It’s easy to find people who say you should not touch the equity in your home, but that tends to be an emotional response that is out of sync with Americans' reality.  This is why many leading academic journals and news organizations are talking about the importance of home equity in retirement.

In a previous era, people paid off their homes, they had lifetime employment, pensions paid their bills and they didn’t live as long.  Now, healthcare inflation far exceeds wage growth, employment isn’t nearly as secure, and few have pensions – at least ones they can rely upon.

If you’re trying to cut a board in half, a hammer is a terrible tool.  This analogy applies to most financial products or strategies – the pros and cons depend on the context.

One of the most frequent questions we hear is, “Do reverse mortgages make sense?” But that’s not where the conversation starts. Over the last 9 years I’ve seen a recurring pattern that goes like this: rejection, confusion, understanding, disbelief, acceptance.

The Rejection stage reminds me of a quote: What we don't understand, we fear. What we fear, we judge as evil. What we judge as evil, we attempt to control. And what we cannot control...we attack.  –D. Brown

When people learn reverse mortgages are safe, highly-regulated, government-insured loans, they realize those who say, “Reverse mortgages are a scam,” are ignorant; they just lack knowledge.