on handling finances for elderly parents too old to work and has resorted to gambling.

My husband and I come from a middle income family. We’re not well to do but very comfortable, just had a baby so I left my job (both of our decision after lots of contemplation) to take care of her, at least until she is 1.

My husband is very filial, that’s what I love about him. He gives his mom a monthly allowance and is always the one in his family planning birthdays/festivities. He has a brother who doesn’t contribute at all to his parents, he has a big family on his so in a way we didn’t blame him.

My FIL lost his job 2 years ago and has started gambling to “make ends meet”, according to him. I only just learned of this. My MIL works part time so she doesn’t earn much and uses her earnings for her own meals and to upkeep the household – think groceries and whatnot.

Here’s the problem: my FIL has made great losses and have been borrowing from money lenders. This is the first time I heard about it from my husband; but there has been previous incidents, and he’s always only looked for my husband to pay his debts. This time, it is $10,000.

I’m very troubled. My husband is too but he says his dad would say he needed the money to pay utilities and there’s no other job he can do out there. Physically, this may be true because he’s part disabled. My husband had asked his brother for help, but his brother says he is incapable of helping financially.

My in laws are both receiving about $400 a month from selling their HDB back to the government. They have no health insurance.

My husband has been the only one that has to handle both his parents’ monetary issues for a really long time and it’s become a heavy burden to him, especially when we think about healthcare down the road. We both love my in laws very much. Other than being bad financial planners they still brought my husband up very well.

What can he do to help his parents be more independent should we be unable to help for much longer now that we have a newborn? Are there any govt schemes or subsidies we can apply for them as a low income household? Or trusts/bonds to invest their money in instead of spending it all on gambling and lottery? We really don’t think forking out money to cover gambling losses is going to help anything at all and it’s just going to spiral out of control.

Need some help in planning finances for parents who are too old to work and has no savings. Please help!

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