Jun 13, 2023
Entrepreneur and personal finance influencer Grace Lemire is living rent-free in two places these days. First, she’s got a comfortable set up with her parents. And then there’s in the heads of thousands of online commenters.
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Lemire, 24, kick-started a fierce online debate recently after posting a TikTok admitting she’s on track to bring home well over $150,000 this year, having earned $20,000 in April alone.
That’s a good salary, but not controversial. What caused a commotion in the comments was when Lemire revealed despite her high-earning status, she still lives at home with her parents rent-free.
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Some commenters even went so far as to accuse her of being a “freeloader.” But here’s why she argues it’s crucial to not just give her a leg up financially, but to ensure she doesn’t fall behind.
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It all comes down to money
The first reason? She’s able to live rent-free, which is a huge financial advantage — especially during a nationwide housing crisis. And since rent prices are only expected to increase (they’re already up 3% this year and are projected to rise another 3% to 4% in 2024 and 2025), this is a compelling factor keeping Lemire at home.
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Her second reason is that much of her income stems from entrepreneurial ventures, which are unpredictable.
“I could go and get an apartment for $4,000 a month and then things could totally change two months into it,” she says.
The final reason Lemire still lives with her parents? Student loans. “I wanted to make sure I paid off all my student loans before I moved out of my parents’ place, and I’m getting real close to that,” she says in the video. Lemire goes on to say that she has considered moving out in the near future once her income is more stable and debts have been paid off.
What do her parents think?
Lemire seems to have had multiple conversations with her parents about paying rent. In another video uploaded to her channel, she asks her dad if he wanted her to start paying rent now that he knew how much money she was making. “No, I don’t see any reason to,” he says off-camera.
This perspective is common across the country. A recent survey by LendingTree found that 73% of Americans who said they’d let their child live with them also said they wouldn’t charge them rent. With that, it’s clear most parents across the country are happy to give their child an economic advantage by letting them live rent-free at home.
She’s not alone in this strategy
Not all comments on Lemire’s videos were negative, though. Some TikTok users applauded her entrepreneurial and financially savvy spirit.
And she’s clearly doing something right. Provided she brings home $173,000 by the end of the year — as she says she expects to — Lemire’s income from writing content for financial tech start-ups, and giving advice to her 73,000 TikTok followers, will put her in the top 10% of American earners.
And many TikTok commenters revealed they too live at home with their parents to cut down on costs. A recent analysis by the Pew Research Center supports this, stating that roughly 50% of Americans aged 18 to 29 were living with at least one of their parents. A small wonder considering the mean student loan debt carried by Americans in 2023 is around $32,000, according to Federal Reserve data.
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Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
