Home Buyer
Assisting children with the purchase of their first home is a common priority for clients, but advisors with experience say it takes planning to ensure that this doesn't throw their retirement plans off course.
Seventy-four percent of parents with children at home would consider or have already started financially planning to help them buy a home.
Among that group, 29% say that helping them buy a home someday is more important than helping them pay for college. And 55% say it's equally important.
Those were among the findings of Northwestern Mutual's Planning & Progress Study 2026, which was released last month. The study, conducted by The Harris Poll, polled 4,375 U.S. adults aged 18 or older between Jan. 5 and 21.
Mitchell Kraus, owner of Capital Intelligence Associates in Santa Monica, California, said his firm specializes in legacy planning and he said he has seen home-buying help more often in wealthier families. But with high housing costs in many cities, more parents feel an obligation to step in.
"I also see more adult children living at home longer to save for a down payment," he said.
Kraus said he does hear some parents say that helping with a first home is now as important as, or even more important than, paying for college, especially when they believe that college can be financed over time.
"The housing market can permanently shut kids out," he said.
Caleb Pepperday, founder and CEO of Advanced Practice Planning in Missoula, Montana, works with mostly physician assistants and associates, or medical providers, who generally earn well over six figures. He said he is seeing more families that he talks to still want to provide financial assistance if they can for their children. But, he said, that assistance means more than just funding education.
"It seems as though parents have become more agnostic about how they help their children financially [whether it's] college, home saving or car saving, rather than just funding college savings vehicles," he said.
Kraus said he looks at each scenario separately but makes sure that the parents' own retirement security comes first. He said they typically model the tradeoffs, stress-test cash flow and look at the most efficient method: earmarked investment accounts, annual gifting, intrafamily loans, trust planning or shifting excess assets that parents are unlikely to spend.
"The key is making sure generosity does not become a long-term financial burden for the parents," he said.
Brandon Schneider, founder and financial planner at Deliberate Wealth in Advance, North Carolina, said he talks through and shows visually how clients can give meaningful gifts to their children for home purchases, or other major expenses such as starting a business, and not have it affect their personal retirement plan.
"This allows clients to give with a warm hand, which is something I encourage my clients to consider if it aligns with their values," he said. "For clients where it would have an impact, we discuss if they are willing to make the tradeoff of working several years longer or spending less to help their kids."
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