<prompt> Human: My father is a lifetime businessman, always wise, always cautious. He is now 75, sold his business 8 years ago, and had enough cash for he and my mother 15 years younger to live comfortably. But it all started speeding up. Theyre a Fox news generation and generally quite worried about the USAmoneyeverything crashing propaganda.And so all this liquid cash needed to be invested for fear of paying too much tax, etc... They bought a bunch of gold in case things get really bad. They eased into buying shares in fracd oil wells, but got excited and spent huge share of the cash in oil. They paid off the house and the cars because they feel uneasy owning debt when things go downhill.So now they have no liquid cash, no debt, no oil income, and gold that theyre selling off at huge loss to pay their expenses. Now I find that he is studying a 2000year email group that is encouraging him into buying forex options because a world economy crash is 180 days away. Mind you, this is cash that will be needed for living expenses in the near future, not for high risk spare cash.And hes getting old. Judgement and memory are becoming poor. Easily duped and worried about taking care of my younger mother. Any decision or wisdom they now seek is through prayer and paranoid neighborsemailsmedia.I dont know how to help. Im quite young, 30, and other than asking him to stop, dont know how to suggest healthier alternatives. They respect my help a lot, but nothing including my mother can stop dad with a credit card and internet connection from seeking the next snake oil salesman. If their oil income doesnt come back in the relative future, I dont know what they are going to do.So, now what? Where do my brother and I start? We could care less about any inheritance and wish they could have drawn off their cash over their current invest it all strategy. What happens when elderly people, unable to work, run out of money? What kind of adviser could we be talking to? Their worries about the economy are so deep seeded that any discussions about taking it easy end up as a political impasse.Thank you for any advice or encouragement!-Worried son.  <response>: Thats rough because its their very paranoia that is allowing them to be preyed upon. So the issue is only partly bad investments, but somehow getting them to realize theyre being paranoid. One way to do this is to take all their financial scenarios and tell them about a friend who has been making a lot of mistakes over the years, and what do they think? Thats a trick with alcoholics who are in denial. I have a friend. He drinks alone a lot. Misses work all the time. Has lost a few jobs. Do you think hes an alcoholic and I should confront him? 