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).

Why did your FA suggest this? We are considering gifting money to our son but if this would be a better option then I'm all ears. Thanks.

Messaged you

I have spent most of my life on benefits. The state pension is almost double universal credit, it'll be plenty. Well, if it still exists!

Do you always react so badly towards people who are not the same as you?

I'm not reacting badly @TizerorFizz I find parts of the thread amusing. The poster who was going to gift her kids millions that she doesn't have yet. And you claiming you've already gifted more than anyone on the thread. We're all randoms on the net and could be making up the figures. I suspect some are and some aren't.

I actually thought all the answers (apart from the 3 million which seems a bit abstract ) sounded honest and realistic.

I’m mid 50’s and have lots of friends who a few years ago mentioned they had some fairly big plans to give each of their DC X amount. I’ve noticed as our DC are now coming up to the age where they would like to buy or are already at that stage of life the parents are less reluctant to follow through with their plans.
I’m assuming it’s the reality of giving away hard earned cash, COL, also the reality of protecting the deposit if their DC has a partner. Plus the reality of realising any savings they do have need to last the rest of their lives.

Plus the reality of realising any savings they do have need to last the rest of their lives.

This is exactly why I don't like to take money from my parents. I have a good 30 years of earning potential ahead of me, while they will never be able to replace those savings.

I earn more than they ever did and I want them to enjoy what they've worked for all their lives for.

Unfortunately, a lot of people with well off parents are just lazy and expectant

My mum gave me £16k in 2001. It was every penny of her savings and changed my life.

She actually managed to save quite a lot of money in the years that followed.

@BeaQuiet I'm almost certainly older than many here and we are well off. I've seen others posting on other threads who have paid school fees,every £ for DC to go to uni and buy houses as well. It's inevitable we come from differing levels of income. I do, though, have the money, and DDs have it. When I posted it was far more than others are giving. I'm not thinking about acquiring it the money. We invested when DC were born. DH ran a decent sized engineering consultancy and has made money. We were not given it.

Unfortunately, a lot of people with well off parents are just lazy and expectant

Im not sure that’s true. Our gifted money came from gps, only because a then not so nice part of London became ££££. We got a 6 fig sum but compared to some of my friends it was conservative eg they got more like 500k plus. We sold our flat to a parent buying it for their dc

Unfortunately, a lot of people with well off parents are just lazy and expectant

I think that certainly is the fear amongst my well off friends - kids lack work ethic, expect everything to be handed to them and the amount you give your kids is influenced by that fear. Colleagues have kids who refuse to work in a supermarket because they think they are worth more than that whilst they sit around sponging off their parents - who wonder did they cause this, did they give too much, was life a little too comfortable?

That depends on expectations from parents and instilling that work matters. Whole families need to work together when there's money to establish a way forward and for dc to have self worth. I know plenty of DC who are from well off families but work really hard.

I agree. Better to sort your own property ownership before giving it away to children who may end up earning more than you ever did.

Of course/you know plenty of dcs from well off families who work really hard we all do but we all know the ones who don't hard who try to live off the fruits of their parent's labour - none of us want to encourage the lazy dcs to remain that way and big hand outs can be part of the problem.

.

But its true. I didn't ask for it, and didn't expect it. I've never told them what I think, aside from expressing gratitude.
But I (very roughly) am aware of their net worth. Gifting their children the money has had zero affect on their life and retirement. They are having a whale of a time spending money and travelling in their 60s.