Millennials who benefit from this wealth likely to be in the minority

The nature of inheritances is about to change, says Dianne Paterson

What did our grandparents inherit from their parents and how much inherited wealth were their parents able to pass down the line?

Obviously much depended on who they were and what they owned, but the chances are that it really wasn’t a great deal.

Disputes about silver teaspoons and porcelain dinner services were more commonplace in the early 20th century, and wills, if they existed, tended to detail personal possessions rather than property and wealth.

The point is that there was usually very little in the way of savings, and even less in the way of property, as far fewer people at that time owned land or a house.

This meant that, in financial terms, their deaths had little impact on the material wealth of their children.

However, this has been gradually changing over the years, and is set to change even further in the coming years.

A “wealth mountain” of more than £400 billion will be passed down from grandparents to the younger generations in the coming years, an insurer has recently calculated.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, who is now director of policy at Royal London, said last month: “There is a wall of housing wealth set to cascade through the generations in the coming years. Many in the next generation feel under considerable pressure to pass any inheritance straight on to their own children as they are acutely