Archive for February, 2007

The Deal On Life Settlements

Posted on February 28, 2007 by Jason

CBS News, February 26th, 2007

Life insurance was always intended as a nest egg for providing for your loved
ones after your death. But so-called “life settlements” are growing in
popularity. What are they and are they a good deal for you? Ray Hennessey,
editor of Smartmoney.com, explains what exactly they are.

Life
Settlements are when a company buys your life insurance policy for less than the
full amount of the policy. This is a way of getting cash in your hands now. But
there are things to consider before you do this.

Shop around for better
offers. “Chances are someone is going to approach you and say would you like to
sell your life insurance policy,” Hennessey says. “Just because they are the
first person who calls, doesn’t mean you have to take that offer.” Also feel
free to negotiate for a higher value.

Also, beware of high commissions.
“Just like any brokerage transaction, they take a very steep fee out of this,”
Hennessey warns. “So not only do you not get all the money, but these brokers
are making tons of money on this.”

Read more of this Article.

Making the Return Trip: Elderly Head Back North

Posted on February 27, 2007 by Jason

The New York Times,  February 26th, 2007

For the first time since the Depression, more Americans ages 75 and older have
been leaving the South than moving there, according to a New York Times analysis of Census Bureau data.

The reversal appears to be driven in part by older people who retired to the
South in their 60s, but decided to return home to their children and
grandchildren in the Northeast, Midwest and West after losing spouses or
becoming less mobile.

A stream of elderly transplants leaving Florida was detected by sociologists
two decades ago, including so-called half-backs, who stopped short of returning
to their home states and settled elsewhere in the South. What is new is the
growth in the number of people leaving the region entirely and the dimension of
the migration.

“As the numbers increase of people in their early to mid-60s that move from
the North to the South, we would also expect the numbers of people 75 and older
that move from the South to the North to subsequently increase as well,” said
Grant I. Thrall, a geography professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

While the number of people ages 75 and older who move at all is relatively
small, a survey of geographic mobility released last month estimated that about
121,000 of them left the South from 2000 to 2005, and 87,000 arrived. In a
comparable survey a decade earlier, 57,000 left the South and 92,000 moved
there.

Read more of this article.

Greatest Generation Learns About Great Safe Sex

Posted on February 15, 2007 by Jason

The New York Times, February 14th, 2006

The sex educators had come to a Queens housing complex to discuss condoms and
foreplay and sexually transmitted diseases.

Those assembled were told that their demographic was showing increases in
sexual activity and an accompanying rise in promiscuity, homosexuality and H.I.V.
infection.

As the teacher, Monique Binford, delved into an unexpurgated discussion
covering issues from vaginal dryness to Viagra, one student’s cane clattered to
the floor, another student adjusted his hearing aid and a third fidgeted in her orthopedic shoes. By the time Ms. Binford
got around to describing a safe sexual act involving Saran Wrap, a woman
shouted, “Enough, already!” and the room erupted in laughter.

The sex educators had news for this class of 40 people in their 70s and 80s,
just in time for Valentine’s Day: Older folks are friskier than ever, and it’s
never too late to learn about safe sex.

Sexually speaking, said Norm Sherman, who organized the presentation, “It
ain’t over till it’s over.”

Read more of this article.

Family Finances: Now is not the time to apply for a reverse mortgage

Posted on February 13, 2007 by Jason

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 9th, 2006

We recently were handed a solicitation obtained via a TV commercial. It
suggests calling an “AARP counselor to obtain a certificate for a reverse
mortgage.”

We wondered whether this offer — very attractive during a relatively slow
housing market — was legit.

A reverse mortgage is a loan or credit line secured by your home. To qualify,
you typically must be at least 62-years-old. But you never have to repay the
balance unless you move, sell the home or die.

“Government backed program provides money for Senior Citizen homeowners,” the
solicitation enticed. The gentleman’s credentials, according to the business
card — printed “free” at “www.vistaprint.com” — are a “senior advisor.”

“There’s no such thing as an AARP counselor,” Ken Scholen, director of the
AARP Foundation’s reverse mortgage education project, assures us.

Read more of this article.   Learn more about Reverse Mortgages.

Generation Mortgage Company Introduces The Generation Plus Jumbo Reverse Mortgage Loan

Posted on February 8, 2007 by Jason

Yahoo Finance, February 7th, 2006

Generation Mortgage Company(TM) today announced the introduction of the
Generation Plus(TM) jumbo reverse mortgage loan. The firm designed the
Generation Plus loan to enable owners of highly valued homes to potentially
receive the most funds available in the market today, at the lowest available
rate.

