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

[Kevsap]

My friend has been gifted 100k in the last two years. Eight years prior to that she was given 15k. Every few months/ a year she has around 1k gifted. I consider her to be from a wealthy family and I don’t know anyone else who has this sort of money given to them? Are people just not saying it? I will literally never receive sums like this unless I won the lottery!! My friend seems to think this is pretty average.

I receive £3K-£4K yearly from family, as a lump. Don't tell anyone outside of family though

Thanks! And I mean it. It is great that people are coming clean.

My mum gave me 10k when my nan died. We borrowed some money to buy a car once but paid it back, interest free though.

My husband was given a deposit by his nan in the 90s of £1500 when he bought a 1 bed flat. It seems amazing he only needed such a small deposit now! I think the flat only cost 32k. Which he could afford as a single person who earnt about £6 an hour I think at the time. I moved in and just bought the food shopping!

Not common for me. My family aren't wealthy, I've never been given any money.

I don't think it's "the norm" but having said that, a lot of people bought properties in the 80s/90's and rented it back to the council, invested money in stocks ect....... and now are able to gift their children and grandchildren, which is exactly what happened witha close friend of mine, who has had several cash gifts and a mortgage free house given to them and their siblings each. It's to avoid inheritance tax, as long as the parents don't die within 7 years.

It is not the norm, but it is the norm with people who have done very well "for themselves".

I guess on depends on the circles you mix in. A few of my friends have been gifted house deposits etc. But some haven't. I haven't and hence still rent in my 50s as i find it impossible to pay rent and pay bills and save for a deposit :(

Are the gifters trying to avoid paying care home fees? Deprivation of assets is illegal.

No it’s not normal I would imagine, but yes I have received similar or perhaps higher amounts. I was gifted £50k about 15 years ago, and then £200k about 5 years ago, both for house purchases. Each month I receive an allowance too in the order of £500, so £6k a year (ish) plus a gift of £5k a year. My husband receives occasional gifts of £2-5k but much more infrequently, maybe once every 3-5 years. For transparency our gifts all come from parents - mine are very wealthy, his parent is very average in terms of finances. I know plenty of people who have been gifted small to middling amounts of money fairly regularly, so I don’t think it’s usual for most people but it does happen a lot in certain circles. I know how lucky I am.

I don’t personally know of anyone who gets regularly gifted large sums of money - unless it really isn’t talked about!!

It's about avoiding inheritance tax.

that may be part of it but presumably it may also be the case that the giver has more in savings than they could ever need before they die. And with the cost of living as it is maybe grandchildren or children haven’t yet got on the property ladder and could just really use the money NOW. So why NOT give it now? It would give me so much pleasure if I could do that for my children or future grandchildren if I was so much more well-off than them.

I've never received a penny. But I have friends who do receive lump sums from their parents regularly.

It becomes the norm if you hang around similar giftedness.
I had a job once around wealthy people and was surprised at how much money was flying around. Not just with parents to kids, but aunts and friends too.
10k gift here, 350k gift there, borrowing a villa or yatch as if they were talking about household stuff.

So although it's not normal amongst my circle, it's pretty much the norm in some.

Each person is allowed to give away £3000 without any inheritance tax being charged. It therefore makes sense to give money away each year if you are elderly and have the funds.

I’ve been given around £200,000 over the last 20 years, maybe more. Quite a few of my friends have been given similar amounts.
I think we are incredibly lucky.
It’s also something that I wouldn’t tell friends unless I have known them for a very long time & am sure that they are similarly fortunate.

I’m from a reasonably well off family. My parents both retired recently and thanks to some good timing in the stock market they’re better off now than they were when they were working and I’m reasonably certain that they are literal millionaires albeit that’s mainly because they cashed out my dad’s pension pot rather than taking an annuity. They paid their three children through university so none of us had student loans (we’re in Scotland so no fees to pay, but probably about £20k each in living expenses, maybe more for my brother and sister as they’re quite a bit younger than me so inflation would have pushed it up).They have given us all reasonable chunks of money at various times over the years (£1000 when I moved into an unfurnished house having rented furnished previously, £5k towards my wedding, similar to my sisters wedding, and I’m sure a few other things to my brother and sister that I don’t know about).

When my grandad died my dad split his inheritance between me and my brother and sister, giving us £25k each, not keeping any of it for himself. This is NOT inheritance money to us, we weren’t left anything in the will (not that we’d expect to), this was my dad’s money which he chose to gift to us.

I would consider that they’d been very generous to us, and definitely wouldn’t think it’s the norm.

I remember my grandad used to give my mother generous monetary gifts of a few thousand pounds each periodically and being told it was for inheritance tax management reasons. He wasn’t as wealthy as your friend’s family but had been super careful with his money over his lifetime enough to provide for his six kids. From my childhood memories, they rarely bought new things and when they did, it was the sturdy type of build that would last for years and years.

I can imagine in this day and age with the decline in social mobility through working hard alone, it’s difficult to watch inherited wealth being passed down in action. Your friend should be more discreet and sensitive.

I read on another thread lots of people save up their child allowance and present it to their children at 18, that’s lovely if you can do it. My parents saved a minimal weekly amount into a bond for me (plus siblings) since birth so it became a nice amount upon maturity 21 years later. DH and I now help our parents so might gift white goods, flights, hotel stays etc.

I know a few Indian families who gifted a house as the wedding present.
You only need to look at mortgage survey figures to see many people receive some help purchasing property.
People also often gift time, diy, gardening, childcare etc etc and if you can, why not?
Guess what I am saying is you never know who is being gifted, what and who is gifting. I believe there is a lot more of it happening than is openly apparent. Look at all the parents having older children living at home as they attempt to progress and save. That’s a massive gift in itself which it seems is often under appreciated.
There is nothing wrong with working your butt off to earn (taxed) money and then sharing it through the generations.
It is wrong not to be sensitive to others though, that’s probably why much help and gifting is quietly and graciously carried out.