Friday, September 05, 2008

The best bank in the world – “bank mum and dad”

Today the BBC has article about the way that parents fund different aspects of their kid’s life.

The costs of bringing up a child do not end when they enter adulthood - parents end up spending an average of £21,540 on adult children. The YouGov poll of 1,184 people with children aged 18 and older found 94% helped them pay for education, housing and cars. And 55% admitted to helping their grown-up children with general living costs.

Take a moment to digest this result: “Nearly half of the over-70s were still helping their children.”

Things are no different in the US.

Think about these couple of research conclusions.
BIGresearch's study among 7,000 adults showed that boomer grandparents planned on spending more on back-to-school items than did parents of school-age kids.”

Grandparents, especially baby boomers, spend on average $330 annually on their grandchildren’s clothes which is not far behind the $570 spent by parents with kids under 17 living at home.
The message is clear. The 50-plus buy things for their kids and grandchildren. Now us canny marketing types should register that and ensure that we reflect this fact in the way we promote our products. Do we do it? You bet we don’t. Dick Stroud

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It seems to be a growing trend. Some more thought provoking research has been done by Mintel Oxygen on the UK baby boom generation as they approach retirement age. Their Annuities UK report shows that a growing number of people are taking out annuities. Could it be that people are realising that they may not just have to provide for themselves when they retire, they may have to continue helping their children!