I was referred to a 64-year-old woman (Helen), by a financial advisor I had partnered with in the past.
Helen had recently suffered from a minor stroke, but she had fully recovered. Years ago, she was encouraged to get long-term care insurance, but she had simply put off doing anything.
Now, as a result of her stroke, getting long-term care coverage was no longer an option for her, as she could no longer qualify. To make matters worse, her income and Social Security wouldn’t be enough to cover her medical costs should another major health event occur. Her retirement savings would be wiped out well before her life expectancy and that made her very uncomfortable and caused her a great deal of stress.
Luckily, she owned her home, wanted to stay in it long-term, and had built up quite a bit of equity in it over the years.
I was able to show Helen that with a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Line of Credit if an unforeseen medical emergency occurs, she could free up and get access to quite a bit of cash from the equity she had built up in her home. In her case, she could get access to almost $350,000 immediately. And because the line of credit grows each year, the amount of cash she could get access to from the equity in her home would grow to about $500,000 over the next 10 years and almost $800,000 in 20 years.
This was music to her ears. After a quick three-week application process, Helen now has a financial fallback plan in place that she is very comfortable with. Her stress and anxiety are gone and she’s moving forward with renewed confidence in her future.
