Tag: 55+

Quittin’ time at 65 – Says who?

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story, FHA HECM, Retirement Planning, Reverse Mortgage
by Laurie MacNaughton, as published in Loudoun Times Mirror © 9/21/2013

It goes by many names: “bridge job,” “encore career,” “recareering,” or simply “delayed retirement.” But no matter what it’s called, the fact remains – as life expectancy edges ever higher, many of us can expect to live another quarter century after the traditional age of retirement.

As a consequence of rising longevity, increasing numbers of Americans are making the decision – some willingly, some less so – to switch jobs but continue working. In fact, more than one in three Americans now works past the traditional retirement age of 65.

And that number is expected to rise dramatically. According to a Gallup poll out in May, 75% of Americans plan to work until they are 70, or “as long as possible.” The reasons cited, however, are far more varied, and in some cases far more nuanced, than just the need for more income. In fact, respondents were evenly divided between those planning to work for financial reasons and those planning to work for self-fulfillment, to stay active, or to continue to contribute to their community.

These facts suggest an interesting question: is the prevailing idea of “old” itself old? Or, put another way, as a society are we operating under guidelines with obsolete assumptions and outdated definitions – ones that say 65 is quittin’ time?

In After the Recovery: Help Needed – The Coming Labor Shortage and How People in Encore Careers Can Help Solve It, noted economist Barry Bluestone states that precisely the areas projected to be most in demand in the coming years represent the most common encore careers: teaching, health services, faith organizations, government, and non-profits.

There are other interesting trends as well: older Americans overwhelmingly represent business startups, with the Small Business Administration reporting that more than five million Americans over the age of 55 are either business owners or self-employed. Furthermore, twice as many high-tech startup companies are established by those aged 55 and older than by those in their 20s or 30s.

A visit to any local networking group will reveal the extent of this trend: startups include everything from micro-farmers who grow herbs and vegetables for local restaurants, to interior design services, private chefs, pet trainers, social media content providers, event planners, and high tech consultants.  Real estate in the greater D.C. region is once again booming, with a consequent wave of new realtors jumping into the field, following retirement from other sectors. Many of these older entrepreneurs find their new careers not simply fulfilling, but lucrative as well.

Not all second careers are seamless transitions between one profession and the next. Careers in the ministry, real estate, health care and many others require training, and some require degrees.

There are many organizations that offer training, including community colleges. Online sites can also be helpful. Workforce 50 (http://www.workforce50.com/), Encore.org (www.encore.org/learn/over-50-and-looking-job), Senior Job Bank (www.seniorjobbank.org/), along with many others, offer both online help and contact information for further assistance.

The so-called leading edge boomers, those Americans now hitting the traditional age of retirement, literally changed the world with their determination to redefine the rules and do things their own way. And there is no indication they’re going to start “listening to the man” just because they’re turning 65.

Laurie MacNaughton [NMLS 506562] is a freelance writer and Reverse Mortgage Consultant at Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank. She can be reached at: 703-477-1183 or LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com.

 

Trulia Report Finds It’s Still Cheaper to Buy a Home Than to Rent

by ReverseLady, posted in FHA HECM, Retirement Planning, Reverse Mortgage

Reposted from NationalMortgageProfessional.com   Mon, 2013-09-23

Trulia has released its Summer 2013 Rent vs. Buy report, revealing whether buying a home is more affordable than renting in America’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. Looking at homes for sale and for rent on Trulia between June 1 and Aug.31, 2013, this study compares the average cost of renting and owning for all homes on the market in a metro area, factoring in all cost components including transaction costs, taxes, and opportunity costs.

In the last year, the mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan rose from 3.75 percent to 4.80 percent, raising the cost of buying a home relative to renting. Home-ownership is now 35 percent cheaper than renting nationally, down from being 45 percent cheaper one year ago. Yet despite their current upward climb, mortgage rates will not tip the housing market nationally in favor of renting over buying until rates hit 10.5 percent nationally, given current home prices and rents.

