Bank of Mum and Dad Adding to Wealth Gap

Published / Last Updated on 16/02/2023

According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), The ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ (BOMAD) is now lending children over £17bn per year making it the 9th largest lender in the UK.

IFS findings show that:

  • Parents who own their own home and make up a 1/5th of all parents, tend to be higher earners and gift their children on average £6,300 over an 8 year period with many receiving an average of £20,000 for house deposits or improvements.
  • Lower income/asset parents making up the bottom 1/5th of all parents, ten to gift their children on average £240 over an 8 year period with no help for house deposits or improvements.

Widening Inequality

The IFS also suggests that the above is creating even greater inequality between those that have and those that do not.  Children with degree educated parents tend to receive 6 X more financial assistance overall that poorer, renting only parents. 

  • One in 10 ‘white’ children tend to receive financial gifts every 2 years or so.
  • One in 25 ‘black’ African or ‘black’ Caribbean children tend to receive financial gifts every 2 years or so.
  • One in 30 Pakistani and Bangladeshi children got financial help in the last 2 years.

Comment

We are not waving the race or diversity flag here.  Some people are in a better position than others to distribute wealth and some cultures share wealth in different ways.  Some pay for huge weddings with monetary gifts from guests in the £000s, others pay dowries, others collectively buy family homes, collectively pay off debt as soon as possible to move onto the next property and pay that off and then move on with the objective of all branches of the family to eventually own property mortgage free. 

We are who we are, some are born into money or families with a strong educational culture, others are not.  Some get help on the way, others do not.  Even if you start ‘from behind’, many poor children work hard and make good, others are born into wealth, have always had help and then fail.  We have always said it is about education and mentoring.  Children starting from behind, whether black, white or other race need mentors from their own backgrounds to give them the believe that they can achieve what they want to achieve. 

The Director of this firm, Ashley Roberts-Clark, who grew up in a renowned, problem council estate nicknamed ‘The Concrete Jungle’ in West Smethwick, has made a reasonable success of life and business and has regularly offered mentoring in deprived area schools.  There will be many more that started in an even worse position but have made something of themselves.  This is not all about monetary success, it could be the standards that you achieve in work, sport or community input.

A lack of diversity and the wealth gap will not be solved by force or legislation or corporate reporting on diversity, they will be solved by giving belief to those less fortunate from an earlier age and never letting up on growing that belief that ‘you can’ when many, including perhaps parents that cannot help as they themselves have grown up deprived and only believe that ‘you can’t’.

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