Shifting Into Reverse Blog
#296: Continued use of a reverse mortgage as a financial tool
IT MIGHT PAY TO REPAY YOUR REVERSE MORTGAGE LOAN Some five years ago, having arrived at a decision to spend your retirement years in the home you’d owned for decades, you two made a couple of related, very important choices: First, you applied for a reverse mortgage, using the equity built up in the home […]
#295: Using a reverse mortgage as a financial planning tool
THE REVERSE MORTGAGE – THE FINANCIAL PLANNING SWISS ARMY KNIFE Some five years ago, in an early Shift Into Reverse blog, we addressed head-on the compliance concerns of financial advisors, underlying their reluctance to discuss with clients products they themselves were not licensed to sell (such as property/casualty insurance, long term care policies – or […]
#294: Using a reverse mortgage as a backup income plan
HOUSING WEALTH ALLAYS FEAR OF “SOCIAL INSECURITY” Having put quite a bit of thought into planning for your retirement (coming up at the end of this calendar year), the one piece of the puzzle that you’re most hesitant about is the timing of claiming your social security benefit. Your situation is a fairly simple one […]
#293: Using a reverse mortgage to settle a divorce
HOME EQUITY MAKES PARTING MORE SWEET THAN SORROW Several years after your spouse passed away, you remarried. Hoping to spend the rest of your lives together, your new spouse sold her condo and used the proceeds to completely renovate your home. As part of the process, the home was retitled in both of your names. […]
#292: Using a reverse mortgage to fund a special scholarship
USING HOUSING WEALTH TO FUND A SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIP Now both “officially” retired, you each continue to bring in gig income from personal coaching and speaking engagements. With no children or grandchildren (and therefore no need for extensive living space), you’ve nonetheless made the decision to spend your retirement years in the home you’ve occupied for […]
#291: Using a reverse mortgage to go solar
USING HOUSING WEALTH TO HEAT A HOME Now that you’re both retired, you’ve begun the process of adapting your home inside and out to better suit your future “aging in place” needs and in general to improve the décor and the front and back yards. Your appliances, HVAC system have all be updated or replaced, […]
#290: Using a reverse mortgage to
USING HOUSING WEALTH TO FUND PROTECTION PLANS Now both fully retired (as of the end of 2025) from your full-time jobs (you continue to each bring in a modest amount in gig income), you’re devoting serious effort towards streamlining your bill-paying and examining your recordkeeping “systems” and reviewing all the different kinds of insurance you […]
#289: Using a reverse mortgage to counteract clients’ market fears
USING HOME AS A HAVEN IN FINANCIAL CRISIS TIMES “Oil spike drives client calls, tests advisors’ messaging discipline”, Rob Burgess observes in Financial Planning.How true, you cannot help thinking. As a wealth management veteran, you’re spending an increasing percentage of your time reassuring clients, urging them to “stay the course” and avoid upending the careful […]
#288: Home with a reverse mortgage can be a valuable part of an estate plan.
HOME WITH A REVERSE MORTGAGE DOES NOT MAKE THE “WORST ASSETS” LIST An article you read lately has caused you to rethink your estate plan, which was originally conceived before your wife passed away. What first captured your attention was the Kiplinger article about what assets to leave for one’s heirs. “Let’s face it,” Elaine […]