While home-ownership is still more affordable than renting in all of the 100 largest metros, rising mortgage rates may soon turn the tide. Buying a home is now less than 10 percent cheaper than renting in San Jose and San Francisco—a dramatic shift from being 31 percent and 28 percent cheaper a year ago, respectively. Even in Detroit, where purchasing a home is a no brainer, buying has narrowed to being 65 percent cheaper than renting in 2013, versus being 70 percent cheaper in 2012. If rates keep rising and current rents and prices remain flat, San Jose will become the first housing market to tip in favor of renting once mortgage rates hit 5.2 percent.

“While it’s hard to believe after the recent spike in mortgage rates, it’s still more than one-third cheaper to buy a home than to rent,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. “Recent mortgage rate and home price increases have made buying significantly more expensive than last year, but not enough to tip the math in favor of renting. This is because rates remain well below historical norms, and prices are still slightly undervalued, too.”

 Laurie

Laurie MacNaughton [NMLS# 506562] · Reverse Mortgage Consultant, President’s Club · Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank · 20937 Ashburn Road, Suite 115 ·Ashburn, Virginia 20147 · 703-477-1183 Direct · LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com

 
Licensed in: Maryland (MD), Washington, DC, Virginia (VA), Pennsylvania (PA), Delaware (DE), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Georgia (GA), Tennessee (TN).

                 

Reversal of Fortune – One Advisor’s Use of Reverse Mortgage in Planning Boomers’ Retirement

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story

Boomers not only went into the Great Recession with scanty savings, but they have had less time to recover before retirement. Consequently, reverse mortgage is likely to play a crucial role in their long-term financial planning.

This is a great piece on one wealth manager’s use of reverse mortgages as he works to create a secure retirement for his clients.

http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways-2013/reversal-of-fortune-2686616-1.html?ET=financialplanning:e14811:71855a:&st=email&gpt_units=/30Days30Ways/

To learn more about reverse mortgage, give me a call – I always love hearing from you.

Laurie

Laurie MacNaughton [NMLS# 506562] · Reverse Mortgage Consultant, President’s Club · Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank · 20937 Ashburn Road, Suite 115 ·Ashburn, Virginia 20147 · 703-477-1183 Direct · LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com

Licensed in: Maryland (MD), Washington, DC, Virginia (VA), Pennsylvania (PA), Delaware (DE), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Georgia (GA), Tennessee (TN).

Seven ”Life Hacks” to Help Keep You Out of the Nursing Home

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story

aging.png

To read the original piece, see:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/08/in-boston-how-one-neighborhood-went-about-aging-in-place.html

What strategies do you employ as you age in place, or as you help others do so?

Give me a call or shoot me a line to share your ideas – I always love hearing from you.

Laurie

Laurie MacNaughton [NMLS# 506562] · Reverse Mortgage Consultant, President’s Club · Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank · 20937 Ashburn Road, Suite 115 ·Ashburn, Virginia 20147 · 703-477-1183 Direct

LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com

 
Licensed in: Maryland (MD), Washington, DC, Virginia (VA), Pennsylvania (PA), Delaware (DE), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Georgia (GA), Tennessee (TN).

Hop on the “Aging in Place” Bandwagon

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story
By Jacqueline D. Byrd , Esq.
Used By Permission

He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign. — Victor Hugo, French poet and novelist (1802-1885)

The aging in place concept and planning for aging in place is a bandwagon that all seniors should hop on quickly. Just about 100 percent of older adults, if they could have their choice, would choose to grow old and die in their own home.

These days, we are faced with sequestration that looks like it has no end. As government help grows more and more scarce, we need to work together to find other sources of help and to make aging in place the most practical and affordable way to care for a growing population of older Americans.

Aging in place means remaining in one’s home safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level. It is a concept that is exciting for many reasons, not the least of which is that it can mean the pleasure of living in a familiar environment throughout our lifetime.

