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A 35-year-old daughter asks, "Mom, what's for dinner tonight?"

Although she works for a small company, she has no plans to move out. She does not do her own laundry or clean her room, and every day she asks what is on the dinner menu. Her mother says she feels increasingly frustrated. After eating, the daughter quickly retreats to her room and rarely helps with the dishes.

As more adult children delay leaving home, many couples in their 60s are finding it harder to prepare for retirement. They wonder how long they will have to continue supporting their grown children.

The woman's husband has already retired and now works part-time to supplement the household income, as the national pension alone is not enough to cover living expenses. They worry about the financial burden they would face if either of them became seriously ill, particularly medical and caregiving costs.

The mother has recently begun to feel that her 35-year-old daughter's delayed independence is standing in the way of their retirement plans. Rather than covering her own living expenses, the daughter appears to expect financial support from her parents. She says she cannot afford to rent a place of her own. While her parents understand that her salary is modest, they cannot help feeling increasingly anxious and frustrated.

More unmarried adults in their 30s living with parents

According to National Data Portal statistics, more than 1.28 million households in 2025 consisted of unmarried adults in their 30s living with parents in their 50s or 60s, up sharply from about 1.11 million households in 2020.

The growing concern is that even employed adults are choosing to remain in their parents' homes. Many hope to save on housing costs and put the money toward future marriage expenses. Parents often accept the arrangement out of consideration for their children. But watching them continue to rely on parental support can become a major source of stress. Some parents even worry they may eventually have to provide spending money as well.

When adult children fail to become financially independent, the burden on parents increases. They often end up covering part of their children's living expenses. With the husband already retired, the family has little opportunity to earn additional income.

Parents say the emotional strain would be less if their children at least showed consideration in daily life. But when adult children continue to depend on their mothers even for cleaning their rooms and doing laundry while living under the same roof, the burden becomes especially heavy. Many people in their 60s no longer have the physical stamina they once did. Yet many feel too embarrassed to confide in friends about the situation.

A new retirement risk alongside health concerns

Experts warn that the longer adult children delay becoming independent, the longer parents must postpone their own retirement plans. They emphasize that the timing of a child's independence can become a crucial factor in determining whether parents enjoy a financially stable retirement.

If unmarried adult children continue to expect financial support, retirement savings may be depleted much sooner than expected. The 60s are also a period when health problems become more common. More than half of Korea's cancer patients are in their 50s and 60s, while cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are also prevalent among people in this age group. If either spouse develops a serious illness, medical and caregiving costs can quickly mount.

As a result, alongside health concerns, the delayed independence of adult children is increasingly emerging as another major risk to a secure retirement.

This article from Kormedi.com, Korea’s top health care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.