Has the cost of adult children led you to consider selling your endowment policy?

Publication date | 23/02/2010

The cost of adult children is increasingly placing pressure on parents, according to a new survey.

Supporting loved ones between the ages of 18 and 30 is expected to cost more than £30,000, The Children's Mutual said.

Mums and dads may discover that finding money for university fees, a first-home mortgage and weddings all add up to a financial headache.

Chris Radford, chief executive officer of aap, said some if its customers with grown-up children had decided that endowment policy selling was the best option to raise the money required to cover such family expense.

The cost of kids does not end at 18

The poll found that 93 per cent of parents fund their adult children in some way.

Despite such a majority, these mums and dads admitted that they have not planned for such expense.

Over a quarter plan to remortgage or have remortgaged their home in order to support their adult offspring, which could include paying for university or a wedding.

Many Britons may not want to remortgage their home and could have already decided that selling an underachieving endowment policy was a better financial option.

The study discovered that seven per cent of mums and dads have even sold their cars to cover the cost of their family.

Commenting on the findings, chief executive of The Children's Mutual David White said: "The families we questioned had just one message for parents whose children are still young - save, save, save!

"More than half agreed that if they'd have known when their child was born what they now know about the cost of having an adult child they would have saved more through the years, with just 13 per cent having saved regularly in preparation."

Selling your endowment policy could take some of the burden off

Mr Radford, from aap, said some of its customers with grown-up children had decided to sell their unwanted endowment policies in order to avoid having to remortgage their home or dip into savings to cover expenses such as weddings and university.

He added that should aap make an offer to purchase an endowment policy, it will always pay more than the surrender value offered by the insurance company.

Reasons to sell your endowment policy