To think this isn’t that common? Or do people keep it to themselves?

People don't talk about it as it can cause resentment as does so many other things in life.
It's mostly houses or savings that I've heard about and this is passed down to the children ( not in my case, but that's the breaks ! ) some people like to tell you , but mostly I feel it's kept quiet or played down a lot.
My siblings are 'boomers ' and they have some wealthy friends , but it's all come from property
or pensions. A few people have built up businesses or bought property in the 80s that has increased enormously.
It's a mixed bag from ones I know about anyway.
( or married rich men !)

we are a working couple and we racked up debts i wont lie and we were at breaking point when DH was contacted by a pensions firm about an old pension.

we were dubious at the time and expected it to be a scam, he did pay about £3k into a pension when he was a lot younger but forgot about it when he moved jobs.

they confirmed the £3k payments and asked what he wanted to do with this pension, so we said we would cash it out, £3k would come in very handy for us at that time.

it turned out to be a pension pot of about 1/4 million pounds! we ended up with a 50k cash payout and he receives a very nice montly pension!

we had no idea! sometimes these things just happen

37% of first time buyers in 2024 had help from family with their house deposit.

amp.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/16/over-a-third-of-first-time-buyers-relying-on-bank-of-mum-and-dad

No numbers given as to financial value if help.

It is common for family to do this but equally many families cannot.

People just don’t talk about it. I def don’t.

Large amounts might be uncommon, but the concept is normal. Elderly relatives giving gifts while they are alive, rather than waiting to give an inheritance. And of course, people trying to get rid of their assets to avoid inheritance tax .

This is interesting do you have a link?

i got £1000 from my Grandad when we bought our first house in 2007. My partner got £20k from his dad when he downsized which went into his part of the deposit.

We then gifted 20k on to partners sister when she bought her house last year.

Of course it isn't average...

I have a friend who continuously receives financial gifts from her MiL, enough for her not to have to work and to buy a 500k house with virtually no mortgage. However, she keeps it quiet because she knows it's a very privileged and unusual situation, and she's very grounded & extremely grateful to be in the position she is.

My lovely PiL gift us 3k every April (& have done for the past 10 years) and we're extremely thankful to them for that. I've never told anyone as I know how fortunate we are compared to many, and wouldnevereish to make someone else feel uncomfortable.

I was never gifted anything.. poor family background.
But I've gifted both my daughters half a million each to buy themselves an house.
Put 250 grand in each of my four Grandsons bank accounts.
They also know there is money there whenever they need it.
Eldest works F/T.. youngest HE her son.
I don't need loads to live on..
Yes l holiday abroad a lot.. that's mostly what l spend my money on.. plus anything l need for my disabilities to make my life easier.

Your friend probably moves in affluent circles so has skewed view.

My DB and SIL were given enough money to buy their (large)house when they go married by SIL's parents. SIL also thinks this is not unusual and is surprised when others don't have as much disposable income as they do.

On a smaller level, I've been very surprised to find out how many people are regularly given smaller sums e.g. I know 2 or 3 people whose parents pay for them to have a week's holiday abroad each year.

I think people generally don't advertise the fact.

I don't know anyone who is gifted large sums by their parents. I know a few who have received some money as an inheritance but I would have no idea if that was £10k or £100k.

Yes I have a friend in Ireland that has financial gifts from family members. I am not sure how often. There is a name for it (sounds like orgasheen but of course that's not how it must be spelt). Generally it is gifted to enable her to buy a lovely piece of jewellery for herself or something special rather than paying the bills with. Mainly they come from a very wealthy brother or when they were alive her parents.

I know someone who recently received 200k plus from relatives via a house sale and savings.
There is a lot of money sloshing about and it's not always the very rich where people are able to move on and gift money , mostly it's from property ( or land )
I do live in the south east though

But you understand that statistically your group is not average?

It's important, IMO, to understand the general landscape.

A child who gets A* A-levels will join a pool of similar students at uni - doesn't make it average on a national level.

What you're saying is your circle is wealthy.

I got a £50 Ticketmaster voucher from DM for my birthday once. That’s as extravagant as I’ll ever get from my parents. When my Dad died, I inherited nothing and I had to pay for his funeral.

I inherited £700 when my grandparents passed away, and was given £2000 by my mum when my sibling decided to get married in Australia. (They live there, it wasn't a destination wedding). Without that money I couldn't have gone to the wedding with DH and DD. But aside from the odd tenner for a birthday, that's all I've ever received from my family and I think it's similar for most of my friends.

I did also have uni paid for (pre student loan days) and a house deposit. But the deposit was in the era of cheap house prices so it wasn’t enormous (about £12k I think 25 years ago).

My parents inherited well and are passing it on. I am trying to ringfence £50k for DD to give her a leg up too. She may well be the only grandchild on both sides of our family at this rate so is likely to benefit from that financially as there’s a lot to pass on.

We are most definitely not rich, but in the “done ok” region.

My parents used to gift my brother and me some money on a yearly basis (early inheritance basically)- much smaller sums than your friend is getting, but yes, money I wouldn’t otherwise have had. I realised it wasn’t particularly common and that most of my friends probably weren’t receiving the same help so it’s certainly not something I told other people about.

I don't think it's common, but it probably does happen more than you realise.

My parents spend ridiculous amount of time worring about inheritance tax (I wish they'd just spend it!) and gave DSis and I £25k each for our birthdays last year. Neither of us would dream of telling anyone though.

And it may be 'early inheritance' but I know some people who carefully passed on profit from the sale of grandma's house and then lied so that the grandma's care home fees were paid by the local authority. That costs everybody, it's corruption.

It's not the normality for most people. I don't know anyone who could afford to give away such large sums. Your friend is very fortunate.

I’ve never been given money personally. I have inherited twice though.

Most of my friends have had some family support with a house deposit or some big purchase, but not general money “just because”.

We gave our DC a good chunk of money towards their first cars and insurance, and will help them with a deposit in a few years time, but we wouldn’t give them money for the sake of it. They know they have to work and contribute and not expect a free ride. They also have no idea that we are intending to help them out with houses in the future so they’re all good at saving for themselves.

@3WildOnes you must move in different circles to many people.

A recent survey showed that 46% of people had less than £1000 in savings and that the average saving pot was about £11k

Over perhaps 20 years I've had a small inheritance (about £2k), £5k assistance in a house deposit, and a £10k gift from my parents for the whole family 'to enjoy before we die, while we can hear about it'. So, more than most, but nowhere near £100k.

My siblings and I were gifted £10k each once. My Mum inherited a lot of money, and wanted to share a bit of it. It's the only time I've had more than £20 or £50 off them, since I was an adult - so definitely not the norm!
I'm very fortunate that they loaned me £5k to top up savings for a new car, a couple of years ago. I paid it all back, though.

I know of one friend who has been given the total of £250k over a few years! Her parents are wealthy, and she hasn't worked for about 12 years; gave up when she had her kids. I would be blown away with even 10% of that!