Family Wealth and Wellbeing: The Unequal Distribution of Security Across the Life Course

Wealth inequality is rising in Australia just as the country enters a period of substantial intergenerational wealth transfer. While wealth is known to be linked to health and wellbeing, we know less about whether parents' wealth continues to matter for wellbeing across adulthood, and through which mechanisms it operates. Using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, this article examines associations between parental wealth and four domains of wellbeing (general health, mental health, life satisfaction, and financial wellbeing) among adults aged 25 to 50 (n = 1039). Linear regression models show that higher parental wealth is associated with better general health and higher financial wellbeing, even after accounting for respondents' own income, wealth, and other characteristics. Part of this relationship operates through homeownership, pointing to housing security as a key pathway linking family resources to wellbeing in mid-adulthood. By contrast, receiving financial help from parents is associated with lower contemporaneous wellbeing and strengthens the estimated parental-wealth gradient. This pattern suggests that transfers often function as responsive support during periods of hardship, rather than simply conferring advantage. Overall, the findings highlight intergenerational inequality as an adulthood-spanning, relational process, and underscore the growing role of family wealth in sustaining wellbeing amid housing insecurity and welfare retrenchment.