When parents pay their adult children's way

"Parents today are very focused on setting their kids up so that they're in a good financial situation."

While financial help has trickled down the family tree for generations, the practice is growing, especially now that a wealthy bulge of baby boomers is so heartily embracing it.

"There's a great tendency towards helping adult children," says Keith Tongue, a senior director at Vancouver City Savings Credit Union. "That's the direction it's going."

But the financial planners and real estate agents who watch the cash flowing say the so-called "bank of ma and pa" may be more about generous parents than needy or spoiled adult children. Instead, many parents are responding to financial barriers they may not have faced in their 20s, from staggering student loans to pricey real estate.

In a recent Royal Bank of Canada poll of boomers with household income of more than $100,000, a majority expected to give financial help to their children while they were still alive. Only one in 10 said they were planning on giving nothing to them during their lifetime.

For many, real estate is the preferred way to say "I love you."

Other twentysomethings feel they have to resist their parents' generosity where they can. Tyson, a 25-year-old who works in the film and television industry in Calgary and asked that his last name not be included, is currently looking for a townhouse. Because he works freelance, he needs his parents, who have just rounded the age of 50, to co-sign the mortgage. They were willing to help him more, but he declined because he's not proud of his generation's cushy situation.