Reverse Mortgages: When They Make Sense and When They Don’t

Table of Contents

• What Is a Reverse Mortgage (HECM)?
• How Reverse Mortgages Work: Your Payment Options
• The Line of Credit Growth Feature — The Detail Most People Miss
• What a Reverse Mortgage Actually Costs
• Requirements: What You Have to Do to Keep It
• When a Reverse Mortgage DOES Make Sense
• When a Reverse Mortgage Does NOT Make Sense
• The Standby Reverse Mortgage Strategy
• Non-Recourse Protection: You Cannot Owe More Than the Home Is Worth
• What Happens to Heirs When the Loan Comes Due
• Common Myths About Reverse Mortgages — Busted
• Key Takeaways
• Frequently Asked Questions

Your home is probably your largest asset — and for many retirees, it is locked up, doing nothing to help fund retirement. You have spent decades building equity. You may have a mortgage that is paid off or nearly so. And yet that equity just sits there while your investment portfolio works harder and harder to cover every dollar of spending.

Reverse mortgages are controversial. Mention them at a dinner party and someone will say their neighbor got taken advantage of. Mention them to a financial advisor who is not a fiduciary and they might steer you in a direction that serves their commission rather than your retirement.

Here is what I want you to know up front: the modern HECM reverse mortgage program is nothing like the predatory products that gave this tool its bad reputation decades ago. The FHA-insured HECM program has significant consumer protections built in — mandatory independent counseling, non-recourse guarantees, and strict lender regulations that did not exist in earlier iterations of these products.

That does not mean a reverse mortgage is right for everyone. It is the wrong tool in some situations and a genuinely useful one in others. After nearly 20 years studying retirement income tools, I’ve seen both — the situations where a HECM materially improved a retirement plan, and the situations where it was the wrong tool. This guide is my honest attempt to help you think through which category applies to you.

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What Is a Reverse Mortgage (HECM)?

A Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) — the type of reverse mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration — allows homeowners age 62 and older to convert a portion of their home equity into cash without selling the home or making monthly mortgage payments.

The name describes the mechanism: instead of you making payments to a lender to build equity (a traditional mortgage), the lender makes payments to you — or provides you access to a line of credit — and the loan balance grows over time. The loan is repaid when you sell the home, move out permanently, or pass away.

A few important facts that distinguish the modern HECM from older reverse mortgage products:

• FHA-insured: HECMs are backed by the Federal Housing Administration. This insurance protects borrowers (through non-recourse protection) and lenders alike.
• Age 62+ requirement: At least one borrower on the title must be 62 or older.
• Primary residence only: The home must be your principal residence. Vacation homes and investment properties do not qualify.
• Mandatory counseling: Before you can close a HECM, you are required by federal law to complete an independent counseling session with a HUD-approved counselor. This is not a formality — it is a meaningful conversation about whether the product fits your situation. You can find a counselor through HUD.gov’s HECM counselor locator.
• No monthly payments required: As long as you meet the loan requirements (more on that below), you make no monthly mortgage payment. Interest accrues and is added to the loan balance.

The amount you can borrow — called the Principal Limit — depends on three factors: your age (older borrowers qualify for more), the appraised value of your home (subject to a lending limit, currently $1,209,750 for 2026), and current interest rates (lower rates allow for higher principal limits). You do not receive equity dollar-for-dollar — lenders typically allow you to access 40 to 60 percent of your home’s appraised value, depending on those variables.

The CFPB has an excellent overview of reverse mortgages worth bookmarking alongside this article.

Thomas’s Take: The HECM program has been around since 1988 and the regulatory framework around it has tightened substantially over the past 15 years. The product your neighbor’s parent may have been sold in 2005 is legally and structurally different from what is available today. I am not saying HECMs are for everyone — I am saying the informed conversation requires starting with accurate information about what they actually are now, not what they were.

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How Reverse Mortgages Work: Your Payment Options

One of the most misunderstood aspects of reverse mortgages is that you have choices about how to receive the money — and that choice matters a great deal for how useful the product is to your retirement plan.

Lump Sum

You receive a single disbursement at closing. This is the only payment option that comes with a fixed interest rate; all other options carry an adjustable rate. The lump sum is typically appropriate when you have a specific, immediate need — paying off an existing mortgage, funding a home modification, or covering a large expense. It is the least flexible option and often not the most financially efficient.

