Parent spending eats into children’s future

Friends Provident’s new report on lifestyles found that many parents are spending their children’s inheritance to the tune of £240 billion each year.

Jeremy Ward, head of pensions marketing at Friends Provident, called for a balance on saving and spending: “This is a real balancing act for parents who want to enjoy the money they’ve worked hard for and saved, but who are also aware that an inheritance would ease their children’s financial pressures.”

His comments come as the government prepares to shake up pensions and financial experts call for better financial education for people to help them balance their spending.

According to the Friends Provident report though, this message is not getting through and many are “burying their heads in the sand” when it comes to debt.

Instead, he called for parents to turn to “life and retirement” coaches to help them better plan for the future and urged them to be more sensible with their spending and debt.