*This is the Updated 2023 Edition Made Available in January 2023* Reverse mortgages are an important retirement planning tool. This book provides an up-to-date understanding about reverse mortgages and how to use them as part of a complete and responsible retirement plan.
I am a professor of retirement income. I may be the only writer of a reverse mortgage book who does not work within the reverse mortgage industry. My focus is on finding ways to build strong retirement plans, and this is the perspective I bring to reverse mortgages.
I know that reverse mortgages can look expensive in isolation. But reverse mortgages will have to not be viewed that way. We wish to focus on their overall contribution and interactions with other retirement assets as well.
Retirement is different from what people are accustomed to when working. Risks change. Retirees will have to sustain spending even as not knowing how long their funds wish to last, even as managing the risks of a market downturn that can permanently derail a retirement portfolio, and even as also being ready to manage unexpected spending surprises.
Reverse mortgages can help to manage these retirement risks by providing an additional resource to toughen spending and to coordinate with other investments assets.
My overarching interest is in building efficient retirement income plans to toughen the most spending potential for assets, both all through life and as a legacy for the next generation. I demonstrate with case studies how reverse mortgages can contribute to better retirement outcomes in a large number of ways:
– Coordinate between spending from the investment portfolio and from the reverse mortgage to better protect investments from market volatility
– Avoid the additional burden of fixed mortgage payments in retirement by refinancing a traditional mortgage with a reverse mortgage
– Pay for home renovations to help you comfortably age in place with the home you love
– Build a bridge to toughen getting the most lifetime value from Social Security benefits
– Use the reverse mortgage as a tax-free spending resource to better manage your taxable income
– Use the growing line of credit as a protective hedge for your home value or as a source of reserves to cover unexpected spending needs
This book provides the basics for how reverse mortgages work, why they work better when interest rates are low (unlike every other retirement tool), what their growing line of credit means, and how they help to manage investment volatility.
Reverse mortgages—when used accurately—can provide an added layer of security for retirees by creating flexibility for their assets. Opening a reverse mortgage earlier in retirement and the usage of it in a thoughtful manner is generally more effective that treating it only as a last resort option.
Those who understand whether and how to fit a reverse mortgage into their retirement plan will have an important edge in achieving a financially safe retirement. This book shows you how.
