Weekly news roundup: January 15th, 2018
Half of US households are lacking the funds to retire comfortably- The National Retirement Risk Index dropped from 52 to 50% between 2013 and 16. The index-as calculated by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College- measures the percentage of American households that are unprepared for retirement. The bottom line is nearly half are underprepared to retire, even if they liquidate their assets over time and work until age 65. The most salient fact for our viewers is despite numerous cutbacks to the HECM, the program remains a valuable and viable option for today’s older homeowner.
The Republican tax law has received reviews- raves from those seeing larger paychecks or receiving bonuses from employers who saw their corporate tax rates slashed – and criticism- much centered on the inequitable impact on taxpayers who may no longer be able to deduct all their state and local taxes…
1 Comment
Is it true that the interest deduction on HECMs is only the concern of estates? That is probably far more true than it should be.
The industry is not known for being proactive. This is certainly one are where HECM originators could take on an important message to the financial community but so far has failed. Some of the best tax advisers on annuities I know are annuity sales people. While not all annuity sales people are that great there a handful that are.
I find a lot of tax knowledge among those holding the MSFS from the American College when it comes to insurance products. After all the college is primarily funded by New York Life and other insurance providers. So why is it that so few in our industry stumble when it comes to providing accurate information on the income tax aspects of reverse mortgages? Unfortunately even the education offered there on reverse mortgages is not up to the standard of its education related to insurance.
Again is this because of some passive or reactive characteristics which are inherent in the industry? One would not describe our industry as proactive.
On yet a different topic, I cannot agree more with Shannon in describing the shut down of Reverse Review as the loss of an industry friend. While it is most likely NOT the case, I would love to see this source of communication resuscitated in the near future.