The pattern of how families share their wealth are changing, says new research.
Young adults relying on hand-outs from their parents are still popular, but families tend to club together across the generations more.
Financial help is just as likely to come from an uncle or grandparent and some children even give support to their parents as well.
More than 8.5 million parents and grandparents are part of close-knit families that chip in money for each other, according to the study by customer-owned financial services company OneFamily.
Digging deeper into the data, the foundation discovered 58% of families discuss their personal finances openly and 18% share what they have with other relatives.
Financial pressures
The analysis also revealed 46% of parents and grandparents give cash to their children.
Within the family, 20% had helped their parents financially, while 10% had offered financial support to their brothers or sisters.
More than half of children living with parents (55%) contribute to the cost of running the household, with 10% splitting the costs equally among themselves.
Some families still feel uncomfortable about discussing their finances (10%), but a fifth know how much their relatives earn.
Georgina Smith, managing director of lifetime mortgages at OneFamily said: “In this day and age with changing pressures on families such as children staying at home well into adulthood and older relatives moving back in, we are seeing a shift from personal finance to family finance, with relatives clubbing together to help each other manage their finances.
Honest about money
“We know that parents will do all they can to assist their children financially, but our research shows that there is a rise in cross-generational support as every generation feels the squeeze of day-to-day expenses. As such, it is encouraging to see a growing number of families being honest and frank about money issues.”
Smith also explained the importance of encouraging children to save when they are younger so they have the resources to pay their way and even help the rest of the family when they are older.
The research suggests the bank of mum and dad has closed within families in favour of more financial sharing outside the family home – and families that stay together, spend together when they need a helping hand.
