Have you gifted your children money towards a house deposit and if so, how much.

[Prettypup]

DS is buying a house. We are gifting them 5k towards furniture etc but I do wish we could give more.

We have two children and will gift DD the same when she’s ready.

We have about 65k saved but DH and I don’t have huge pensions and I suspect we’ll need this to be able to finish work a little early if possible.

Part of me thinks that based on our savings 5k seems a bit mean and we should be giving more. What do you think? I’m nervous of giving too much away at the moment. We’ll be able to help DS with one off little helping hands now and again over the year (a food shop, little gifts for their home etc).

Yes I have about 10 years ago,I gave £10,000.

Some years ago we gave £30k. As a percentage of our savings, it was less than your £5k of your savings. Given your financial circumstances, I'd say that £5k is generous.

We were gifted 100k. But it totally depends on individual circumstances. You are being very generous.

Myself and sibling were both gifted £50,000 each. It was money my parents saved since we were born so 30 years worth of savings.

We gave £25k and lent him a further 15k. Obviously we had to sign that it was all a gift but he is paying the 15k back in installments

We gave our Dd £25k. She lived with us for five years after uni and I saved up the rent she gave us.

You'll get a large range of answers on this as circumstances are so wildly different. I was gifted 80k for a house, but I doubt I'd be able to pass on such a gift to my own children. I think based on your circumstances, you do need to keep a healthy chunk of your savings. 10-15k would be very generous of you.

Rather than gift a lump sum like that, our financial advisor advised us to pay for things for them direct - so we paid for a new bathroom, carpets, and kitchen - but instead of giving the money to our daughter to buy the things, we paid the suppliers direct.

the other suggestion was to pay for a holiday for them (if you can afford it of course) and then they have their own ‘holiday savings’ to spend on other things.

We’ve been saving since they were born so when they’re 18 they will each get about £25k to go into a LISA for house deposits. But as a proportion of our overall savings it’s about the same as your gift.

I never received anything from my parents while they were alive and if anything it made me more motivated to pursue a high paying career. We haven’t told dc that this money is there for them - and might not until they’re 30!

My parents gifted £5k to each of us. X

Back in 1990 my parents gave us 1500 ….it’s was a godsend…our house cost 37k

My mum gave me £35k in 2005. It was not expected or asked for and I've been grateful every day. I think giving anything is wonderful OP.

This is so variable OP. I think you’ve been very generous. You need to think about your future when you’re not working.

You are being generous, it's a good percentage of your savings.

As has been said, how much you give (if anything) depends on your circumstances. 15 years ago I gifted my house to my daughter. It made sense, in our particular circumstances. We lived together, my Daughter her partner and me.

following a period of serious ill health, that was becoming clear i I'd never recover from, I suggested they took over responsibility (though not necessarily all financial responsibility) for the upkeep of the house and gardens.

I'm fairly comfortable financially luckily, so any cost for houses and garden upkeep are discussed and agreed. The rule being that no-one should ever feel they were being taken advantage of.

if 5k feels comfortable to you then that's fine. If your financial situation changes, make sure your children know that too. That's if you are a family, like mine, who are very open about money and finances.

My parents gave me £10,000 in 1988. Worth about £34,000 today apparently. This was after I had the keys to my first house. It needed total restoration and they could tell I couldn't really afford to do it. I was utterly gobsmacked.

My parents gifted me £5K when I bought my first property 6 years ago. They have a lot more than 65K saved! But that's not the point - it was their money, they didn't owe me anything, and I was grateful that I got that much.

Bit different in today's world, with house prices being what they are. There's no right answer, so decide what's fair for yourself. Your son is an adult and needs to be self-sufficient.

My brother and l were never gifted anything, nor were any of our peers at that time.
We probably won't be gifting our Dcs deposit money as we need to focus on retirement and have invested in private education for them in the hope they are well equipped to fund themselves.

@Prettypup aside from gifting any money, I would suggest you dont retire early! 65k will be gone in no time, before you are entitled to old age pension. that is unless you have massive private pensions and 65k is an extra!

Thanks! We have private pensions but the pots are not huge, 175 - 200k each maybe. DH is 8 years older than me and at nearly 60 is getting tired, would be nice if he could go PT for a couple of years.

Im just aware that we will probably need cash for our own old age, DS and his partner have good jobs but any help would be nice for them.

DH and I earn decent salaries and are mortgage free so will be able to treat the ‘children’ as we go along anyway.

We've just given £16k to my dd1 and her partner for their first flat. Also underwriting the mortgage as guarantors. They get the keys next week, having lived with us for 6 months to save up too.

We will be able to give similar to ds and dd2 when the time comes.

£32k was spent on DD's private education (2 years 0f 6th form) followed by 6 years of support at University.

DS has had about £29k off us so far for his house, and will need more.

You sound lovely, generous and caring parents.I think you are right to be mindful of your own likely costs as you go into retirement , I think 5k is a really kind & appropriate gift.

DS will get 14 years of private schooling from us which costs 250k at todays prices or more likely 300k if Labour follow through with their awful VAT policy.

We are older parents so our DS will likely inherit a huge sum from us well before he even reaches the age we were when he was born.

He’ll receive way more than we’ve ever received and will likely be financially secure for life courtesy of his circumstances within the wider family tree as an only child and likely recipient of several inheritances.

I plan to gift my DS in the future to help with buying his first home, however I didn't get this and absolutely didn't expect it either. Myself and DH saved our £12k (10% deposit) up ourselves in our early 20's. And we're very proud of it too 😁
£5k is generous OP. And you could help out with the decorating which both DM and DPIL helped us with and it was very very much appreciated