“We’re pleased to announce the launch of the Generation Plus, as it delivers on
our goal to provide significant savings to our senior customers while answering
a growing demand for more competitive loan products,” stated Joe Morris, CEO of
Generation Mortgage. “With this offering, a typical 75- year old borrower whose
home is valued at $750,000 will gain approximately $25,000 in additional funds
compared to other jumbo loan products.”

While the prevailing margin on a typical non-conforming, or jumbo, reverse
mortgage loan is currently 3.5% over six-month LIBOR, the margin on a Generation
Plus loan is 3.125% over one-month LIBOR, reducing interest costs by greater
than 0.375% (or three-eights of a point) for the typical jumbo borrower.

The product offers additional innovations that set it apart from most
competitors. For example, the unused credit line on the Generation Plus loan
will grow at the initial loan rate: The growth rate on most competing products,
however, is typically set lower than the loan rate. “Borrowers utilizing
Generation Plus will pay less interest on the money they have borrowed and see
their unused borrowing capacity grow more quickly than it would with most
competing products,” noted Sherry Apanay, Senior Vice President at Generation
Mortgage.

Read more of this article.   Learn more about Reverse Mortgages.

Reverse mortgages turn home equity into income

Posted on February 2, 2007 by Jason

San Diego Daily Transcript, January 30th, 2006

A reverse mortgage could help you pay for retirement — or
it could cost you and your heirs a lot of money.

The housing boom of recent years has fueled record growth
in these products, which give homeowners an income stream they don’t have to
repay until they sell their home or die. But reverse mortgages have long been
weighed down by high costs and complexities. Now, they’re coming in for a
makeover that may save consumers thousands of dollars.

Sensing growth opportunities as baby boomers retire,
financial-services firms such as IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NDE) and the
privately held Seattle Mortgage Co. have been cutting the costs of
reverse mortgages and offering special deals. Now, big national lenders are
eyeing the market: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) recently waded into
reverse mortgages with a pilot project in Phoenix, though it won’t say when it
plans to roll out the program nationally. Countrywide Financial Corp.
(NYSE: CFC) says it expects to launch a new reverse mortgage in 2007. The
competition from both is expected to put further downward pressure on
costs.

The federal government, meanwhile, is trying to push down
costs as well. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which insures
most reverse mortgages, is looking into lowering the origination costs and
mortgage-insurance premiums that homeowners pay, according to HUD officials. At
the same time, Ginnie Mae, a federal housing-finance agency, announced in
October that, for the first time, it will begin packaging reverse mortgages for
sale on Wall Street. Ginnie Mae’s move is widely expected to lower interest
rates that consumers pay, since studies have shown that the agency’s guarantees
in the traditional mortgage market lower rates by between 0.5 percent and 0.8
percent.

Read more of this article.

Senior Citizens with Vision Loss Cost Medicare Billions, Say Ophthalmologists

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Jason

SeniorJournal.com, February 1st, 2007

Senior citizens with vision
problems are costing Medicare more than $2 billion per year in “non-eye
related maladies and healthcare needs,” says a study in the journal
Ophthalmology. The American Academy of Ophthalmology, that publishes the
magazine only for its members, responded with a call for Medicare and
insurance plans to put stronger emphasis on preventive eye care.

“We have always understood the devastating personal
impact of blinding eye disease on patients and their families,” said
Jonathan C. Javitt, MD, MPH, lead researcher on the study conducted by
researchers affiliated with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies,
the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Pfizer, Inc.
“With this study, we are seeing the serious economic impact of poor
vision health on the health care system and those who pay for it.”

The study – which looked at a 5 percent sampling
(approximately 1.5 million people) of Medicare beneficiaries
continuously enrolled from 1999 to 2003 – concluded that those with
moderate, severe and total vision loss experienced increases in
depression, injuries and the need for nursing home facilities.

Titled “Association between Vision Loss and Higher
Medical Care Costs in Medicare Beneficiaries,” the study showed Medicare
beneficiaries with coded diagnoses of vision loss incurred significantly
higher costs than those with normal vision, and approximately 90 percent
of those costs were non-eye related.

“With the soaring costs of health care, this study
is an important reminder that preventing vision loss saves both sight
and money,” said H. Dunbar Hoskins, MD, executive vice president for the
American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Read more of this article.

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