Do You Owe Your Kids an Inheritance?

As I was traveling the other day, I observed a luxury motor home displaying that now famous bumper sticker…”I am spending my kid’s inheritance.”  It reminded me of a discussion I recently had with my daughter.  I explained to her that…I came into this world and even if I am fortunate to lead a long and fruitful life, I just might exit this world even.  I carefully explained to her that if there is any money (equity) left over from my home after my death, it will be a windfall for her and siblings.  In my mind, my house as an inheritance for my kids, is neither a given or a right of passage.

It is estimated there is more than 4 trillion dollars of trapped home-equity among senior households in the US today.  Because of the Baby Boomer generation, in the next 20 years, the US will experience the greatest transfer of home equity wealth from one generation to the next that the nation has ever seen.  Syndicated writer and real estate expert Robert Bruss, who champions the Reverse Mortgage, recently said in a TV interview, that nowhere in the Bible (or anyplace else) does it say, “Thou shalt leave a huge inheritance to thy heirs and thou must never enjoy thy home equity.”  Statistics show that most inheritances are spent within 5 years after the decedent’s death anyway.  According to Shephen Pollen, author of the best selling book Die Broke, he advises senior homeowners to obtain a Reverse Mortgage and spend their home equity on themselves.

We all love our kids and most of us want to leave something for them.  Unfortunately, the senior citizen retirement picture is rapidly changing thanks to rising costs, fixed incomes, cutbacks in retirement pensions, dramatic increases in consumer debt and bankruptcies, and improved medical technology prolonging life expectancies.  As a result, senior perceptions about the reverse mortgage are changing how seniors think about inheritance.  Senior homeowners should consider tapping into their trapped home equity and use the Reverse Mortgage as a vehicle to allow them to enjoy a more enriching gratifying retirement and never incur a monthly house payment while they occupy the home.  Seniors can receive tax-free payments from the Reverse Mortgage lender every month for desired period of time, take a lump sum, or place the equity in a line of credit that grows tax free.  You will get a check book to write checks against the line.  The home owner retains the title to their home and there are no credit or income requirements to get the Reverse Mortgage.  Why not let your home pay you for a lifetime of hard work?

So the next time you see that luxury motor home with a happy senior couple driving into the sunset displaying that famous bumper sticker…”I am spending my kids inheritance”, just maybe they used their home equity from a reverse mortgage to purchase it.  By the way, the kids will be just fine.

For a free book about Reverse Mortgages, contact Todd Rutherford at Victory Graphics and Media.