According to a new survey by investment Schroders, around a third of UK adults have raided their piggy-banks in the past year. In some cases this is simply to have money to live on, in other cases it can be to help shorten the life of existing debts before placing the remaining debts into consolidation. As the tough financial climate continues to leave many people in need of assistance with their financial woes, the survey estimates that around £60 billion has been raided from savings accounts, with an average withdrawal of around £4,600 per person.

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Debt news for the week beginning 23rd August. Debt relief for parents coming increasingly from children. Debt management plan? Debt management program? What's the difference? Debt relief not necessary if you plan your money now - but will kids learn?

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The recession has brought home the hard truths of personal insolvency, of the need for proper financial management, and the risk of debt. For many teenagers and younger persons across Britain, seeing their families worried and depressed by their finances is a swift wake-up call. Many are learning to be more responsible, and to help out Mum or Dad with money, as more parents seek debt assistance from their children, and are faced with claiming bankruptcy or seeking other such debt solutions. But will those same young people learn from all of this? According to the Personal Finance Education Group, teenagers are becoming far more aware of just how serious debt problems can be.

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Many companies who claim to provide debt relief will use advertise solutions such as a 'debt management program' and some may try and claim that their own product e.g. a 'debt consolidation plan' is somehow different. So how are they different? And which is the best debt solution for you? What many consumers do not realise is that in fact these products tend to all be the same type of debt relief solution, just with a different name. In almost all cases they offer the same advantages, disadvantages. Imagine buying a bottle of cola from a supermarket. Most supermarkets will offer their own brand of cola, and regardless of taste, you would always be buying the same product. A debt management program is one vendor's name for another company's debt management plan - you are still getting the same basic product.

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The days of Mum or Dad handing out pocket money to clamouring offspring are - or should be - long gone by the time that the kids are in their twenties and thirties. Yet increasingly it is true that children are helping out their cash-strapped parents, as old debts are called in and Mum or Dad feel the continuing pinch from the recession. Debt assistance from earning offspring is now a necessity for many of Britain's parents. According to research from Scottish Widows, eight percent of adult children are handing over money to their parents.

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