The Retirement Gender Gap

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Income Disparities Create Retirement Shortfalls for Women

reverse mortgage newsWhile much political attention has been given to the income gap between men and women there is another sobering fact: women aged 65 or older are 80% more likely to find themselves impoverished in retirement than their male counterparts. While the retirement crisis reaches across the gender divide it is especially damaging for women. One contributing factor is that women typically live longer than men and thus will require a larger nest egg to support retirement says Diane Oakley, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security who penned the report.

“Shortchanged in Retirement, The Continuing “Challenges to Women’s Financial Future” outlines the specific hurdles women face and how the gender gap may further stymie women’s ability to plan for retirement. “Women are financially disadvantaged because we still earn less than men and we typically take time out of our careers for caregiving- both which reduce our ability to prepare for retirement,” writes Oakley in a written statement on the report.

 

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Wishful Thinking: HECM Costs & Financing LTC

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‘Wishful Thinking’: Lowering HECM Costs & Increased Loan Adoption

reverse mortgage newsIt may be wishful thinking on the part of the Long Term Care Financing Collaborative to think that further reducing HECM costs will increase loan adoption and opportunities to finance long-term care.

Reverse Mortgage Daily Columnist Jason Oliva addressed the assumptions of the Collaborative in his February 24th column which examines the possible role home equity should play when it comes to meeting American’s long-term care needs. Despite the fact that reverse mortgages open a myriad of possibilities for older homeowners by tapping an otherwise illiquid asset, some policy experts feel the existing product may not be adequate to address long-term care costs…

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Lead Provider Invested in New Spokesman

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Affinity Partnerships launches new campaign with Danny Glover

The reverse mortgage made its early public splash with the advent of celebrity spokesmen Robert Wagner, Jerry Orbach, James Garner and the late Senator Fred Thompson to name a few. While some have questioned the effectiveness of celebrity spokespersons one online provider has invested in a new effort to educate consumers with their new spokesman Danny Glover.

ap_backDespite recent product improvements, positive media coverage and increased adoption of the HECM by financial professionals, the reverse mortgage remains largely misunderstood by the general public. Our industry has respectfully pushed back against this perception bias with educational efforts and national advertising. Celebrity spokespersons play a key role in opening public dialog and dispelling common misconceptions about the loan product.

Affinity Partnerships, an Idaho-based technology firm that builds online platforms to educate specific demographic markets is partnering with select HECM lenders featuring a new national television campaign featuring Danny Glover…

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How HECMs May Help Avoid Medicare Surcharges

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More Affluent Retirees May Find HECMs a Money Saver

It appears that the potential strategic applications of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage in retirement are as limitless and creative as the professionals who embrace the product. Case and point: using a reverse mortgage to avoid Medicare high-income surcharges.

reverse mortgage newsA recent article in Investment News by Katy Votava brings to light an interesting twist for higher-income individuals. Why would those with considerable income and assets even consider a reverse mortgage? Beyond the flexibility of using the HECM line of credit to prolong their portfolio is the advantage of possibly eliminating costly Medicare high-income surcharges. That’s correct, if Uncle Sam determines you earn too much you get to pay more for your Medicare part B and D coverage and premiums with no additional benefits. The scale used to determine the income thresholds was recently modified lowering the top three tiers.

The surcharges uses the modified adjusted income or MAGI from the tax refund filed two years prior. This means that 2018 premium surcharges will be based on…

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The Year of the Financial Advisor?

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Slow & Steady Growth Depends on Partnering with Financial Professionals

PartnershipSince the housing and economic crash of 2008 our industry has had its collective eye focused on the horizon seeking for signs of a significant rebound in reverse mortgage volume. Despite earlier predictions we have come to realize that the growth of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage will be slow and steady. With this realistic view in mind more lenders and brokers are seeing the value in partnering with financial professionals.

