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Over the last year, the questions I receive from financial advisors during reverse mortgage seminars have changed dramatically. The conversation is no longer: “Does the bank own the home?” Now it sounds more like: “How does home equity fit into a modern retirement income strategy?” That’s a much more interesting discussion and a more important one in service to their clients. Here are the Top 10 questions financial advisors are asking right now about reverse mortgages, plus o

A diagnosis. A fall. A sudden need for care. A parent who can no longer manage at home the way they used to. When that moment arrives, the questions sound very different. It’s no longer, “What are our options?” Instead, it becomes, “What can we still do?” That shift matters more than most people realize. I saw this firsthand last week in a room full of people navigating very different stages of the same conversation. If you missed that story, you can read it here: One Seminar

The presenters were prepared, the coffee hot, and the room full of people carrying very different stories. Last week, I co-hosted a seminar with an estate planning attorney entitled "How to Best Address Long-Term Care." Some attendees came for professional reasons. Some came because life had recently forced the topic onto their calendar. One guest works in the Medicare & Medicaid world and wanted to better understand how these conversations intersect with aging, care, and fam

When Tom and Linda discovered water damage behind a basement wall, they assumed insurance would help cover the cost. But when the insurance carrier determined it was a maintenance issue and not covered by the policy, Tom & Linda found themselves in a difficult situation. By the time cleanup, mitigation, drywall repair, flooring replacement, and plumbing work were quoted, they were staring at a bill well into five figures. They had several potential solutions, but none felt id

It’s one of those quotes that hits because it’s simple and poignant: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson Tyson wasn’t talking about financial planning, parenting, or retirement. He was talking about boxing. But the principle translates cleanly: plans feel solid right up until reality shows up uninvited. And reality always shows up, usually at the worst possible time. The question isn’t whether life will “punch you in the mouth.” It will. T

There’s a subdued shift happening in how we should think about retirement. For years, the narrative was simple: work hard, save enough, and eventually you’re done . Done working. Done worrying. Done needing to figure things out. But that idea doesn’t hold up in real life. Because retirement isn’t something you finish. It’s something you manage ; day after day, year after year. And when you approach an ongoing system with a “finish line” mindset, things tend to break down. The

There’s a strange tension in how we experience time. A Tuesday afternoon can feel endless. A long winter week can crawl. But zoom out, and entire years vanish. You blink - and a decade is gone. This is front-and-center for me right now. My oldest daughter will be graduating high school in a few weeks before heading off to college. Wasn’t she just my two-year-old buddy… yesterday? The days felt long. The years didn’t. The Time Paradox Most People Don’t Plan For In retirement p

I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. The majority come from financial advisors, wealth managers, and estate planning attorneys. Not only do I enjoy reading what others write, I also enjoy finding patterns. Over the past few weeks, the message from financial advisors and wealth managers has been remarkably consistent: Stay disciplined with the plan. Stay diversified. Stay focused on what you can control. That’s sound advice. It always is. But here’s the part that often goes un

Turn on the news in March of 2026 and it’s hard to miss the themes. War in the Middle East. Oil prices jumping above $100 per barrel. Interest rates remain elevated. Daily swings in the stock market. Global energy markets are reacting to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, a route responsible for roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply, sending prices sharply higher and increasing financial market volatility. For investors, it’s unsettling. For retirees, it can be somethin

For years, the common advice was simple: “Don’t touch the house. Save it for last.” That sounds conservative. Responsible. Safe. But when Retirement Researcher Wade Pfau ran the numbers in his 2016 research in the Journal of Financial Planning Incorporating Home Equity into a Retirement Income Strategy , the results told a different story. And not in a dramatic, sales-y way, but in a math way. Who is Wade Pfau? Wade Pfau is a professor of retirement income. In his book, ‘Th

What to say when someone is hinting at a solution they might not realize exists. Most retirees will never say: “I should explore a reverse mortgage loan.” They will, however, talk about pressure. Pressure around income, rising costs, and long-term care. Pressure about staying in their home or about having wealth tied up in the house but not accessible. If you choose to listen for and recognize these five concerns, you’ll know when a simple introduction could make a meaningfu

I was in Texas last week with my daughter for a soccer tournament. This was my first trip to the Lone Star State, and I wasn’t leaving without experiencing a Texas rodeo. A bull rider bursts out of the chute. Less than three seconds later, he’s airborne. Not nudged off, not gently dislodged. Launched. Fifteen feet up, legs above his head, with the bull already turning back toward him before he lands on the dirt. Eight seconds is the goal in bull riding. He didn’t get half of

When I sit down with a homeowner that is considering a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM - the FHA-sponsored version of the reverse mortgage loan), there are two questions I ask early. I don’t ask these questions as a formality or to simply 'check a box;' if anything, it's a reality check on important planning: 1. Do you have a Trust or Estate Plan? 2. What’s your plan for Long Term Care? If either answer is “I think so,” “not yet,” or “we’ll figure it out when we need to

Most conversations about reverse mortgage loans start with opinions. They should start with facts. Below is a numbers-first breakdown of a HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) , the FHA-insured reverse mortgage loan, so homeowners, families, and advisors can evaluate it with clarity instead of assumptions. $0: Payments required for the life of the loan No principal or interest payments are required while the borrower lives in the home and meets loan responsibilities. The b

If you asked most homeowners to describe a reverse mortgage loan, you’d probably hear something like this: “It’s a last resort.” “It’s for people who ran out of money.” “It’s something you do when there are no other choices left.” That reputation didn’t come from nowhere. Early versions of the product were clunky, poorly explained, and often introduced far too late in the conversation. But that reputation has quietly stuck long after the product itself evolved. And today, tha

I get asked a fair question more often than you might think: “Why do you go so deep on this stuff?” Reverse mortgages are not simple products. They sit at the intersection of housing, taxes, healthcare, family dynamics, estate planning, and human emotion. If I’m going to help someone make a decision that could affect the rest of their life, their spouse, or their kids, “good enough” preparation doesn’t cut it. So here’s what my preparation actually looks like. I research how

I spend a lot of time teaching. I host workshops for homeowners age 62+, present continuing education sessions for financial advisors, and partner with professionals who serve the senior community. One of the best parts of that work is hearing the questions people ask when they slow down enough to ask poignant questions. At a CE session last week, an advisor posed what I think is a genuinely great question: “If a client owns a $1,000,000 home free and clear, has ample assets

When long-term care shows up, families either already have a plan in place or are forced to make one under pressure. Most families don’t avoid planning for long-term care because they don’t care. They avoid it because everything feels fine right now. The house is paid off, retirement income is working, and life has found a nice rhythm. This plan, this muted strategy, quietly defaults to one option: we’ll deal with it later ... if we have to. But long-term care rarely arrives

A better starting point for couples approaching or living in retirement. Most retirement conversations start in the same place. Returns. Rates. Projections. Charts that look great on paper. That makes sense; You have to start somewhere when you’re planning decades in advance. But as retirement gets closer, or officially begins, reality shows up - usually without an appointment or a heads up. We don’t live on spreadsheets. We live in real life. And real life has a way of expos

For decades, many homeowners were taught one financial rule on repeat: Pay off the house. Never touch the equity. Save it for later. Then retirement shows up…and “later”... is now. Reverse mortgage loans didn’t start as a sophisticated planning tool; they were designed to act as a backstop. But over time, they’ve quietly become a way to add flexibility, create options, and reduce pressure when retirement doesn’t unfold exactly as planned - or when your plans change in retirem