For example, affluent parents often subsidize their children’s purchase of a home. The intent may be to help their children “get started on the right foot.” The parents assume that such gifts are a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. Some have told us that they thought “this would be the last dollar the kids would ever need.” They assume that the recipients of their kindness will be able to “do it on their own” in the near future. Nearly half the time, they are wrong.
