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 what it takes to be an adult. Apparently the deciding moment is literally whether you can pay to keep your electricity on every month.

Paying your own bills appears to be the most important part of adulthood, according to a survey.

Life happens is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching people the importance of life insurance. They partnered with Talker Research to conduct an investigation entitled “Adulthood through the generations”. The survey included 500 members of each of the four main adult generations: Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers.

Among the most interesting findings from the survey was that 11% of Gen Zers surveyed didn’t really feel like adults. This may make sense, as they also found that adulthood feels “real” at 27.

Perhaps most notable are the survey results regarding what actually makes someone an adult, whether they have reached the age of 27 or not.

“Today, a majority thinks that the definition of “adult” is simply pay your own bills (56%),” Life Happens said in a press release detailing the survey results. “Others say that being financially independent (45%) and taking responsibility for their personal life or having fun (38%) are key markers for entering adulthood. »

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If becoming an adult means paying your own bills, maybe it’s easier than you make it out to be.

Based on the survey results from Life Happens and Talker Research, it seems that adulthood is something difficult to maintain and reserved only for the truly mature. However, if paying your own bills is truly enough, this may be easier to achieve than most think.

A separate Bankrate investigation found that different generations have different opinions on when young people should start paying their own bills.

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

For example, Gen Z thinks people should pay off their own car at 22, while Baby Boomers think the age should be 20.

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

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

They also think people should pay for both their own health insurance and their student loans starting at age 23 on average — the highest average age for paying bills.

Based on these statistics, people reach true adulthood before 27.

If they follow this agreed-upon model for paying their own bills, they can consider themselves adults much sooner.

The truth is, no matter how old you are, no one feels like a “real” adult.

Although the Life Happens and Talker Research survey showed that paying your bills was generally considered a sign that you’ve reached adulthood, that doesn’t mean it acts like a switch to make you feel like an adult.

According to Psychology Todaythere are several reasons for this. The first is that many milestones like marriage and parenthood usually come later now than before.

They also said that it’s possible that you always thought adults had it all figured out, and that’s definitely not the case.

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 be the case, and it probably never will be, but everyone is in the same boat. And that’s OK.

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