Over the past year 24% of parents have contributed financially to help their own parents.
Research from Standard Life has show that despite the widespread belief that older generations tend to hold the largest proportion of wealth and are supporting their children, that is not the case for all of them and some receive a financial top-up from younger members of the family.
The parents who helped their own parents out financially in the past year gave them an average of £2,251 per parent. Financial top-ups have most commonly been used to help parents with ad-hoc expenses such as shopping (16%), holidays (10%) and utility bills (9%).
Some grandparents now find themselves helping their own parents too. In the past 12 months, 17% of grandparents provided the “great grandparent” generation with an average top up of £1,819.
Earlier this month, Standard Life published the Family Financial Tree report, which revealed how money moves around the family and the conversations that are and aren’t taking place. Despite the fact that some people are actively supporting the older generations in their family, the report found that the majority of grandparents (62%) say they wouldn’t turn to any family member if they needed financial help. Only 34% of grandparents say they openly discuss finances with their family, whilst 25% only discuss money when it becomes necessary.
Of those grandparents who do talk about money with their family the top six topics for discussions are about wills (32%), current monthly expenditure (19%), current budgeting (19%), current savings (18%), potential inheritance (18%) and insurance (18%).
Julie Hutchison, Standard Life family financial spokesperson, said: “Standard Life’s Family Financial Tree has given us an incredible insight into how money is passed around families and our attitudes towards discussing finances with each other. The fact that some people, even if they are grandparents themselves, are providing financial support to their parents these days shows the two-way traffic in terms of how money is moving around.
“It’s not all about the trickle-down effect and inheritance planning. Many older members of the family clearly find it difficult to ask their family for help, even if they are finding their income has fallen below the cost of day to day living. That’s why it’s important to try to talk about money as a family, to share worries and to tap into any help that is available.”