Reverse Mortgage Archives - Page 108 of 195

Lessons Learned on Vacation

Amid fun & relaxation, vacations provide teachable moments
There are teachable moments to be found during our vacations. Here are some of my personal take-aways…

There’s a big difference between your ability to sell something versus your prospect’s ability to buy into the idea of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage. Who is responsible for explaining the HECM to family members?

About John Luddy: John has trained reverse mortgage professionals how to be successful when sitting face-to-face at the kitchen table with prospective HECM borrowers. Norcom is looking for qualified loan officer candidates. To learn more call 1-860-507-2582 or email John Luddy here

Fill out my online form.

Norcom Mortgage reverse mortgage sales tips sales tips

Chasing the Carrot: We Catch It In Our Late 60s

Are you happy? It’s one of life’s perennial questions. The Declaration of Independence promises us the right to pursue happiness, but doesn’t guarantee its attainment. Instead, the Founding Fathers held out a carrot on a stick.

Money, like love and happiness, is one of life’s carrots: sometimes elusive, always sought, deliciously sweet when obtained. But if you believe happiness peaks in, say, our thirties, when we’re in our physical prime and often settled into a cushy career and family life, you’d be wrong.

According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science, we’re happiest at 69… which is exactly three times the previous happiest age: 23. The U-shaped curve reflects unmet aspirations: just starting out, people overestimate where they’ll be later in life; post-retirement, people abandon regrets and experience the obverse of a shiny, expectant twenty-something. After age 75, happiness again declines, as people begin to grapple with encroaching mortality.

32,000 Days

Personally, I dispute the study’s findings. At 23, having surrendered the relative freedom of student life for 9 to 5, I wondered, “Is this all there is?” I felt resigned and confined, and didn’t start to feel truly happy until I began awakening to my life purpose in my late thirties. I can’t speak to 69 yet; that’s still a few years off.

But if age is less a measure of happiness than attitude and gratitude, it behooves us all to take contentment (or the lack of it) into our own hands, regardless of how many trips around the sun we’ve taken.

One statistic that may help: 8000 days. Joseph Coughlin, director of MIT’s AgeLab, says there are “roughly 8,000 days between birth and college graduation; 8,000 days between college graduation and a midlife crisis; 8,000 days between a midlife crisis and retirement and, if you do retirement planning, another 8,000 days in retirement.” That works out to 87.6 years. Just contemplating these 32,000 ticking days may be enough to jump-start the happiness clock.

A Man With a Plan

Then there’s the iconic T. Boone Pickens, still happily at work on his encore career at 89, who writes, “I’ve long thought in terms of resurgence rather than retirement. One of my longtime associates likes to say, ‘Boone has been in the prime of his life three times.’ Indeed, an imaginary headline has captivated me for years: ‘The Old Man Makes a Comeback.’ And I have, repeatedly, most recently from mini-strokes I experienced in December.

“I hope that I can serve as a role model for how to live in the fourth quarter of life. The rewards are beyond anything I experienced as a ‘young man.’ Age is meaningless in some instances. I didn’t make my first billion until I was 70. Opportunity comes in many forms, and in America it is endless. We are allowed second, third, fourth, and fifth acts — and who knows how many more.

“I’ve lived by a watch that tells time a bit differently. I embrace change. Those facing retirement age don’t need a new watch but rather a different outlet. You can stay around as long as you stay active — and, of course as I’ve mentioned time and again — you have a plan.”

The New York Times’ New Old Age blog agrees: it’s moments, not money, that make later life memorable. Of course, not having to worry about the money makes it easier to enjoy the moments, and that’s where a HECM comes in.

The Wisdom to Relax

Resurgence requires resilience, and this ability to be flexible springs from a yoga of the mind. An enduring piece of guidance that has helped millions of people of all ages is the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change / Courage to change the things I can / And the wisdom to know the difference.”

Happiness arises when elders are able to relax into change and allow themselves to step into new roles later in life, as Pickens and William Shatner exemplify. This may mean releasing frustrations with technology or the behavior of younger people who may be hurried — or less thoughtful than warranted.

One LO reflects, “I am finding as I get older that I am more easily frustrated with minor mishaps, and more impatient with things such as kids acting up in restaurants, and not being corrected by accompanying adults. People who are so busy looking down at their phones while stopped at a traffic light that they don’t go when the light changes…and because of their delay I get stuck with another light change cycle.

“My solution now is to try to ignore it and recall the Reader’s Digest article from many years ago that asked, ‘Is it worth it?'”

So if you’re meeting with youthful potential borrowers (or their kids) who are planning well as they approach retirement, you can let them know their happiest moments likely lie ahead. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with a reverse mortgage per se. But knowing this financial resource is available will certainly make that carrot taste sweeter.

What are your thoughts? Please leave your input in the Comments section below, and share this post on social media using the Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn icons at the top of this page. Thank you!

Aging investing retirement saving

The Power of Celebrity

The New York Times Examines Reverse Mortgage Celebrity Spokespersons

There may be a window of opportunity in the wake of President Trump’s call to overhaul regulations for financial institutions and housing agencies. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) submitted several requests to HUD to update and refine the non-borrowing spouse provisions of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, and improve the rules for HECM purchase transactions. An opportune moment indeed as HUD has asked for inputs to identify regulations that impose an undue burden.

