Your House Is An Asset

The Reality Of Our World Today And Traditional Financial Thinking Just Doesn’t Work Anymore.

I read a pamphlet by Leon­ard A. Renier a Financial Plan­ner, The Family Legacy, and he asks the question “what in the last several years has the finan­cial services industry done to improve the lives of the aver­age American?”

He is talking about saving for retirement.

Salaries have not kept up with the cost of goods, shelter or raising a family in most of the world.

The landscape changed about 10+ years ago and those getting ready to retire or recently retired don’t have enough money either.

Nobel Prize-winning econ­omist Robert Merton said in a recent article “the idea of leaving the house as a bequest is flawed.”

He continues “we need to start thinking about the house differently, viewing it as an asset rather than treating is as part of our legacy.”

We must live in the econo­my that surrounds us.

If you are getting ready to retire are you able to have the same standard of living in retirement as you did when working?

Do you have to work a bit lon­ger? Do you want to work that long? Will you be able to work that long?

For those that have retired is it the retirement you worked so hard to obtain?

As millions of Baby Boomers reach their retirement years, a poor economy and shaky job market in the previous 15 years, has made the transition into retirement a little more difficult.

I’m an advocate of Re­verse Mortgage, because I want to have the same standard of living as I do now when I retire, and frankly that isn’t going to happen unless I tap in to the largest single investment I have ever purchased: My house.

I was taught to buy a house pay it off and never touch the equity. Why?

We were not meant to retire with a mortgage payment because in retirement our expenses need to be lower and housing is the highest expense we have.

I can still retire, com­fortably and for my life, in my home with no mortgage payment

Again quoting, Robert Merton “The house is like an annuity. It pro­vides the housing you need for as many years as you need it.”

I believe, if planned properly, a Reverse Mortgage can be the fourth bucket of money in retirement planning.