They have looked after you your whole life, given you all the love, care and compassion in the world and now it’s your turn to help them financially. Does this sound familiar? If so, you are not alone as many parents are currently struggling to make ends meet and are in need of a finance boost from their children.
According to a report by Scottish Widows around 10% of individuals in Britain are supporting their parents financially. The report suggests that of those who are helping their parents or grandparents, on average, they are handing over around £8,000.
This figure is a considerable increase from the £6,500 that people said they lent their parents a number of years ago. One explanation is that parents are asking their children to repay debts that they had previously lent them in years gone by. The top reasons cited for the need for the cash was to pay off loans (37%) while 33% needed the money to pay off day-to-day expenses. It was also found that many adult children have to dip into their savings or investments in order to stump up the cash.
What perhaps is worrying is that the report found that in many cases this is not a one off. It reports that over a third of those who have already given money to their parents intended to do so again in the future. This indicates that, to some extent, it looks likely that many children are supplementing their parents for a sustained period of time and adds to the evidence that adults in later life are struggling to make ends meet.