Gifting to adult children without starving your own care fund
Helping with a house deposit feels generous until care-home fees arrive a decade later with no liquid reserves left.
Parents often ask whether they can gift £50,000 toward a child’s deposit and still sleep at night. The answer depends less on inheritance tax headlines and more on whether the remaining portfolio can fund care for seven to ten years if needed.
We stress-test gifts against a modest care-cost assumption and a longer lifespan, then look at whether life cover or retained investment income would replace what was given away. Regular gifts from surplus income can be more sustainable than a single large transfer that empties accessible cash.
For a structured conversation with numbers attached, see our Inheritance & Estate Cashflow Brief.