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Adults with grown children are often still helping support them financially. And sometimes, those contributions take away from the funds they would otherwise be saving for retirement. According to a recent Savings.com survey of 1,000 U.S. adults with grown children, half regularly assist them financially. Those numbers are going up in recent years. On average, parents are shelling $1,474 monthly to help their adult children, which is about 6% more than they provided the previous year. More than 80% said they helped pay for groceries; 65% said they foot their grown child’s cellphone bill; and nearly half (46%) even fund their adult children’s vacations. Those monthly contributions add up, coming out to a contribution of around $17,688 per yeararound twice as much as theyre putting into their own retirement savings. Nearly half (47%) say they’ve sacrificed their own financial well-being and preparedness to help their grown kids find their footing. While older generations are often quick to call Gen Zers lazy or entitled, young workers are at a financial disadvantage. Not only are unemployment rates rising for recent college graduates, but an increasing number are underemployed. And, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Grad Guide, college graduates are more frequently taking jobs that don’t typically require degrees. In fact, the fastest growing field for college graduates is construction. Real estate, utilities, wholesale, and administrative service jobs are up for the group, too, suggesting that four-year-degrees are not necessarily helping graduates land higher-paying jobs as often as they once did. Parents seem to know that their adult children are up against big challenges, which is likely why so many help pay their bills. Forty percent said they felt pressured to give to their grown children even when it negatively impacted their own stability, and 35% said they feel it’s their responsibility to provide that support. Some say they’ve set deadlines for when they will stop funding their adult children’s lives. Eleven percent plan to cut the cord within a year; 26% within one to two years; and 28% three to four years down the line. However, for some, the commitment is for life. Around 18% say there is no deadline at all for their grown children to become financially independent.
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E-Commerce
An environment conference opened in Nepal on Friday to discuss global climate change, including the impact on the highest Himalayan peaks where snow and ice are melting.The three-day conference in Kathmandu titled, “Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity,” is expected to include discussions of critical climate issues.“From the lap of Sagarmatha (Everest), the world’s highest peak, we send this message loud and clear that to protect the mountains is to protect the planet. To protect the mountains is to protect our seas. To protect the mountains is to protect humanity itself,” Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli told participants at the opening meeting.Nepal is home to eight of the tallest mountains in the world including Mount Everest. A high level of glaciers melting in the Himalayan mountains because of global warming has raised signficant concerns. Melting snow and ice have exposed the mountains and increased the risk of rock slides, landslides and avalanches.Scientists have warned the Himalayan mountains could lose up to 80% of their glaciers if the Earth warms in coming decades or centuries. They say flash floods and avalanches also could become more likely in coming years, in part because of climate change.“The tragedy is that the Himalayas are facing an unprecedented stress test in real time today, exposing not only the fragile nature of our mountain ecosystems but also a glaring evidence of the lack of meaningful global climate action,” Nepal Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba said. “As a mountainous country with high disaster risk vulnerability, Nepal faces a stark predicament.”Nepal has experienced a series of severe weather events in the recent past with devastating impacts on people and their livelihoods, Deuba said.“Floods and glacial lake outbursts have caused large-scale destruction and damage, and droughts, water scarcity and forest fires have brought untold suffering to the people across the country,” she said.Ministers from neighboring India, Bhutan, and Maldives are attending the conference.Organizers have said they intend to publish a Kathmandu declaration after the discussions end Sunday. Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
On Friday, cable companies Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced that theyve agreed to merge. Charter will acquire Cox in a deal valued at $34.5 billion. This is one of the biggest deals of the year. Charter, known more widely by its brand Spectrum, is one of the largest television communications operators in the country. The proposed transaction will result in Charter acquiring Coxs commercial fiber and managed IT and cloud businesses, and Cox will contribute its residential cable business to Charter. The joint press release noted that the merger will create an industry leader in mobile and broadband communications services, seamless video entertainment, and high-quality customer service delivering powerful benefits for American employees, customers, communities, and shareholders. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said, This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products, delivered with outstanding customer service, to millions of homes and businesses. Cox will own around 23% of the combined entitys fully diluted shares, the companies said. As part of the deal, the combined entity will assume Coxs estimated $12 billion in outstanding debt. Charter (NYSE: CHTR) stock was up around 2.58% in early trading on Friday. Cox is a privately held company. Heres what to expect from the merger The deal is expected to close at the same time as the previously announced Liberty Broadband merger. The combined company will change its name to Cox Communications within a year of the deal closing. Spectrum will become the consumer-facing brand in the areas currently served by Cox. Winfrey will continue to serve as CEO. The combined company will remain headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and plans to maintain a significant presence at Coxs campus in Atlanta. Cable companies struggle to retain pay-TV subscribers Why is this strategic merger being announced? Cable companies have experienced dwindling pay-TV subscriber rates as customers cut the cord by canceling cable subscriptions and switching to streaming services. As a result, the industry has invested heavily in broadband and mobile. According to the latest cord-cutting monitor report from analyst firm MoffettNathanson, Charter has continued to lose pay-TV customers along with the rest of the industry. In Q4 of 2024, the cable giant lost 123,000 cable subscribers. Collectively, the cable industry is expected to continue to shed pay-TV subscribers in the coming years, declining from 67.7 million subscribers at the end of last year to 51.5 million by 2028, according to MoffettNathansons projections. The firm says the growth of streaming services that replicate the cable bundle won’t be enough to offset the downward trend. Charter will acquire Coxs existing six million subscribers if the deal closes as planned. The planned merger awaits approval from Charter shareholders and regulators. The proposed deal will further test regulators’ appetite for large mergers in the Trump era. A decade ago, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) abandoned their proposed $45.2 billion combination amid concerns from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
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E-Commerce
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