Fuel and travel costs are pushing prices up again
Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
Intergenerational wealth transfer
Money or other wealth passed from an older generation to a younger one.
What it means
Parents or grandparents can pass money, property or other assets to younger relatives as gifts while they are alive, or leave them an inheritance. This is an intergenerational wealth transfer. Family loans can also help someone buy a home, but a loan that must be repaid is different from a gift. What families can pass on depends partly on what they own and owe in the first place.
Example
One person inherits £20,000 towards a home deposit; another saves the whole deposit from pay. The inheritance is a transfer of wealth from one generation to the next.
Why it matters
Help from family can change someone's chances of buying a home or building savings. Comparing people's pay alone misses this difference.
Also known as
intergenerational transfer of wealth
Related terms
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Deposit to income ratio
A home-buying deposit compared with the buyer's or buyers' yearly income.
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Inheritance tax
A UK tax that may be due on the estate of someone who has died.
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Net worth
The value of what someone owns, minus what they owe.
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Social mobility
How people's income, work or other life outcomes compare with the circumstances they grew up in.
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Wealth inequality
The gap between people in what they own, after subtracting what they owe.
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News
Highlights from about the UK economy, the UK government and the UK public sector.
Mortgage relief will have to wait a little longer
Wednesday 4 November 2026
Interest rates are staying at 3.75%, so households with mortgages and other borrowing may have to wait longer for costs to come down.
Energy bills are going up as winter approaches
Wednesday 4 November 2026
A higher energy price cap means many households will be paying more to heat and power their homes during the colder months.
Guides and insights
Analysis
Clear, accessible analysis of the economic issues shaping everyday life
Living standards
What does a day’s work buy?
Comparing the cost of everyday life across generations, from bread and beer to buying a home.
Food & prices
The journey behind your grocery bill
How farming, energy, transport and supermarket competition shape the price on the shelf.
Prices & inflation
Inflation is falling. What happens next?
What slower price rises mean for wages, purchasing power and economic recovery.
Shared prosperity
What would shared prosperity look like?
Beyond GDP: how we could measure economic success through security, opportunity and living standards.
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