According to new research from insurers Royal London, over £400 billion in wealth is due to be passed down from grandparents to younger generations over the next few decades.
Data was collected from over 5,000 people from three different generations. It was found that the ‘grandparents’ generation of 65-85 year-old homeowners, are the group ‘most focused on passing money on to the next generation’, rather than spending it themselves. Although the ‘sandwich’ generation of 45-64 year-old baby-boomers will be the most likely recipients of the ‘grandparents’ wealth, research showed a greater pressure to pass their inheritance ‘straight on’ to their children.
The ‘children’ generation of 25-44 year-old millennials were not found to be ‘living their lives in expectation of an inheritance’ but over 50% have already received help with a deposit on a house or major event such as a wedding, in the form of a lump sum from their parents.
The data, which was collected by YouGov, also revealed that out of the 17 million people in the ‘childrens’ generation, only four million are estimated to be in the ‘fortunate position’ of inheriting from home-owning grandparents.
Royal London’s Director of Policy, Steve Webb said that many in the ‘sandwich’ generation “feel under considerable pressure to pass any inheritance straight on to their own children as they are acutely aware of the challenges faced by their millennial offspring.
Those millennials lucky enough to have home-owning parents and grandparents may be set to benefit from significant inheritance which will help them onto the housing ladder. But the majority of millennials are not in that position.”
The research has shown that the typical estate left by home-owning grandparents was between £400,000 and £500,000. According to these figures, should this amount be left in the wills of just over one million people, ‘a wealth mountain of over £400bn’ is set to be passed on.
If you are interested in creating a new Will or revising an existing Will, then please do not hesitate to contact our Wills and Probate department on 01616 966 229.
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