Is the economy THAT bad? Or some yuppies that bad?

If you’re 52 and moving back in with your parents? That’s what 52-year-old Ann Bauer did. Maybe in part:

Kim Foss Erickson, a financial planner in Roseville, Calif., north of Sacramento, said she has never seen older children, even those in their 50s, depending so much on their parents as in the last six months.

“This is not like, ‘OK, my son just graduated from college and needs to move back in’ type of thing,” she said. “These are 40- and 50-year-old children of my clients that they’re helping out.”

But, maybe instead, it’s yuppies who have shot themselves in the financial foot and are looking for one more bailout from soft-touch parents:

Parents "”jeopardize their financial freedom by continuing to subsidize their children,” said Karin Maloney Stifler, a financial planner in Hudson, Ohio, and a board member of the Financial Planning Association. “We have a hard time saying no as a culture to our children, and they keep asking for more.”

And, here’s a few of those soft-touch parents:

Bauer’s parents won't take rent money or let her help much with groceries. She’s trying to save several hundred dollars a month for a house while working as a meetings coordinator.

Bauer would prefer to live on her own, but without her parents’ help would “probably be renting again and trying to stick minimal money in the bank,” she said.

Renting instead of owning? Boo-hoo. I doubt you ever do save enough money to buy a house.

Here’s another softie:

Shirley Smith, 80, said she and her husband didn’t hesitate when they invited Bauer to return to their home in Eden, Wis. Buying groceries for another person isn’t stretching her budget too much, she said.

“I’ve got three kids and any of them can come home if they want,” she said.

Personal angle: I moved back home in my late 20s, and lived there for about three years into my early 30s. Making less than $7 an hour, in the mid-1990s, I not only bought groceries, I saved money.

If you’re desperate enough that you have to move back in with your parents later in life, I accept that. But parents who are STUPID enough to not charge rent, room and board, or whatever, even if just nominal amounts, deserve whatever trouble they get.