Ikr? I left home at 18, but my parents helped pay for school (about half), though I still had to work my way through. When I got married, I paid for all of my expenses. When we started growing our family (one kid, second planned), my parents helped me buy a house because mortgage rates were so low and waiting to save would have meant we'd miss out on those rates. We paid them back quickly.

I totally could've done it all myself, but we would've pissed so much more money away on rent and higher interest rates.

I'm now self reliant and am totally willing to help out any siblings, nephews, etc if needed. I was always taught to pay it forward, and that's what I plan to do.