What to do - 70yo dad irresponsible with money

This as well. He needs to increase his incomings, reduce his outgoings or both

Speaking as someone roughly your father's age - you absolutely do not give him any money. I know someone in exactly your position and this hardworking self-made man ended up giving his father a job to give him some extra money. It was obviously just him being kind as this father was present on a job for us, and basically he did absolutely nothing (apart from drinking tea) while his son did all the work.

Your father has shown himself to be completely irresponsible and obviously doesn't take any advice (example - the solar panels) - it's actually a strange form of arrogance - he feels he deserves the best - well let him pay for it, not you. Don't give him a penny.

I would do nothing. It sounds like he has had lots of luxuries to me! No one really wants to budget but it is a necessity for most of us. Instinct says he will just burn through any extra money you give him

I would help him get his affairs set up in a way that might help him 5o budget eg bills going out by DD at the start of the month, an account that lets him put his money for food etc into a different pot and so on so that he can clearly see what’s available for discretionary spending.

I wouldn’t give him any cash.

If he's fit (gym membership?) can't he work for a couple of hundred a month?

Almost definitely not. But I might not tell him that straight away.

I’d probably offer to first sit down with him with the last 12 months of his bank statements to take a look at where he could budget better. If he runs for the hills then it would be an absolutely not, you’ve made your bed so lie in it.

If he seems willing, I’d look at his budget with him and offer to support him in changing his spending habits. Chances are if this is genuinely a bit of a cry for help and you support him practically/emotionally with it then you won’t need to top him up anyway.

No. He lost a marriage from this behaviour, he doesn’t get to draw down from the bank of You to compensate.
Get him to show you the direct debits.

The problem is he is now trying to grift of his daughter.

OP, do not help him, people like him are a black hole, no momey you give him will ever be enough. If £80k wasn't enough then a few hundred a month certainly won't be.

Nope, I wouldn't be giving any of my hard earned money to 'fritter away' also. As you say he received money which would have kept him going for a long time but he didn't bother being sensible when he knew he could come crying to you. He will never learn if he isn't 'forced' to do better.

Absolutely not. He just spunked away £80k!!!

Coming at this from the perspective of someone a bit older and with a slightly better monthly income, he first needs to check his outgoings for things like subscriptions he's forgotten and no longer uses. I have an Excel spreadsheet with spending split into categories and I update it every week so I can see what I'm spending where. Last month was really heavy on food shopping, for some reason.

He also needs to cut his current costs - there must be cheaper gyms and supermarkets are just as good for wine these days. I'll bet there are others when he comes to look at it he could do without. I mean, I'd like champagne to celebrate the weekend but realistically my income won't support that, it's a treat.

He is now struggling and having spent all that inheritance tells me he really needs an extra couple of hundred a month. The question is - do I help him?

No, you don't. Whether or not you can help him is irrelevant. A couple of hundred a month is £ 2,400 a year. That's a holiday. Multiply that by him living 20 years and you've blown a chunk on what could be going into your pension because dear dad can't be arsed to budget.

Help him sort his spending out by all means. Don't go down the route of subbing him because sooner or later that 'couple of hundred' will be three or four or five because why should he check his spending? he's got a safety net of DD (or DS, whichever it is).

No don’t give him money he sounds like the type of person who just blows what he gets. It’s a mind set thing and at his age unlikely to change but I would try to him budget. Sit down with him and go through all his bills etc and then see what’s left over. £1,400 isn’t a lot really but decent if no car or mortgage. Electricity, mobile, tv licence, gym, food, council tax (if applicable) even if that came to £600 it means he’s spending around £200 a week not including his food bill.
He doesn’t need extra money does he. Unless he possibly has debts he’s still paying off and that’s why he doesn’t actually have much left?

No way would I be helping him! I’d be telling him very bluntly that it’s high time he learned to live within his means.