While the return to annual HECM endorsement volumes exceeding 100,000 units may be some years away future growth may be fueled by increasing acceptance by the financial planning community. Several factors have contributed to the increasing acceptance of the reverse mortgage in the media and by financial professionals alike: consumer safeguards, reduced costs, the rediscovery of the HECM line of credit and recent studies illustrating the benefits of incorporating the loan into modern retirement planning. The tide has begun to turn when it comes to the acceptance of a long misunderstood and maligned loan.

“There are several signs in the air that the world is starting to get a little different,” said Tom Davison

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Stock Market Losses & Reverse Mortgages

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Retriees Ignoring Home Equity May Pay Dearly in a Down Market

reverse mortgage newsUnless your television has been turned off for the last week you have seen the stock market’s plunge due to China’s currency crisis and crude oil prices. With more advisors embracing the strategic use of a HECM to prolong investment portfolios and more retirees taking a do it yourself approach to retirement reverse mortgages are positioned more than ever before to provide a timely solution.

Last September an article in the Wall Street Journal articulated how HECMs can be used to buffer against market swings and sequence risk. For those relying heavily on stocks and equities as a source of income the sequence of their withdrawals can have long-lasting effects, especially when one sells investments during a market downturn. Pfau and other notable financial professionals have championed the benefits the HECM’s line of credit in a standby reverse mortgage strategy, drawing from the credit line when portfolios have lost value rather than selling stocks for a loss in a down market.
Beyond the role advisors play in shaping retirement strategies more retirees are taking a hands on do-it-yourself strategy to…

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Seminar Marketing & Smaller Lenders

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Reverse Mortgage Seminars prove to be a valuable marketing tool

SPEAKINGToo often when we hear the word seminar we often think of get rich quick real estate presentations with high-pressure sales tactics to purchase books or other materials. But truth be told reverse mortgage seminars or workshops, depending on your choice of words, are a proven and effective marketing tool, especially for smaller lenders and broker shops.

Steve Sless of Bayshore Mortgage has embraced seminar marketing and has reaped the fruits of his efforts. Last year Sless aggressively scheduled at least one workshop per week within driving distance of his office headquartered in Maryland and Washington, D.C. One seminar had over 100 attendees in a two day period setting a personal record for closed loans. “Over two days, we had 109 people show up to the event and closed more loans from that seminar than any we put on last year,” said Sless.

Strategic and successful promotion is key to attracting attendees.

 

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Financial Columnist Changes View on HECMs

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Financial Columnist Has a Change of Heart on HECMs

+signOur industry has chaffed in years past at what many perceived as media bias against the reverse mortgage. Slanted stories, borrower tales of woe and outright misinformation are just a few examples. Even fair-minded financial writers often viewed the loan with skepticism cautioning readers to proceed with caution. Ironically recent changes to the HECM program have helped change the mind of some previous critics of the loan.

Personal finance writer Jane Bryant Quinn is no stranger to national magazines and newspaper publications. For three decades she wrote a biweekly column in Newsweek , a twice-weekly column syndicated by the Washington Post and made numerous television appearances. This well known and respected financial writer recently shifted her opinion about reverse mortgages.

 

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The Heirs are Dead Wrong: Here’s Why

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HECM Researcher outlines a win-win strategy

reverse mortgage newsAs reverse mortgage professionals each of you most likely have encountered adult children who are nervous about their parents spending away their inheritance with a reverse mortgage. However, one notable HECM researcher and tax attorney says these concerns are largely unfounded.

Inheritance is a highly-emotional and delicate subject that is often difficult to broach. But what about the facts? Barry Sacks, a practicing tax attorney tackles this difficult subject in a recent article in Reverse Mortgage Daily. He contends that the through the strategic and judicious use of a HECM a borrower can actually provide a substantial bequest with a securities portfolio, in some instances tax-free. One strategy is to employ a tax offset or deduction when their parent’s..

 

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2015: A Retrospective

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Looking back at the top stories of 2015

reverse mortgage newsWith the year’s end quickly approaching we have compiled a few short clips of the top industry-changing stories presented in the Industry Leader Update in 2015. Enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday season!
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