Wise Reverse Mortgages Can Be a Saving Grace for Retirees
If, after considering other housing options, you have decided to remain in an eligible home or to move into a new home, you may want to consider a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) – more commonly known as a reverse mortgage – as a source of retirement income.
Should You Downsize in Retirement?
One method for freeing home equity for other uses is to downsize your home as a part of moving. Downsizing could mean either moving to a smaller home, or moving into a similar-sized home in a less expensive community.
Two Options for Funding Long-Term Care
I discuss two options for funding long-term care: self funding and Medicaid.
The Continuum of Long-Term Care
Many receive long-term care at their homes or at community centers or adult day care centers. Institutionalized living is not always required, and proper long-term care planning may allow one to remain at home longer than otherwise possible.
Costs and Incidence of Long-Term Care
How likely is a person to experience a need for different types of long-term care? This is a challenging question and it is hard to find good answers.
The Importance of Planning for Long-Term Care
Long-term care spending represents one of the most severe spending shocks that can impact retirees.
Potential Directions for Social Security
A common argument for claiming Social Security early is that the program is about to be dramatically overhauled, but it seems rather unlikely that any impending reforms would leave near retirees with significant reductions to benefits.
Arguments for Claiming Social Security Early
Believe it or not, legitimate arguments exist for claiming Social Security early.
Philosophy of Social Security Claiming Strategies
Social Security claiming strategies can be extremely complicated. Treaties on this topic, some of which are listed in the table below, provide page after page of details, nuances, and exceptions.
Calculating Social Security Retirement Benefits
I will discuss the philosophy of claiming strategies later, but first, it is meaningful to first consider how retirement benefits are calculated.
The Social Security Administration has now followed the same approach for calculating benefits since 1979.
