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Real Money, a free weekly newsletter giving expert tips on how to save, invest and make the most of your money, is sent every Sunday. You\u2019re reading an excerpt \u2013 sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox.<\/a><\/p>\n Last week, I wrote about Australia\u2019s fifth-biggest lender, the bank of mum and dad, and how parents across the country were digging deep to help their children buy houses<\/a>. Often, they were doing this without a huge amount of planning or thought given to how it might affect them or their retirement.<\/p>\n Well, after a couple of lovely emails from readers this week, it turns out it\u2019s not just the bank of mum and dad that\u2019s doing some significant lending, but the bank of grandma and grandpa too (BOGAG? BOGMAGP? GAGBOG? Actually, you know what, let\u2019s leave the acronym for this one).<\/p>\n A timely bit of research from Australian Seniors<\/a> shows just how many grandparents are giving to their kids and grandkids \u2013 and the issues it\u2019s starting to cause. (And for those who might be grandparent age but without grandkids, this applies to you too!)<\/p>\n Related Article On average, grandparents who provide support to their family are paying over $3000 a year, with more than half using their savings and superannuation to fund these stipends. Most of this money is for things such as gifts, but 33 per cent of those surveyed said they had sent money for emergency financial support.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n The majority of grandparents said they did this purely out of love for their kids and grandkids, but there\u2019s a hidden cost for some, with one in five saying they\u2019ve been forced to delay or suspend their retirement plans to provide that support.<\/p>\n Providing financial support as a grandparent can put you in a tough position, as many feel obliged to, especially as their later years loom and the question of \u201cwho\u2019s going to look after me\u201d starts to come to mind. But helping your grandkids out at the expense of your own quality of life isn\u2019t the way to go, and can end up leaving you with even fewer resources when you do get to your older years.<\/p>\n What you can do about it<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re a grandparent struggling with how to balance your needs and your desire to help your grandkids, here are some tips:<\/p>\n Consider your own needs first: As mentioned, many grandparents feel it\u2019s their duty to help out their families in some form or other, but if it\u2019s going to impact your own situation negatively you may have to be realistic. Paul Green, director at Vincents Private Wealth, says it\u2019s important to first determine what level of income and savings you need to maintain your lifestyle, then lock that amount away. \u201cOnce you know how much to protect for your own retirement, you can work with the rest,\u201d he says. Over half of those surveyed by Australian Seniors said they\u2019d cut back on personal travel or leisure activities to help out their family, so make sure you factor in things such as holidays when you work out how much you can afford to give away.Have a chat: Maybe you\u2019ve been providing financial support for years, maybe you\u2019ve never done it. Either way, sitting down with your kids (and grandkids, if they\u2019re old enough) and talking about it can help you and them get some clarity. Clinical psychologist Dr Lyn Worsley says one topic that might be important to talk about is the nature of the support you\u2019re providing, which for many grandparents, comes with no strings attached. Making this clear can benefit both yourself and your kids. \u201cGenerosity can sometimes become complicated. It\u2019s important to check in with yourself and ensure that financial support is not unintentionally used to control or secure closeness,\u201d she says. Along with this, it might be a good time to be open and honest about how your support will take shape. Think about the ways you\u2019re willing to provide support \u2013 is it just money, or will you help with other things like school fees? And make sure you discuss how much you will give and how often, and set clear limits if needed. \u201cDon\u2019t just hand over money blindly, but work collaboratively with your family to raise everyone\u2019s standard of living,\u201d Green says. \u201cFamilies who plan together almost always come out ahead.\u201dThink about how you\u2019ll do it: When it comes to helping out with bills or giving birthday presents, there\u2019s nothing wrong with the ol\u2019 pineapple in the envelope special. One reader who emailed this week says she gives her grandkids $1 a day \u2212 another valid option. But if you want to be a bit more savvy about giving \u2013 especially when it comes to grandkids \u2013 there might be better ways to go about it. If you want that money to do more work than just gaining interest \u2013 like investing it \u2013 you might need to be a bit more strategic. Investing on their behalf can trigger capital gains for you or them when you sell or transfer the shares when they\u2019re old enough, and opening an investment portfolio in their name can see them slugged with a 66 per cent tax rate. Instead, Money guru Noel Whittaker has long been a fan of investment bonds<\/a>, also known as insurance bonds, which are a bit like managed funds, however once you have held the bond for 10 years, any withdrawals made will not attract personal income tax or capital gains tax<\/a>. You can also transfer them to another person without incurring CGT. \u201cIn many ways, investment bonds are like superannuation. The fund itself pays tax on behalf of the investor, which means there is no need to include any income in the investor\u2019s yearly tax return,\u201d Whittaker says.<\/p>\n Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers\u2019 decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/55cb071edeb2322e876e02f498b0e8ceb4bf28280acad3d9edc908b530e88575.jpeg\")
It\u2019s not just the bank of mum and dad providing money to the younger generation.Michael Howard<\/p>\n![\"Sixty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6b437b692d75b1e8bde956a1afcc09b93e272f9bd8a7f2f821815ef64a22b421.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dominic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/039a7f51412eb13b22d512a4202e9ea19156a9f3.png\")
Dominic Powell<\/a> is the Money Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 5, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":{"0":"post-377471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}