Millennials are raking it in from their grandparents’ cashed-in pensions
The Taxpayers’ Alliance may be pushing for an end to winter fuel subsidies and senior bus passes, but researchers at Investec have hit back with a study claiming that pensioners are already hard done by because they have to spend so much on their damn grandkids.
The study couldn’t have been better timed, it comes after a Taxpayers’ Alliance research director said that ministers should waste no time in making unpopular cuts to pensioner benefits.
Many of those hit by a cut to the winter fuel allowance might “not be around” at the next election, said think tank wonk Alex Wild. Charming.
However, Investec claims that grandparents who gift money to their children and grandchildren are sacrificing a better quality of life.
Around one in five grandparents who gift money to their offspring thinks they give too much, while 11 per cent have cut back on holidays and the weekly shop to keep giving. Three per cent even said they’re delaying retirement to keep on giving.
Chris Aitken, head of financial planning at Investec, was left unconvinced that the elderly population would die out by 2020: “Recent pension freedoms could result in some grandparents gifting too much of their retirement pot without considering their potential longevity.”
Whippersnapper Wild, who only graduated from university in 2009, has since apologised for disrespecting his elders with his “off the cuff” remarks.