What are the benefits to being an only child as an adult?

All your inheritance from your parents comes to you.

@Stache Unless they give it to charity.

Unless they give it to anyone other than you….doesn’t have to be charity. They could give it to me or Red Deer.

It puts the burden of caring for your parents on you but the good thing is that you can do things just the way you want to. When there are several siblings everything can be a fight. Also, without a sibling and nieces/nephews there are fewer birthdays to remember and less directions in which to be pulled during Christmastide and other holidays.

Being doted on as being the first child who will get lots of attention and gifts from family.
Getting new clothes instead of hand me downs.
Getting new toys .
Having a bedroom all to your own.
Becoming a mommy’s boy or a daddies girl.
Getting the best of everything in order that the parents expectations on their first protege makes them proud.
Lots of pressure to succeed in life.

Making the decisions on your own about your parents. It’s also a drawback. It’s nice to have a sibling to bounce ideas off of.

You only attend the family gathering you want to attend. There’s no peer pressure from siblings.
You will never have to attend a nephew’s graduation or sit through your neice’s dance recital.

Well I get all of my mother’s attention and love and “I need help” calls, so we’re pretty close.

Like @chyna said, I am her POA and get to make decisions on my own, or I can ask my aunts and uncles if needed.

To me there aren’t a lot of benefits that aren’t emotional, of course I don’t consider her money as any of my business unless she needs some or has passed.

Frankly it’s a lot of pressure to succeed, to make money, to ‘take care’ of her, to keep an eye on her health status, her living status, her financial status, her car, her job, etc…. I put a lot of that on myself since she is not married.