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The poll suggests you’re not an adult until you do
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The poll suggests you’re not an adult until you do

The concept of adult has evolved over the years. Each generation seems to have its own definition of what makes someone a true adult, or what decisions an adult would make.

A recent survey looked at these and other factors and came to an interesting conclusion about exactly what it takes to be an adult. Apparently, the light bulb moment is literally if you can pay to keep your electricity going every month.

According to a survey, paying your own bills seems to be the most important element of adulthood.

Life Happens is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching people about the importance of life insurance. They partnered with Talker Research to take a survey entitled “Adult through the Generations”. The survey included 500 members of each of the four main generations of adults: Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers.

Some of the survey’s most interesting findings included the fact that 11 percent of Gen Zers surveyed didn’t really feel like they were adults. This may make sense because they found that adulthood feels “real” at age 27.

Perhaps most notable were the survey’s findings about what makes someone truly adult, whether they’ve turned 27 or not.

“Today, most consider the definition of ‘adult’ to be simple paying their own bills (56%),” Life Happens said in a press release detailing the survey results. “Others say being financially independent (45%) and putting responsibilities before their personal life or having fun (38%) are key indicators of entering adulthood.”

RELATED: Boomer Finds Family’s 2K Mortgage ‘Outrageous’ As House Hunts, Says He’d Prefer $600 – ‘How Much Do You Think Bread Costs?’

If adulthood means paying your own bills, maybe it’s simpler than you think.

Based on the results of the Life Happens and Talker Research survey, it would seem that adulthood is something difficult to maintain and reserved only for the truly mature. However, if paying your own bills is really all it takes, it can be easier to achieve than most think.

A separate survey by Bankrate found that different generations have different views on when young people should start paying their own bills.

Young woman paying bills with her hand on her head Comstock Images | Canva Pro

Bankrate said, “On average, baby boomers believe adults should start paying for various bills independently about one to three years earlier than Gen Zers do.”

For example, Gen Z believes people should pay off their own cars when they are 22, while Baby Boomers believe the age should be 20.

RELATED: The Trendy Financial Decision One-Third Of Gen Z Makes It’s Actually Incredibly Risky

You might not feel like an adult in your 20s, but that doesn’t mean you’re not one.

Summarizing their overall results, Bankrate said: “On average, American adults believe people should start paying their own bills starting in their 20s for car payments, car insurance, cell phone bills, subscription services and credit card bills – youngest average. ages for paying bills.

They also believe people should be paying both their own health insurance and student loans starting at the average age of 23 — the oldest average age for bill payments.”

Based on these statistics, people actually reaches true maturity earlier than the 27th.

If they follow this agreed-upon pattern of paying their own bills, they can consider themselves adults much earlier.

The truth is, regardless of age, no one feels like a “real” adult.

Although the survey by Life Happens and Talker Research found that paying bills was generally considered a sign of adulthood, that doesn’t mean it acts as a flip switch to make you feel like an adult.

According to Psychology Todaythere are several reasons for this. One is so many milestones like marriage and parenthood usually come later now than they used to.

They also said that they may have always held the belief that adults have it all figured out and they definitely don’t.

Whatever your personal feelings, you can take comfort in knowing that once you start paying your bills, you’ve truly reached one of the biggest milestones of adulthood.

It doesn’t have to feel this way and it probably never will, but everyone is in the same boat. And that’s okay.

RELATED: Gen Z worker quits job with 2 hours notice because he ‘doesn’t want to work’ – ‘I like to relax and be on the phone’

Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango covering entertainment, news and human interest topics.