The Bank of Gran and Grandad has lent more than £37 billion to their grandchildren, according to a study.
Insurance company Saga polled 5,529 grandparents and found that the average donation was £9,365.
Grandchildren in London and the South East received the largest deposits, while grandparents in Yorkshire were the most likely to donate.
More than half the grandparents would prefer seeing their relatives spend the money rather than leaving it as inheritance.
40% said they were happy for the money to be spent on whatever the recipients liked, with other grandparents earmarking cash to go towards:
- education (23%)
- holidays (13%)
- driving lessons (12%)
- house deposits (9%).
Alex Edmans, head of product at Saga Money, said:
“Most of the money grandparents are gifting is coming from their cash savings, so whatever small amount of interest they are missing out on is clearly outweighed by the joy they get by seeing their grandchildren benefitting from the money.
“Our customers are increasingly turning to gifting money through equity release in order to help grandchildren onto the property ladder. On average they take £33,000 out of their property in order to give to family.”
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