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Nearly All Grandparents Provide Money to Grandchildren

They re spending $2 562 each year on average AARP survey finds

GETTY IMAGES Today's grandparents do not consider themselves financial supporters of their grandchildren, but nearly 94 percent of them provide some monetary help, according to a . Grandparents spend an average of $2,562 annually on their grandchildren, equaling about $179 billion dollars a year across the country, the report found. First time grandparents are in their “prime spending years” and on average will have four to five grandchildren. They are spending money on a variety of expenses such as gifts, vacations, daily necessities and education. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Gifts are an integral way that grandparents provide for grandchildren. Some 86 percent say they buy gifts, spending an average of $805 annually. Gregory Smith, 75, a grandfather of seven from Seattle, bought his granddaughter her first car, which she still uses today, some 100,000 miles later. "I enjoy helping my grandchildren when I can,” he says. “I'm not sure how to describe what it means to me. It's just natural. I love my grandkids and I like giving them ‘stuff.’ To me, grandkids are the future and through them the future is bright. Christine Charboneau/AARP Meanwhile, the survey found 1 in 7 grandparents extend their finances even further by providing for their grandchildren's necessities such as groceries and other day-to-day living expenses. An even greater number of grandparents, 1 in 5, say they spend money on their grandchild's , an average of $4,075 a year. Denise Duckworth, 75, of Vero Beach, Fla., a grandmother of three, helped her oldest grandchild pay off her student loans. Entertainment $3 off popcorn and soft drink combos See more Entertainment offers > But some of this support can affect a grandparents’ own finances. Seven percent of grandparents have to help pay for their grandchildren's college; 1 in 4 of those have cosigned a private student loan and/or incurred credit card debt that has not been paid back in full. Yet, the greatest challenge is for the 11 percent of grandparents who live in the same household as their grandchild. Of those, 5 percent are their . One in five grandparent caregivers say that the financial cost of being a grandparent can be too much. Grandparents face an additional financial burden in the cost of travel to see their grandchildren. Travel, combined with gifts and other expenses, led 13 percent of grandparents to say they struggle with financial expectations, the survey found. As grandparents live longer and start to have great-grandchildren, the study placed importance on creating a safety net for grandparents to help create more ways they can support their grandchildren. "To me it's a privilege to be able to help them,” says Duckworth. “There's not anything that I don't do out of love for them and I will always do it." Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.
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