<prompt> Human: Hi PF,My father is relatively old hes 82, Im 33 and retired somewhere around 65. As a kid, my dad always impressed upon me the importance of saving, making sound investments and generally using money wisely. I was surprised when I got an email from my older brother recently that Dad was in bad financial shape and was likely going to need help.My siblings and I 5 of us, ranging from 51 to 31 talked yesterday about how to proceed. 2 of them have already been providing him about 350mo. The other 3 of us have been relatively unaware that things were so tight. Hes got about 70k left in the bank and has A LOT of anxiety about letting his savings dip below that. At the point, he badly needs hearing aids he has trouble hearing his grand kids, especially the girls to the tune of 3k and about another 1k in car repairs that hes been putting off because he feels like he needs to maintain his current balances as closely as possible. FFS, according to his budget, he spent 85mo on food last year I spend that much on a single dinner more than Id like to admit. Weve come to the conclusion that help is necessary. Ive offered to buy the hearing aids and start contributing 200mo out of 800mo we thing he needs and adjusting that as necessary after we see how things go for a bit at least I know this is enough to get him eating better, but I have this feeling that Im not sure Im proud of that tells me that he should be doing something to improve his situation as well. My sister and I are flying up to see him and the other siblings next week and to sit down and talk. This is going to be extremely stressful on him as, knowing my dad, hes extremely ashamed that he doesnt have the means to take care of himself. Have any others been through something like this? Are there any jobs I can suggest he get? Im terrified based on the food spending that his immediate reaction is going to be to be more frugal, when I want to make sure hes happy, healthy, and living the kind of life that Id want for myself at his age well, maybe not that extravagant. PS. From someone whos going through it now, its a good idea to start having frank conversations with your parents when they decide to retire. I wish I had found out about this 5 or 8 years ago so I couldve planned better. Unfortunately, I was 16 when he retired and was way too caught up in being a punk-ass teenager at the time as I probably should have been.tldr; Old dad is running out of mula, kids need to contribute to help, but I think he needs to find a way to improve his situation instead of taking a bailout. Suggestions?  <response>: You should talk to a tax professional if youre in the US. You may be able to claim your father as a dependent and get a good deduction or refund that you could give him. You may also be able to write off hearing aids, or maybe you could pay for them and he could write them off on his taxes if he doesnt qualify to be a dependent. 