Line of Credit

You establish a credit line and draw from it only when you need the money. This is the option I find most strategically interesting for retirees, and I will explain why in the section on the growth feature below. The key characteristic: you pay interest only on amounts you actually draw, not on the full available credit line.

Monthly Payments (Term or Tenure)

You receive a fixed monthly payment from the lender, either for a set number of years (term) or for as long as you live in the home (tenure). Tenure payments continue even if the loan balance eventually exceeds the home’s value — a meaningful protection built into the FHA insurance structure.

Combination

You can combine a line of credit with monthly payments, or take a partial lump sum and leave the remainder in a line of credit. This flexibility is one of the underappreciated features of the HECM program.

The payment structure you choose affects your costs, your flexibility, and how the HECM interacts with your broader retirement income plan. This is exactly the kind of decision that benefits from working through with a fiduciary advisor before you sit down with a lender.

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The Line of Credit Growth Feature

This is the feature that most surprises people who think they understand reverse mortgages — and it is the feature that makes the HECM line of credit genuinely interesting as a planning tool.

Here is how it works: The unused portion of your HECM line of credit grows over time at the same rate as the interest and mortgage insurance premiums accruing on the loan. This growth is guaranteed — it does not depend on home price appreciation. It does not depend on market performance. It is a contractual feature of the product.

Let me put some rough numbers around that. Suppose a 65-year-old homeowner opens a HECM line of credit with an initial principal limit of $200,000 but does not draw on it immediately. If the interest rate on the loan (plus MIP) runs at 5 percent per year, the available credit line grows at approximately 5 percent annually. After 10 years of not drawing, the available credit might have grown to roughly $325,000 or more — even if the home’s value has not changed at all.

This growth feature has an important implication: opening a HECM line of credit early and letting it grow before you need it may be more valuable than waiting until you actually need the money. At age 75 or 80, if home values have softened or interest rates have shifted, you might qualify for a smaller principal limit than you would at 65 with a growing existing credit line.

Pro Tip: The line of credit growth rate is tied to interest rates — which means it grows faster in a higher-rate environment. Counterintuitively, rising rates increase the speed at which your unused credit line grows, which partially offsets the higher cost of borrowing if you eventually draw on it.

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What a Reverse Mortgage Actually Costs

Let me be direct here: reverse mortgages are not cheap. Understanding the full cost picture is essential before deciding whether this tool makes sense for your situation.

Origination Fee

Lenders can charge up to 2% of the first $200,000 of your home’s value and 1% of the remainder, with a total origination fee cap of $6,000. On a $500,000 home, that is approximately $5,000 in origination costs.

Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP)

Because HECMs are FHA-insured, you pay mortgage insurance — this is the cost of the non-recourse guarantee and the FHA backing that protects you if your loan balance grows beyond your home’s value.

• Initial MIP: 2% of the home’s appraised value (or the FHA lending limit, whichever is lower), paid at closing. On a $500,000 home, that is $10,000 at closing.
• Annual MIP: 0.5% of the outstanding loan balance, accruing annually and added to the loan balance.

Closing Costs

Typical third-party closing costs — title insurance, appraisal, recording fees — run $2,000 to $5,000 depending on your location and home value.

Interest Rate

For adjustable-rate options (line of credit or monthly payments), the rate is typically tied to an index plus a margin. Rates in 2026 are running in the 6 to 7 percent range for most HECM products, though this changes with market conditions. Interest accrues on the outstanding loan balance — meaning if you do not draw on the line of credit, you do not accrue interest on the unused portion.

The Bottom Line on Costs

For a $500,000 home, upfront costs at closing could run $17,000 to $20,000 or more. These costs are typically financed into the loan rather than paid out of pocket, but they reduce the equity available to you and your heirs. The FHA has additional information on HECM costs at FHA.gov.

This cost structure means a reverse mortgage opened for a short period — say two or three years — is almost never cost-effective. The costs are front-loaded; the benefits accrue over time. This is one important reason why planning to move soon disqualifies you from being a good candidate.

Image: Visual cost breakdown of a HECM reverse mortgage for a $500,000 home: origination fee ($5,000), initial MIP ($10,000), closing costs ($3,500), first-year accrued interest and annual MIP (variable). Navy (#1B3A5C) bar chart design with gold (#C9A84C) percentage labels on cream (#F8F6F0) background. Alt text: “Bar chart showing the upfront and ongoing costs of a HECM reverse mortgage on a $500,000 home, including origination fees, mortgage insurance premiums, and closing costs.”

