Ok, Boomers, we need to talk. The majority of advertising and news coverage are increasingly ignoring the Baby Boomers. It is easy to find news about the Millennials-but it seems Baby Boomers are not nearly as fashionable to talk about—except for ridicule by Gen X’ers. Born between 1946 and 1964, boomers have dominated every economic and social trend since they were born.
Expect that about ten thousand people per day will turn sixty-two until nearly 2040. Thus, forecasting that by 2030 we will have more than seventy million Americans over the age of sixty-five. Wheelchairs may actually outnumber strollers. The social, medical, political, and economic impact is simply not well understood. Yet, most people are not prepared for the implications.
Why you should care?
Americans are living longer, needing more health care and long-term care, spending more and saving less, and somehow, this is all supposed to work itself out. However, it can’t and it won’t. Not without using a typically scorned financial product to activate some of the $6 trillion currently stored in older Americans’ home equity.
The vast majority of older adults over sixty-two and their financial advisors and their adult children don’t want a reverse mortgage and prefer to use it as a loan of last resort after exhausting all other options. Fewer than five out of one hundred homeowners over sixty-two have taken advantage of this safe and insured program.
In an April 2017 CNBC article, Andrew Osterland said, “You don’t have to be old, poor, and stupid to get a reverse mortgage.” The evidence and research clearly show that the best time to get one of these is when you are younger, have money left, and are financially savvy.
What can you do about it?
Want to learn more about how to “have your cake and eat it too?”. About how you or your clients can live better through retirement and still leave a substantial estate to their children? Call me. Let’s meet for coffee and reverse your thinking about reverse mortgages.
Originally appeared 10/15/2020