How do I convince my stubborn risk-averse retired parents to have a full financial review/planning and eventually to invest their savings that are largely in fixed deposit earning 0.5%/annum?

Hearing from their children would be the hardest especially if they are very stubborn.

Maybe instead of asking them to invest, share with them some concepts, about how CPF life can help retirees to get a stable income every month when they have reached the FRS etc (if they can still go for this option). I might just be very 'turned off' by the word invest, so can share on other alternatives savings platform that can help to accumulate higher interest.

If not, instead of giving them monthly allowance, which goes right into their 0.5% bank account, help them to save it somewhere else (together with your siblings if you have any), to get better returns.

Get a 3rd person POV to share with them (can be a piece of article) from news etc, something more credible for them to read from, and share it bit by bit. "Mum, Dad, I saw this article recently and did you know that ..." It's about the communication between both ways also, don't go the hard way if you know that it probably wouldn't work.

Just throwing out some ideas there, hope it helps!

It is going to be tough to convince them especially coming from own children. They would say "they eat salt more than you eat rice".

Perhaps refer them to reputable financial advisors. I would recommend MoneyOwl as they are a joint venture between NTUC Enterprise and Providend:

About MoneyOwl

Why MoneyOwl

Key points to share with them about their parent companies:

1. NTUC Enterprise is a social entreprise, under which are a group of household names like NTUC FairPrice, NTUC Income, NTUC Health, NTUC Foodfare, etc. I believe they would agree that these enterprises are not out to make huge profits from consumers.

2. Providend is an independent fee-only wealth advisory firm, so is MoneyOwl, where both of them don't receive commission from the products they recommend, meaning they can't "cheat your money" by pushing high commission products.

They may watch this webinar where MoneyOwl touched on Retirement Planning (can ignore the second half where they introduced specific product on first viewing):

MoneyOwl Webinar on Wiser Way to Build Passive Income

If you or your parents are keen to engage MoneyOwl, you may open a free MoneyOwl account at:

MoneyOwl Account Opening Page

You may use my MoneyOwl referral code to open account where both referral and referee will receive Grab credits:

5FZY-58AG

Here is the info on the MoneyOwl Referral Program:

MoneyOwl Referral Program​​​