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Requirements: What You Have to Do to Keep It

A HECM is not a free check from your equity. There are ongoing obligations that, if not met, can cause the loan to come due — meaning you or your estate would need to repay the balance, potentially requiring a sale of the home. Understanding these requirements is non-negotiable before proceeding.

Primary Residence Requirement

The home must remain your primary residence. If you move to an assisted living facility, a nursing home, or another residence for more than 12 consecutive months, the loan becomes due and payable. One exception: if one co-borrowing spouse remains in the home, the loan does not come due — even if the other spouse moves to memory care. This co-borrower protection, added by HUD in 2015, was a significant consumer protection improvement over earlier HECM rules.

Property Maintenance

You are required to maintain the home in good condition. If the home falls into significant disrepair, the lender can call the loan. There is no precise standard, but the requirement is real — particularly for retirees on limited incomes who might struggle to keep up with major repairs.

Property Taxes

You must continue paying property taxes. Failure to pay property taxes is a default event that can trigger loan repayment. The lender will verify tax payment annually. If you have struggled with property tax payments historically, this is a serious consideration.

Homeowner’s Insurance

You must maintain hazard insurance on the property. As insurance costs have risen sharply in many parts of the country (particularly coastal areas and wildfire-prone regions), this requirement can become financially burdensome.

HOA Fees

If your home is in a community with a homeowners association, you must stay current on HOA dues. Delinquent HOA fees are treated similarly to tax delinquency.

Thomas’s Take: These requirements are not onerous for most homeowners — but they become genuinely challenging if your fixed income is tight, if you are aging in place with increasing healthcare costs, or if your home needs significant maintenance. The ability to meet these obligations for the foreseeable future is something to honestly assess before opening a HECM.

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When a Reverse Mortgage DOES Make Sense

Two things to be clear about up front: this isn’t a reverse mortgage sales pitch, and I have no financial relationship with lenders. The goal here is the honest picture — both sides — so you can decide whether this tool fits your situation. With that said, there are several retirement planning situations where a HECM is genuinely useful — and in some cases, genuinely the best available tool.

1. Bridging Income While Delaying Social Security

This is one of the most compelling uses of the HECM line of credit. If you retire at 62 or 64 but want to delay Social Security to 70 to capture the full delayed retirement credit — roughly an 8% increase per year of delay — you need to fund your living expenses from somewhere during those bridge years. Drawing heavily from your investment portfolio in the early years of retirement creates sequence-of-returns risk, particularly in a down market.

A HECM line of credit can provide tax-free income during those bridge years, allowing your portfolio to stay invested and your Social Security benefit to continue growing. For more on the Social Security timing decision, see my guide on when to file for Social Security.

2. Creating a Portfolio Buffer in Down Markets

This is the strategy that has generated the most academic interest in recent years, particularly from researchers like Wade Pfau and Barry Sacks. The core idea: instead of selling depreciating portfolio assets during a market downturn to fund living expenses, you draw from your HECM line of credit. You let the portfolio recover, then repay the HECM draw (optional — repayment is never required) or simply continue drawing from the credit line.

This reduces sequence-of-returns risk — the risk that a major market decline early in retirement permanently impairs your portfolio’s ability to recover. Research suggests this strategy can meaningfully extend portfolio longevity. See my article on common retirement withdrawal mistakes for more context on sequence-of-returns risk.

3. Funding Aging-in-Place Care Needs

The majority of retirees report that staying in their home is a top priority — and yet long-term care costs represent one of the largest and least predictable expenses in retirement. A HECM can fund home modifications (wheelchair ramps, grab bars, bathroom conversions), in-home care hours, or other aging-in-place expenses without depleting the investment portfolio.

For a retiree who is not insured for long-term care and who has significant home equity, this is a legitimate alternative use of that equity.

4. Eliminating an Existing Mortgage Payment

If you still carry a mortgage balance in retirement, it represents a fixed monthly cash outflow that competes with every other expense. A HECM can pay off an existing mortgage — eliminating the required monthly payment and replacing it with a loan that requires no monthly payment for as long as you live in the home. The net effect is often a meaningful improvement in monthly cash flow.

5. Filling an Income Gap Without Depleting Savings

If your guaranteed income (Social Security, pension, annuity) does not fully cover your baseline retirement expenses, you face a choice: draw from your investment portfolio or find another source. For retirees with significant home equity and a strong desire to stay in their home, a HECM can serve as a third funding source — diversifying retirement income away from a single dependency on portfolio withdrawals.

