies it if you already happen to be one.)

Los Angeles is filled with kids whose parents pay the rent. You can’t spill a vodka red bull in this town without hitting a struggling actor with granite countertops. That’s fine, but if you’re going to be dependent on your parents, you have to be keenly aware of its effect on your personal development.

This isn’t so much about becoming an asshole as it is about overextending your adolescence and stunting certain aspects of your character that can only be developed through self-reliance. There’s no shame in letting your parents help you get started in life, especially if they’re happy to do it, but you can’t let that kind of thing be indefinite.

Plan for a future where you earn your own living. Have a horizon line where you no longer rely on your folks for support. You may always have your parents’ checkbook as a safety net, but still, there’s something to be said for paying your own way even though you don’t have to.

(Oh, and for the record, you don’t need Bel Air money to travel the world and do designer drugs. You just need a passport, a little financial discipline, and a cool attitude.)

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One thought on “On parents paying the rent

  1. abab says:

    Love this post too. Also, my friends and I were talking about the whole “using your parents as a safety net” thing and how we each have a sibling who was abusing this privilege and my friend said, “It’s a safety net, not a hammock!” and we all died laughing. Such a great metaphor!

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