My parents are both 57 years old and dire financial straits.
They have over $200,000 in debt, of which about $100,000 is credit card debt. My dad is currently making about $3000 per month and it is not at all clear that his salary will go up significantly in the next few years (although he claims it will). My mother does not work due to treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and various other mental health and physical diagnoses.
I estimate their net worth to be about $50,000 - $150,000 dollars (my father isn’t entirely transparent about his finances, hence the wide range). They rent.
My mom has about $230,000 in her brokerage accounts, a sum which she recently acquired from selling their home in the midwest, and has about $44,000 in her 401K. My dad has about $7K in his 401K.
They do not currently own a home and are currently nomadically moving from apartment to apartment (using companies like Sonder, AirBnb, etc.) on an almost monthly basis, as they recently moved out of NYC. For years, they lived outside of their means, and now they are figuring out their next steps as they figure out where to live and how to survive.
My father says he cannot declare bankruptcy because he would never be able to secure another job with that in his credit score (he works in finance).
This is perhaps that saddest part of all this. Over the course of his professional life, my dad made a lot of money, in some cases making over $400K several years in a row, of course in NYC, where cost of living is much higher. Where that money has gone, I do not know and cannot account for. Yes, I've asked him.
What should I tell them to do? I’m desperate. I know SS will hit at 62 or 65, but what do they do in the meantime?
For context, I am their 27 year old son, am completely financial independent, rent on my own, and I have my own financial obligations to take care of. I would, however, like to suggest an action plan for my parents.
Submitted December 20, 2020 at 09:45PM by hau93_t https://ift.tt/37BMEnB
