Sandwich Generation feels the pinch

There is much discussion as to the impact of the recession on the over 50's but one of the reasons why this age group may find things more difficult is because of the financial support they are consistently giving to their grown up children and to their ageing parents. This is to the tune of more than £1.5billion a year.

More than 250,000 Britons are currently paying for their grown-up children and at least one ageing parent, according to research by Unbiased.co.uk website, which searches for financial advisors.

Many will spend so much money looking after the young and the old that they are left with very little left for themselves.

Overall people who make up the sandwich generation are spending more than £124million every year supporting their children and parents, more than £1.5billion a year.

The research found that 3.3million parents are currently supporting children aged 21 or over at an average cost of £254 a month.

This works out as a total cost of more than £10.2billion a year.

Meanwhile more than one million people are supporting their aging mothers and fathers at an average cost of £244 a month, or £2.8billion a year.

The survey of more than 2,400 adults worked out that on average 12million people financially support at least one relative. Boomers are often accused of being hedonistic, spending their kids inheritance, and while their is undoubtedly some truth in that let us not forget the value of the support that we still provide for our families.