Never too late (to learn personal finance)?

[elessar78]

My dad is in his 70s. He's always been a spender and never saved a penny for a rainy day. He's auniversity professor and still working and recently came into some money from work he is doing.

We've been giving him a monthly stipend for about a year and a half now because, frankly, he's been broke and couldn't afford his meds. We just wanted to make sure he was talking minimum care of himself. He's living in Another country so cost of living is much less. Now the stipends are stopping but I'm tempted to send him something like a Dave Ramsey book. Thoughts on this approach? Now that he has a steady stream of income I want him to at least think dfferent about money.
Even at this late stage.

His inability to manage money for most of his life has certainly been a factor in his lousy relationships with is his kids, the dissolution of his marriage, and issues with his siblings. I don't believe you can teach and old dog new tricks. Does anyone have experience otherwise?

[JoeP]

I found the best approach is to demonstrate the effects of many different paths one can take, moving forward. Dave Ramsey suggests not getting dieting advice from fat people, nor getting financial advice from poor people. If you are financially secure, just say something like, "This is what I found works for me..." Your father must be a smart guy being a university professor, so he should be able to see cause and effect.

Can you tactfully bring up the subject of getting on the right path to allow him to live with financial dignity, without bringing up the subject of his past mistakes? In other words, if we were to start fresh right now, what would be some proven ways to manage money so that he is secure and can enjoy the fruits of his labors?

[bjl584]

Do you have any idea where the money is going? What is your dad spending on?

A sit down talk may be more effective than sending him a book. He could simply choose not to read it. I'm thinking something more of an intervention style meeting. Something that puts him on the spot and forces him to aknowledge his problem. Discuss where he is spending, where the money is going, and how he can cut back and start saving. In his 70's he is most likely not going to amass a fortune, but he should be able to establish at least an emergeny fund for himself.

[Jon Spiels]

Tough

There are people of this kind, really. I've known one. He wastes everything and never had even a single saving, not even for his daughter's studies. He's worked for almost 50 years but not had enough of his workings. I found him so terrible, her wife suffers so as his daughter. He died then, and left nothing. Sad for the family for not once in their whole life they find him changed.