Considering what your folks have saved relative to their age I would say that the saving is much more important than some fine-tuned asset allocation.
Have them invest in something that's reasonable. Almost anything is better than not saving.
Here's a link to a guide for someone who wants to retire at 65 with 80 percent of their working income:
The analysis includes social security etc
http://www.realestatejournal.com/buy...jrss=frontpage
The analysis shows that if you have saved 12 times your current income then at a 5 percent withdrawal rate your stash will provide 60 percent of your working income. Social Security is then assumed to get you up to the target 80 percent of income.
This analysis may not be correct for many people. If your house is paid for your expenses may be much less than 80 percent of your current income. I find that my current expenses are only about 30 percent of my income. So for me, I could get by on much less than 80 percent of my income. So, the 60 percent of income that the 12 times current income savings provides would be more than enough for me.
If you find that with your expenses that you can get by on say two thirds of the suggested 60 percent of your income then just scale all of the numbers back by the factor 0.66 (40/60 = 0.66)
Nonetheless, the table is a somewhat useful guide for how much savings you should have.
Note that at your parents age the guide suggest that they have savings of around 3-4.5 times their yearly income. So unless your parents only make a total income of ~$1k/year then you can see how inadequate their savings are and how they will have some problems keeping up with their lifestyle.
* *
|