The Aging in Place Council, www.ageinplace.org, provides links to organizations collaborating on accomplishment of aging in place goals. The National Association of Home Builders offers courses and certification for aging in place building specialists. This program teaches the technical, business management and customer service skills essential for completing home modifications for the aging in place concept. Sometimes seniors can remain in their own homes with just a few simple modifications such as barrier-free bathrooms, wider halls, grab bars and better lighting. These can be less expensive over the years than an assisted living apartment. A web-based directory, www.nahb.org, lists Certified Aging in Place Specialists who have been trained in the unique needs of the older adult population.

Another industry important to the aging in place concept is the reverse mortgage industry. These programs are largely controlled by the government, and loan applicants must meet with an independent FHA-approved housing counselor to be certain that they understand the reverse mortgage program.

Briefly, a reverse mortgage is a financial tool designed to help you remain in your home and retain full ownership. It allows you to convert the money you have built up as home equity into income that you can use however you choose. Unlike a traditional mortgage, there is no repayment until you permanently leave your home. There are no income or credit requirements to qualify, and because the funds are considered to be a loan rather than income, they are tax free and do not affect regular Social Security or Medicare benefits.

To take advantage of this program, you must be age 62 or older and the home must be your primary residence. If you have a deep desire to leave your home to your children or other heirs, it’s important to discuss the possibility of that with the reverse mortgage people. Sometimes a reverse mortgage and the wish to leave your home to your heirs do not go together well. Make sure you understand that issue completely before signing on the dotted line.

Those who sell long-term care insurance find the aging in place idea a perfect complement to their business. The idea of staying at home comfortably is a consumer hot button, says Nancy Morith, president of N.P. Morith Inc. in New Jersey. “People really want to stay on their own turf. They have created their own nest and want to continue to surround it with family and friends.” Most long-term care policies sold today include care at home options.

Geriatric Care Managers, www.caremanager.org, provide extremely important and helpful resources when seniors wish to stay at home. When care is needed, a professional care manager, often a nurse, will make informed judgments to stretch the senior’s funds. They help you decide such questions as whether you need a full-time or part-time aide, or what equipment or home modifications you may need. To find a care manager in this area, you can check with the Mid-Atlantic Association of Geriatric Care Managers, www.gcmonline.org.

In the rapidly growing senior housing industry, aging in place is a term used in marketing by Continuing Care Retirement Communities. These residences do offer the chance to age in place, but they prefer you first move independently to their community to begin aging. They have independent living, assisted living and perhaps Alzheimer’s care and skilled nursing in one location. In most CCRCs, you must also move from one wing of the campus to another to receive the increased services.

To age in place successfully requires planning. We must think carefully about how to accommodate the physical, mental and psychological changes that often accompany aging and provide for those changes in our own homes. Some communities get together with interested volunteers and work out aging in place in their own neighborhoods. Maybe this could somehow work for Bowie. Please email, call or write if you have ideas.

Thank you for reading. Stay well. See you next week.

The writer, a longtime resident of Bowie, is secretary of the Maryland/D.C. chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and a member of the Elder Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association. You may email her at seniormoments@byrdandbyrd.com.

© 2013 CapitalGazette.com

Who Is My Neighbor, Part II

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story, FHA HECM, Retirement Planning, Reverse Mortgage

What would make a couple dozen people spend one of the summer’s most beautiful weekends working on a total stranger’s home?

Why would a half dozen local businesses donate thousands of dollars in building supplies to repair the home of woman who will never walk through their door?

And who would load kids in the car and head over to an old, country home, only to spend the next 10 hours sawing, sanding, scraping, drilling, digging, pounding, painting?

I asked this very question of the many people who contributed to last weekend’s work on behalf of an elderly, ill homeowner whose home had fallen into disrepair.

And the answer? Invariably it was a version of what I have come to call “NIMBY in Reverse”:

Not in my backyard am I going to know about this kind of suffering and turn away. Not in my backyard am I going to allow an aging, suffering woman to live in unsafe, unsound conditions. Not on my watch are the needs of the needy going to go unmet.

So here’s a word of thanks to all who turned out at a moment’s notice to do an enormous amount of work on the home of a resident they had never met and may well never again see.

