Shifting Into Reverse Blog
#199: Using a reverse mortgage as a deferred annuity
USE HOME EQUITY NOW TO GROW FUTURE INCOME STREAM You consider yourself (your spouse generally agrees with this assessment) a very reasoned person when it comes to handling financial decisions. Now retired and in your early 70s, you’ve been witness, over the years, to some of the best and worst times in the stock market. […]
#198: Using a reverse mortgage to avoid excess taxes on Social Security
REVERSE MORTGAGE – A “NEW” IDEA THAT DOESN’T TRIGGER “NEW” TAX In your seventh year of retirement (you’re 69, he’s 73), you’re becoming increasingly concerned with rising everyday costs, especially those for food and gasoline. You home is fully paid for and you’ve kept it well-maintained, so that’s not a present concern. As you consider […]
#197: The importance of sharing your plan with heirs
REVERSE MORTGAGE PLAYS PROMINENT ROLE IN ESTATE PLAN Now about to “really retire” at ages 71 and 70 (you have each continued to work part time for the past five or six years), you’re in the process of updating your investment and estate plans. Having now made the firm decision to remain in your present […]
#196: Dealing with a reverse mortgage during a divorce
WHEN DIVORCE DO US SENIORS PART You wryly describe your situation as a “gray marriage turned black”. When you (a widower) and she (a divorcee) married six years ago, you bought your present home together, financing it through a combination of equal contributions of cash and a HECM-for-purchase reverse mortgage. Your soon-to-be ex has already […]
#195: The place of reverse mortgages in retirement planning
REVERSE MORTGAGES TAKE RIGHTFUL PLACE ON CLIENTS’ NEED-TO-KNOW LIST Fully three and a half years ago, in an early Shift Into Reverse blog post, we addressed the compliance principles that apply when financial advisors discuss with clients products they themselves are not licensed to sell, such as property/casualty or long term care insurance and reverse […]
#194: After age 62, consider housing wealth as line of first resort
FOR THOSE OVER AGE 62, A FIFTH OPTION MIGHT PROVE MOST FEASIBLE In Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine, financial planner Mario Hernandez recalls a conversation he had with a client who was looking to fund the construction of a swimming pool at his house. The client had enough cash to pay for the project, but had […]
#193: Using housing wealth to take over from Rule of 55 withdrawal plan
RULE OF 55 NOW, REVERSE MORTGAGE LATER Now 57, you’re planning to take early retirement from your current full-time position in order to be more available to help your parents, who need assistance getting to doctors’ appointments and with managing their affairs. You may or may not find yourself able to take on some temporary […]
#192: Using housing wealth to realize second home dream
ACQUIRING A SECOND HOME NEED NOT BE A NIGHTMARE “For some clients, a second home might sound like an impossible dream. But advisors warn that the maintenance, tax bills, and insurance headaches (if you can even get insurance) can easily turn the reverie into a nightmare,” Ben Mattlin cautions in Financial Advisor Magazine. On the […]
#191: Using home equity to become a real estate investor
FROM HOMEOWNER TO HOMEOWNER-INVESTOR You’ve long understood the wealth-building power of real estate, but, until recently, the demands of family and career have made becoming an investor a non-feasible proposition. Now retired and “born again single”, you are considering buying and renting out (initially one, eventually a couple of other) modest residential properties in […]