For related context, see my guides on building a retirement income floor and creating a retirement budget that actually works.

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When a Reverse Mortgage Does NOT Make Sense

Equally important — and something a reverse mortgage salesperson will not emphasize — are the situations where a HECM is the wrong tool.

1. You Plan to Move Within the Next Few Years

The upfront costs of a HECM — origination fees, MIP, closing costs — can run $17,000 to $25,000 or more. If you sell or move out within two to three years, those costs are almost never recouped by the benefit of the loan. A HECM makes financial sense only if you plan to stay in the home for a meaningful period — generally at least five years, and often longer.

2. You Want to Leave the Home to Heirs Free and Clear

If passing your home to your children or other heirs without a loan attached is a primary goal, a HECM works directly against that objective. The loan balance — principal drawn plus accrued interest and MIP — reduces the equity your heirs inherit. If leaving a maximum home equity legacy is the priority, there are other ways to use retirement assets that preserve more of the home’s value.

This is a values question as much as a financial one. Some clients feel strongly about this; others, when they think it through, realize they would rather have a better quality of life in retirement than maximize what they leave behind. Neither answer is wrong — but it should be a deliberate choice.

3. You Cannot Reliably Afford Taxes, Insurance, and Maintenance

If your income in retirement is already stretched to cover property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, and routine maintenance, a HECM may delay the inevitable rather than solve the problem. A retiree who is house-rich and cash-poor in a way that makes basic home ownership unaffordable may ultimately be better served by a thoughtful downsizing or selling the home outright — capturing the full equity value and converting it to a retirement income source.

4. You Have Not Explored Other Options

A HECM should be one option on the table, not the first one. Before committing to the cost and complexity of a reverse mortgage, make sure you have genuinely evaluated: the impact of Social Security timing on your income, the potential of a targeted Roth conversion strategy to reduce future RMDs, whether a downsizing to a less expensive home makes more sense, and whether a home equity line of credit (HELOC) — which has lower upfront costs — could accomplish the same near-term goal.

For context on how withdrawal order and account coordination affects retirement income, see my article on retirement account withdrawal order.

5. You Are Under Significant Financial or Emotional Pressure

Reverse mortgages — like any complex financial product — become dangerous when a borrower feels desperate or is being pressured by family members with competing interests. If you are considering a HECM because a family member is urging you to tap the equity for their benefit, or because you are in a financial crisis that the HECM will only temporarily mask, please talk to an independent fiduciary advisor and a HUD-approved counselor before proceeding.

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The Standby Reverse Mortgage Strategy

This is the approach I find most interesting from a planning standpoint — and it is underused, largely because it requires thinking about the HECM as a planning tool rather than a last resort.

The concept: open a HECM line of credit at or near age 62, but do not draw from it. Let the credit line grow at the contractual growth rate for years — potentially a decade or more — while your portfolio remains invested and Social Security continues accruing delayed credits.

Why this can be more valuable than waiting:

1. The credit line grows regardless of home value. Even if home prices soften, your available credit line continues growing at the contractual rate.
2. Principal limits are based on age at origination. Older borrowers qualify for higher principal limits as a percentage of home value. But if you open the line at 65 and let it grow, you may end up with more available credit at 75 than you would if you had applied at 75 from scratch — because the credit line has been growing contractually for 10 years.
3. You have it when you need it — on your terms. Applying for a HECM after a health event, cognitive decline, or a period of financial stress is harder and more stressful. Establishing the line while you are healthy and unhurried means it is there without urgency when the time comes.
4. It functions as a portfolio buffer without ongoing cost. As long as you do not draw, you pay no interest — only the annual MIP on the outstanding balance (which is zero until you draw). The credit line is available on demand.

The standby strategy does require paying upfront costs — the origination fee, initial MIP, and closing costs — without an immediate benefit. This is a real cost. For some retirees, it is clearly worth it; for others, the case is less clear. The break-even point depends on your home value, age, interest rate environment, and how you ultimately use the line.

Pro Tip: If you are 62 to 68 and own a home with significant equity, it is worth running the numbers on a standby HECM even if you feel no current need for additional income. The question is not “do I need this today?” — it is “what would it cost me to have this option available in 10 years versus not having it?”

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Non-Recourse Protection: You Cannot Owe More Than the Home Is Worth

This is one of the most important consumer protections in the HECM program, and it is often misunderstood.

