When do you become an adult?

According to a study by one of my professors at the UofC last year, polling young adults in the Chicago area, the average age interviewees thought adulthood began was 26. I bet if you asked this question to a hundred different people, you will get a hundred unique answers. For me, I didn't feel like one when I had my first legal drink at 18, left Singapore and my family for the US at 19, had my first legal drink in the US at 21, or even when I received my undergraduate degree 6 months ago. I was happily chucking the notion of adulthood aside even while collecting my first paycheck from the firm yesterday. Yet, it was while I agonized over my various medical and insurance plans today that I felt truely burdened with the minute but absolutely necessary details that brand a person as completely and utterly responsible for one self. As I read through the chunky pack of medicare information, tried to understand what each program was about and to select a plan best suited for me-should i pick an HMO or PPO? What about a dental plan? any additional transportation, education or healthcare spending accounts that I should set up?- it hit me, I have become a grown woman, and am now responsible for my life and whatever circumstances that may befall me if I made any stupid mistakes. I can no longer depend on my parents to remind me to pay my bills, or to fuss over me when i'm sick. So in order to feel safer and more well protected in case I did something stupid like break my leg again, I selected the most comprehensive (and hence most expensive) insurance plan I could get my hands on, so that I was one hundred percent covered when things go wrong. Hopefully nothing will happen, but the realization that a lifeline from my family might not be prompt enough now that I'm like 6 time zones away from them makes me want to be well covered. note to self: start budgeting cashflows and researching on best 401k plans...