<prompt> Human: My parents sold their primary residence and netted 50k. They currently rent for 1k and have a car loaninsurance that costs around 300month. They each have a part time job where they both make around 300wk each. My dad has a 401k for the first time and has 2k there. They also have a small pension and social security income where they get around 1kmonth. They live modestly and dont have debt except for the car loan6k. Theyd like to buy a sort of vacation home where they spend half the year in a warmer climate, but theyre not sure if they can wing it. Theyre not really sure what to do with the money and are worried about not having it if something were to come up. What should they do?edit: thank you allAssistant: Do they have any life insurance?If not, what happens when dad passes and mom has to support herself with only half as much household income?Lets be realistic. They did plan for retirement. They didnt save for retirement, but they did plan for it. You and your siblings if you have any are the retirement plan.Someday, hopefully years from now, expect to have mom move in with you when she cant pay her bills. Or maybe even both of them.My parents sold their primary residence and netted 50k.Reading between the lines, they still had a mortgage. The mortgage payment was too big for them to pay while only working part time. Most older adults in that situation keep working full time until theyre in their seventies. If they cant stay in the job theyve had for years, they greet people at Walmart. Or they bag groceries. They understand that they cant actually afford to retire, and they act accordingly.Your parents didnt do that. They didnt even work long enough to pay off the car.Now they want a vacation life style. The next thing youll probably hear from them is that their friends go on cruises and they want to go on a cruise, too. They cant afford that, either. The retired, snowbird lifestyle that they always looked forward to is out of their reach because they didnt save up along the way.Im obviously only guessing here, but it sounds to me as if you parents have been living beyond their means their whole lives. Theyve lived modestly because they would have gone broke sooner if they didnt, but all along theyve spent every dime instead of saving for the future. They havent even had a 3 to 6 month emergency fund. They need to start with step 0, reducing expenses and building a budget. They really are at square one here. If they cant or arent willing to get their act together and start building up some savings, you really need to plan on having them as roommates down the line.ETA: Downvote me if you want to, folks. But think for a minute. What would your advice be to a 66 67 year old retired couple with only 55k in savings and part time jobs? Read the sideboard. Reduce expenses. Make a budget. Start building an emergency fund. Thats what OP needs to get across to their parents. Being overly gentle about how we communicate that to OP wouldnt be doing anyone any favors.Human: no life insurance. my dad wanted to keep working but he was fired when he was diagnosed with cancer. then when he went into remission no one wanted to hire him, probably because of his age. so he works part time. they did have a mortgage still and pretty much they will have to probably live with me in the future, but basically is there anything that they can do now to maximize the 50k they have?Assistant: HAve them move in with you and give you the 50k. Then you invest that yourself and take care of your parents.Human: i think they want to be independent and i wouldnt feel right taking their money.  <response>: If they wanted to be independent, they should have done what was necessary to reach that goal. They didnt. Youre going to be paying tens maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars on your parents in their later years. Also, 80 of medical costs spent in ones lifetime are spent in the last 2 years of life. 50k is a drop in the bucket to what theyre forcing on you. 