A HECM is a non-recourse loan. This means that if the loan balance grows to exceed the value of the home — which can happen if you live in the home for many decades, if home values decline, or if interest accrues faster than the home appreciates — you (or your heirs) are never personally liable for the difference. The most the lender can collect is the value of the home.

The FHA mortgage insurance fund covers any shortfall. That is what the MIP premiums you pay are funding.

This non-recourse guarantee has a significant implication: the downside risk of a HECM — at least the financial downside — is capped at your home equity. You cannot lose your other assets. You cannot leave your heirs with a debt that exceeds the home’s value. The worst-case outcome is that the home gets sold, the loan is repaid from the proceeds, and whatever equity remains goes to your estate or heirs. If there is no equity left, the lender absorbs the loss.

This protection makes the HECM structurally different from other debt products and eliminates one of the most common fears people have about reverse mortgages: the fear of a surprise bill that wipes out the rest of the estate.

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What Happens to Heirs When the Loan Comes Due

The loan becomes due and payable when the last borrower on the loan passes away, sells the home, or permanently moves out. At that point, heirs have options.

Option 1: Sell the Home

The home is sold, the loan balance is repaid from the proceeds, and any remaining equity passes to the estate. If the home has appreciated meaningfully and the loan balance is less than the sale price, heirs receive the difference.

Option 2: Refinance the Loan

Heirs who want to keep the home can refinance the HECM balance into a conventional mortgage. They would need to qualify for that conventional financing based on their own income and credit — but this option preserves the home within the family.

Option 3: Pay Off the Loan With Other Assets

If the estate has liquid assets (life insurance, investments, accounts), heirs can use those assets to pay off the HECM balance and retain the home without refinancing.

Option 4: Walk Away

If the loan balance exceeds the home’s value — meaning there is no equity left — heirs can simply deed the home back to the lender and walk away. They are not responsible for the shortfall. The non-recourse guarantee applies.

Heirs typically have six months from the borrower’s death to resolve the loan, with up to two 90-day extensions from HUD if they are actively working toward selling or refinancing. This gives families time to make thoughtful decisions without being forced into a rushed sale.

Image: Flowchart showing the three paths for heirs after a HECM borrower passes: sell the home (equity to estate), refinance (keep the home), or walk away (non-recourse protection applies). Navy (#1B3A5C) background with gold (#C9A84C) decision boxes and cream (#F8F6F0) text. Alt text: “Flowchart illustrating the options available to heirs when a HECM reverse mortgage becomes due: sell the home, refinance, or walk away under non-recourse protection.”

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Common Myths About Reverse Mortgages — Busted

The reputation of reverse mortgages has been shaped largely by two things: early products that were genuinely predatory, and fear-based marketing by people who have never actually read an HECM contract. Let me address the most persistent myths directly.

Myth 1: “The bank owns your home.”

False. You retain title to your home throughout the life of the HECM loan, just as you do with any other mortgage. The lender holds a lien against the property — they do not own it. You can sell it, renovate it, and leave it to your heirs as part of your estate. The lender’s interest is in being repaid when the loan comes due; they have no ownership interest in the property itself.

Myth 2: “You can be kicked out of your home.”

False — with an important qualifier. You cannot be kicked out simply because you have a reverse mortgage. The loan does not come due as long as you live in the home, maintain it, pay taxes and insurance, and meet the occupancy requirements. The scenarios that can trigger a due-and-payable call are: failure to pay property taxes, failure to maintain insurance, allowing the home to fall into significant disrepair, or leaving the home as your primary residence for more than 12 consecutive months. These are the same kinds of obligations that would trigger consequences with any mortgage or home ownership scenario — they are not unique to HECMs.

Myth 3: “Reverse mortgages are only for people who are desperate.”

This one persists because historically, reverse mortgages were marketed as a product of last resort for cash-strapped retirees. The modern research literature has significantly expanded that view. Financial planners, academics, and researchers including Wade Pfau and Harold Evensky have written extensively about HECMs as a legitimate retirement planning tool for middle and upper-middle-income retirees with significant home equity — particularly for the standby strategy and portfolio coordination applications.

Myth 4: “Your heirs will be stuck with the debt.”

False. The non-recourse structure means heirs can never owe more than the home is worth. If the loan balance exceeds home value, heirs walk away with nothing from the home — but they are not pursued for the deficiency. The FHA insurance fund covers it.