A huge word of thanks goes to Rankin’s Hardware, The Paint Shop, and The Home Depot, all of Warrenton, and Lowe’s of Gainesville, for donating building supplies; to Domino’s Pizza and Chick-Fil-A, both of Warrenton, for providing food for the volunteers; and to Fauquier Jewish Congregation, Saint James’ Episcopal Church, and members of the Fauquier community for turning out en mass to volunteer.

A special thanks also goes to thank Julie Randall, Nancy Lagasse, Dorothy Smith, and Rabbi Rose Jacob for their extraordinary efforts in helping pull this together in a matter of days.

Laurie

Laurie MacNaughton [NMLS# 506562] ∙ Reverse Mortgage Consultant, President’s Club ∙ Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank ∙ 20937 Ashburn Road ∙ Ashburn, VA 20147 ∙ 703-477-1183 Direct ∙ LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com ∙ www.MiddleburgReverse.com

Visit my Informational Blog at https://middleburgreverselady.wordpress.com/

Things We Forgot to Say Goodbye To – For the 55+ Crowd

by ReverseLady, posted in Caring for Aging Parents; A Daughter's Story

This past week I read some very sad news: as of June 1, MetLife’s Mature Market Institute is no more.

To those not familiar with the reference, Met’s MMI was arguably the premier source of data on trends in aging, and typically the first place many in the senior-services sector turned when searching for reliable – and reliably well-written – information.

Had they simply been good summarizers, MMI’s loss would have been lamentable, as those of us obsessive about accuracy will now have to search farther and longer for our data. But MMI’s information was not just summary; it was original, sometimes humorous, often thought-provoking, and their studies addressed surprisingly varied topics. They managed to present sometimes-sobering data without lapsing into the dismal, and the viewpoints they represented seemed to closely reflect those of the seniors I encounter daily.

MMI, you will be missed. Let us all hope your fine writers and researchers find as good a home elsewhere.

On a lighter note, after reflecting on this loss, a friend and I compiled a list – though nothing as profound as the loss of MMI – of items we forgot to say goodbye to:

Missed by my friend, who grew up in the thirties and forties:

  1. Paramount Theater in NYC with two live shows a day. He’d cut school for Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey, and see both for $1.50.
  2. Running boards on cars.
  3. Pasteurized, but not homogenized, milk. It was delivered to your back door in bottles and the cream would rise to the top.
  4. Exploding Bakelite, replaced by melamine.
  5. Really thick ice cream, made with whole milk and cream.
  6. Primary schools (K-12) set aside one day a week as “bank day”; children were given a bank book and encouraged to bring to school whatever the family could afford to give (his was a nickel). The teacher would log the deposit in bank books, then take the proceeds to the school’s bank, where it was held.
  7. Iodine for cuts.

I grew up in the ‘70’s so my list was different:

  1. The Encyclopedia Britannica. I now use mine as a decorative element…and do I admit some of its beautiful renderings have ended up framed on my wall?
  2. Looking up movie times in the paper.
  3. Looking up movie theaters in the Yellow Pages.
  4. Looking up movie theaters’ locations on the accursed fold-up, flip-over, oh-crum-this-is-the-wrong-one, pain-in-the-neck map.
  5. Glass shampoo bottles.
  6. Woodburning kits with 8-inch cords…because that’s where drapes were best accessed.
  7. Iodine – added to baby lotion for extra-dark tans.

Give me a call or shoot me a line – I’d love to hear what you forgot to say goodbye to.

Laurie Denker MacNaughton

Laurie Denker MacNaughton [NMLS# 506562] ∙ Reverse Mortgage Consultant, President’s Club ∙ Middleburg Mortgage, a Division of Middleburg Bank ∙ 20937 Ashburn Road ∙ Ashburn, VA 20147 ∙ 703-477-1183 Direct ∙ LMacNaughton@MiddleburgBank.com ∙ http://www.facebook.com/Laurie.Denker.MacNaughton 

Visit my Informational Blog at https://middleburgreverselady.wordpress.com/