The addition of non-borrowing spouse protections was a welcomed change that provided protection for the spouses of HECM borrowers not named on the loan and removed a thorn in the side of the HECM industry that buoyed claims of reverse mortgages unfairly punishing widows and widowers in their most painful and vulnerable hours. While several tweaks have been made in recent years, NRMLA has asked for improvements addressing conflicting language in HECM loan documents and provide protection to non-borrowing spouses.

While getting a reverse mortgage is complex, unwinding the loan can be even more complicated for surviving non-borrowing spouses, heirs and services

Download the video transcript here.

AAG American Advisors Group New York Times Tom Selleck

The Windshield Panic

1954 mass delusion proves that you see what you’re looking for

The year was 1954- long before rumors could catch fire on social media or the internet. That year residents began reporting strange pitting in their windshield. Soon, thousands across the greater Seattle area were reporting seeing these strange pits in their windshields. Our attitude is the windshield through which we view the world but it must be periodically cleaned.

life coaching positive outlook

Mouthwash

Why you should keep mouthwash in your car…always

As an experienced salesman, John Luddy is well versed in the do’s an dont’s of in-home sales. One is showing up with bad breath.

Fill out my online form.

Norcom Mortgage sales tips

Retirement Wizardry: Where the Smart Money Meets Reverse Mortgage Magic

As 10,000 baby boomers a day turn 65 (a phenomenon that began in 2011 and continues through 2029), retirement savings — or the lack thereof — continues to be grist for financial columnists nationwide. And while writers tout the importance of scrupulous saving — this chart shows the median net worth of a householder aged 65-69 to be just under $200,000 — what these actuarial tables fail to take into account is the noteworthy John Lennon lyric: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Someone still shy of retirement age may have had every intention of going grandly into a well-cushioned old age, saving and investing diligently — and been wiped out by a health crisis not covered by insurance, an economic downturn, or an act of nature (e.g., fire, flood, tornado).

You probably know at least one person who fits this profile, if not half a dozen. They’ve saved sincerely, and life intervened. With Social Security becoming benefit negative by 2020, and more seniors being urged to wait until age 70 to apply for it, the need for the reverse mortgage option is growing.

Yet many older Americans are still reluctant to tap their home equity. Lack of understanding typically underpins such reticence. Granted, the HECM is complex. But many older adults may need to take a step back initially, to assess what aging in place means, whether they are best suited to doing so, and how to begin readying their lives and home for the next life stage.

The rest of this post directly addresses your prospects. You are welcome to post it on your own reverse mortgage website or blog, or use the material in emails and presentations, to help open the reverse mortgage conversation.

Aging in Place with Aplomb

For people who are healthy and want to remain in their own home as they grow older, a reverse mortgage can help make this a reality. The first step is determining whether aging in place is in your best interest.

Here are 7 guidelines a homeowner can use to decide whether they want to age in place, and if so, whether to explore a reverse mortgage. Aging in place can serve you well if:

You have sufficient equity in your home to qualify for a reverse mortgage, also known as a HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage);
Your health is generally good, and you’re mobile;
You have a network of local family, friends, and neighbors you can rely on;
You drive — or public transportation is readily accessible;
You live in a safe neighborhood;
Your home can be modified to address changing needs;
You’re outgoing, well connected, and able to reach out for social support.

A House That Adapts to Your Needs

Home modification is important, even — especially — if you’re healthy and active now. Our bodies and needs change over time. Someone who is spry in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s may be glad their house “ages with them” as they grow older.

A few simple home modifications can make a big difference. These features, elements of what’s known as “universal design,” can affordably retrofit your home for greater safety and peace of mind:

Grab bars, especially in the shower and bathtub;
Hand rails. People can slip at any age and take a tumble; as we age, this can result in a broken hip or worse;
Ramps. They can also be installed temporarily if someone needs to use a wheelchair for a short time, such as when recovering from surgery;
Door widening to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers, and four-pronged canes;
Low thresholds to avoid tripping, and to make it easier to navigate with assistive devices (walkers, canes, etc.);
Kitchen and bathroom modifications to make cabinets easier to reach, floors less slippery.

Your Purse-onal PERS

You may be familiar with personal emergency response systems (PERS), which are usually sold as a pendant, bracelet or watch you can wear to summon help in an emergency. Now there’s a PERS equivalent for your finances.

SilverBills, a startup founded by an attorney and CPA whose mission is to help people age with dignity and security, makes it easy to pay bills accurately and on time. The digital service deducts payments from your existing bank account or from an escrow account that SilverBills establishes for you with an FDIC-insured bank; they do not have access to your bank account. You also have a dedicated, specially trained customer support representative — a skilled “business assistant” to help ensure you’re protected from financial fraud.

Do You Believe In Magic?

Fans of the Harry Potter books may not realize that Hogwarts’ headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, also knew something about smart retirement planning. (That’s what happens when you live to be 150.)

For those of us with somewhat shorter potential lifespans, Dumbledore says, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Even saving $25 a week at 5-percent compound daily interest will grow to $41,302 in 20 years’ time, a nice adjunct to your HECM loan.

Take heart (and inspiration) from an extraordinary 18-year-old, who saved $85,000 working part-time jobs since age eight — while going to school and volunteering at a retirement home, where she started a Cyber Seniors program to help residents learn technology.

So save what you can, be smart about managing your finances, and keep your wand handy. With equity in your home and a positive aging in place profile, the HECM option can transform money concerns into real retirement magic.

What are your thoughts? Please leave your input in the Comments section below, and share this post on social media using the Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn icons at the top of this page. Thank you!

Aging aging in place longevity seniors