Nearly two-thirds of the grandparents in the U.S. have given money to their grandchildren in the last five years. The average amount provided was $8,661, for a grand total of about $370.7 billion.
The financial support was discovered in a MetLife Mature Market Institute survey announced on July 14. Forty percent of the grandparents’ gifts covered general purposes and 26 percent went toward education. One out of four of the elders said they’d increased their giving to grandchildren because of the economic downturn.
“Grandparents prefer to help their children and grandchildren while they are alive, rather than leaving a lump sum in a will. . .” according to the institute’s 2009 Grandparents Poll.
Which brings to mind the axiom: The reason grandparents get along so well with grandchildren is they have a common enemy.
Another MetLife finding revealed that the grandparents with less income and net worth are giving a higher percentage than they did before the economy tanked. “And some of them are feeling the pinch, with more than one in five reporting that their generosity has had a negative impact on their own financial picture,” the survey report said.
The grandparents “clearly want to make sure their grandchildren are financially secure, [but] only a small percentage of those polled said they have talked to their grandchildren about the importance of hard work, saving for a rainy day, and intelligent use of credit,” said Sandra Timmermann, institute director. Most of the ones who do offer advice suggest saving and investing early, and staying out of debt.
It’s possible that the reticent ones remember Harry Truman’s philosophy. “I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it,” he said.
Comments