An Interview with Ryan Ponsford of Equity Wealth Strategies.
What is the role of financial fact-finding in originating reverse mortgages? To answer that question we interviewed wealth planner Ryan Ponsford of Equity Wealth Strategies.
Shannon Hicks
Editor in Chief: HECMWorld.com
As a prominent commentator and Editor in Chief at HECMWorld.com, Shannon Hicks has played a pivotal role in reshaping the conversation around reverse mortgages. His unique perspectives and deep understanding of the industry have not only educated countless readers but has also contributed to introducing practical strategies utilizing housing wealth with a reverse mortgage.
Shannon’s journey into the world of reverse mortgages began in 2002 as an originator and his prior work in the financial services industry. Shannon has been covering reverse mortgage news stories since 2008 when he launched the podcast HECMWorld Weekly. Later, in 2010 he began producing the weekly video series The Industry Leader Update and Friday’s Food for Thought.
Readers wishing to submit stories or interview requests can reach our team at: info@hecmworld.com.
3 Comments
Shannon this was an excellent interview with great information, I’m looking forward to part 2
Owen Coyle
Thank you, Owen. Glad you found value in this segment. Part two next week!
It is great that fact finding is being promoted but the industry has shown little apetite for it. The CRMP exam lacks any significant testing in this area. Industry training does not provide any significant emphasis on this subject. For many, they are fact finding when they complete the information required for financial assessment. Others claim that reviewing one income tax return is sufficient fact finding.
Having been trained both as an auditor and a representative of taxpayers to the IRS, it is fair to say that no one in the industry should “audit” our customers; yet there is room to pursue a better financial understanding and analysis of the facts and circumstances surrounding the financial situation of our customers.
In the first reverse mortgage company I was with, most of the originators (there over 100 in Norco, CA) had little, if any, formal training in financial matters. Some would have had a tough time to demostrate how to balance their own checking accounts. But what is being talked about should be something that is in the reach of most reverse mortgage originators but most originators have little to no idea how to perform such an analysis.
I strongly urge both the Equity Wealth Academy and industry training to work together to develop a fundamental (and higher level) course(s) in fact finding for reverse mortgage originators.