Myth 5: “You will lose your Medicare and Social Security benefits.”

HECM loan proceeds are not considered taxable income and do not affect Medicare eligibility. They also do not affect Social Security benefits. The one area to watch carefully: if you have Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), HECM proceeds that sit in a bank account beyond a one-month period can count as an asset and affect eligibility for those means-tested programs. This is a situation where coordination with your advisors is essential before proceeding.

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Key Takeaways

• The modern HECM reverse mortgage is FHA-insured, heavily regulated, and structurally different from the predatory products that shaped the tool’s early reputation — but that does not mean it is right for every retiree or every situation
• The line of credit growth feature is one of the most strategically interesting aspects of a HECM: unused credit grows at the loan’s interest rate regardless of home value appreciation, which means opening the line early can create significantly more available credit than waiting
• A reverse mortgage makes the most sense when it is used to delay Social Security (extending bridge income), buffer a portfolio from sequence-of-returns risk during market downturns, fund aging-in-place care needs, or fill an income gap without depleting savings
• A reverse mortgage makes the least sense when you plan to move soon, want to leave the home to heirs free and clear, or cannot reliably afford property taxes, insurance, and maintenance
• Non-recourse protection is real and meaningful — you or your heirs can never owe more than the home is worth, with the FHA insurance fund absorbing any shortfall; heirs have multiple options when the loan comes due and are never personally liable for a deficiency

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Frequently Asked Questions

At what age does a reverse mortgage make the most financial sense?

There is no single answer, but the math generally favors older borrowers because the principal limit (the amount you can access) increases with age. A 75-year-old homeowner qualifies for a meaningfully higher percentage of their home’s value than a 62-year-old. That said, the standby strategy argument cuts the other way: opening the line of credit at 62 to 65 and letting it grow contractually may produce more available credit at age 75 than applying fresh at 75. The right age depends on why you are opening the HECM and what you plan to do with it — which is why this conversation works best in the context of a comprehensive retirement income plan.

Can a reverse mortgage affect my Medicaid eligibility?

HECM proceeds themselves are not income and do not affect Medicaid eligibility in the month they are received. However, if you take a lump sum or draw on the line of credit and the funds sit in a bank account past the end of the calendar month, they count as a countable asset under Medicaid rules — which could affect eligibility if total assets exceed the program threshold. This is a nuanced area that requires coordination with an elder law attorney and a financial advisor who understands Medicaid rules before proceeding. Most retirees who are planning for Medicaid eligibility should approach HECM decisions very carefully.

Is HECM counseling really required, and is it useful?

Yes, it is required by federal law — you cannot close a HECM loan without completing a session with a HUD-approved independent counselor. And yes, in my experience, it is genuinely useful. A good HUD counselor will walk you through the costs, risks, obligations, and alternatives in a structured way that does not involve a sales pitch from a lender. You can find a counselor at HUD.gov. The cost is typically $125 to $200, and it is one of the better-spent fees in this process.

How does a reverse mortgage interact with other retirement income strategies?

This is where things get interesting. A HECM line of credit is most powerful when it is coordinated with your broader retirement income plan — specifically, your Social Security timing decision, your investment portfolio withdrawal strategy, and your tax plan. The portfolio buffer strategy requires knowing your asset allocation and withdrawal sequence. The bridge income strategy requires knowing your break-even analysis on Social Security delay. For related context, see my articles on retirement account withdrawal order and building a retirement income floor.

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Ready to Talk Through Whether a Reverse Mortgage Fits Your Plan?

A HECM reverse mortgage is not a product to buy — it is a planning tool to evaluate in the context of your entire retirement picture. The right answer depends on your home equity, your income sources, your legacy goals, your health, and your plans for the next decade or more.

If you’d like to keep going on retirement-income topics like this — bucket planning, Social Security timing, sequence-of-returns risk — sign up for the TCA newsletter at the bottom of this page. New posts arrive weekly.

For more on retirement income, bucket planning, and Social Security claiming, browse the retirement planning archive or sign up for the weekly newsletter at the bottom of any page.

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This article is published by Confluence Media Group LLC, an independent publisher of educational financial content. Thomas Clark is a Series 65 Investment Advisor Representative. The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and is not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

Confluence Media Group LLC is a separate entity from Confluence Capital Management, the investment advisory practice through which Thomas Clark provides advisory services. Advisory services are not offered through this publishing platform.

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