<prompt> Human: Weird situation..My inlaws spouses parents are literally horrendous with their money - constantly falling for get-rich-quick schemes, buying a too-expensive house, wasting money on stupid stuff. They have essentially nothing in retirement savings, are approaching retirement age in 5 years, and have about 10-15y left on a 30y mortgage they bought at high housing market and after the crash the house was worth 20 less than their purchase price. My spouse wants to help them even though we are just starting off on our own financial journeys together. Because both of us work and have paychecks, I think some of my spouses money will inevitably get diverted to the parents, particularly in helping them move closer to us. I am worried about our joint income to be given to them, because I am sure they will squander it and make terrible choices with the money. Also, since we are relatively young, there is a huge opportunity cost if we were to keep the money and invest it x30 years. But I dont know if there is any way out of this.One thing I was thinking was to have her use her money to buy a small house and keep it under her name and then allow them to live there. The parents can sell their current house, use some of the money to pay off the rest of the mortgage, and the rest as a retirement egg. Then, in the case that they pass away after a long and healthy and happy life, at least the economic investment will still be in my spouses hands i.e. in our family. Then, at least, the money is still in the nuclear family and can be used for our kids, or just for our own retirement needs.Any problems or challenges with this plan that you foresee? Anything that I am significantly overlooking, or anything that would be an even better solution?  <response>: That would be a mistake. Helping your in laws will come at the cost of your financial future and your childrens educations. Unless your in laws are homeless andor hungry they do not need your economic intervention.You will not be solving their problems you will be enabling. You will risk your marriage, sanity, and finances. If you are ok with all of that then go for it. 