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Grandparents bear burden of family debt

Grandparents bear burden of family debt
More than one in three over-65s have paid off debts of more than £2,000 for children or teenage grandchildren, research from MetLife shows. Its nationwide study shows 35% of over-65s have helped out their adult children or teenage grandchildren highlighting the continuing pressures on retirement income.

The research found 17% of the over-45s have helped out their teenage children but the proportion doubles when it comes to the over-65s who are handling requests for help from their adult children as well as from teenage grandchildren.

Among the 55 to 64-year-old age group the proportion who have bailed out children or teenage grandchildren for £2,000 or more was 26%, the study shows.

Dominic Grinstead, Managing Director, UK, MetLife said: “Helping out family is clearly important to many parents and grandparents and it appears that the requests for help don’t necessarily stop when you are retired. The worry is that grandparents are having to make sacrifices to help out and risking their own financial security to enable children and grandchildren to clear debts.”

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