Baltimore Reverse Mortgage Pros and Cons

Michael Banner:

Welcome, everybody to tonight’s latest episode of 62 Who Knew? We’re just a few days away from Thanksgiving. And regardless of all the weird things that have happened in 2020, we have a lot to be thankful for. 

And tonight is something we’ve been talking about since before COVID-19, which is switching the premise of this show. And we’re not switching it that much, but we are making some very important changes. As of tonight, 62 Who Knew? is now 62 Who Knew? The Longevity Initiative. We are also going from one guest per week to a panel of anywhere from two to four guests. Tonight is three. Usually a group of national experts covering the topic that we are going to be covering that particular week. And each week that topic will be the ability for people to come into their retirement segment of their life or people that are already there to live with a higher quality of life throughout their remaining years. And with longer lifespans today, that is a very timely and relevant topic.

Now, we have built up to a high of about 80,000 viewers per week. But with COVID-19 and us having to do certain things and social distance, and I wasn’t able to make it to the studio, we’ve dropped those numbers a little, but still are between 30,000 and 40,000 views per week. I want to thank our audience for that. 

For any new people that are listening for the first time, let me give you just a quick premise, because I don’t want to keep our three panelists waiting. But just a quick premise of what 62 Who Knew? is. As we all approach the age of 62, hopefully even before that, but most certainly when 62 is on our radar, we all have the same thoughts, “Should we have our house paid off? Should we take social security? Should we defer it? How much longer do we want to work? How much longer do we have to work? Do we still need our life insurance that we bought when the children were younger? The children are now gone. They’re on their own. Do we need long-term care insurance? Should we be investing in the stock market? Should we be purchasing annuities?” The questions are endless. And what’s unique about these questions, is that all fathers and mothers asked the same questions. Their fathers and mothers asked the same exact questions. 

But my generation, I’m 62 now, our generation, the baby boomer generation has one more hurdle that no previous generation has ever faced before. And what is that hurdle? That hurdle is the double edge sword of longer lifespans. In today’s world, according to the American Medical Association, and specifically in the United States of America, if you make it to 62, make it, notice, I didn’t say in good health, if you simply make it to the age of 62, you have a 50/50 chance of making it to 90. Okay? If you’re in a married couple, there is almost a 50% chance that one of you are going to make it into the low to mid-nineties. And with different medical and scientific breakthroughs of the last two to three decades, no generation has ever had to face, “Should I retire, but I still have 30 years. I still have half the time I’ve been here, to still be here.”

And the truth is, the sad truth, that less than 1% of this great country can actually live from 62 to 92 on what they’ve saved, on their cash reserves, on their portfolio. So, the purpose of 62 Who Knew? is to bring on different experts every week. And we’ve been doing it for a year and a half. And it’s been very successful. As I said, we’re switching to a panel now, and to cover more topics, more specifically from different angles. Every week, we have a topic that is going to help people get from 62 to 92 with quality and dignity as the way it should be for our moms, our dads, our grandmothers, and our grandfathers. So, that is the purpose of 62 Who Knew? 

I don’t want to take any more time right now. I want to get our three panelists going, because the topic tonight is a sensitive one in our industries. As you all know, 62 Who Knew? most popular topic in the last 18 months, has been long-term care insurance. The second most popular topic has been Alzheimer’s and different types of dementias. We’ve had national leaders on that topic. The third, reverse mortgages. And the fourth, Medicare and its related subjects.

Tonight, our topic is why haven’t the reverse mortgage world, the equity world and the long-term care insurance world joined forces. We talk about it. We write about it. But why haven’t these two industries that serve the same exact group joined together to help the millions. And make no mistake, it is millions of seniors, who otherwise think they can’t afford a high quality of long-term care insurance, which if a lot of people had, they would have been in a lot better shape for the last nine months during COVID-19. So, I promised you a timely and relevant topic, and here it is. 

Now, let’s introduce our expert panel. The first person I’d like to introduce is Mr. Steven Sless. Steven, this is your fourth time on the show. So, Steven is well-known to us. Steven is a well-known national expert in the reverse mortgage world. He is the founder of the Steven Sless Group, as you can see behind him. And he is in charge of the reverse mortgage division of a national reverse mortgage and forward mortgage company, PRMI.

On the lower left corner, if you’re seeing things the way I am, we have Mr. Bill Comfort, president of Comfort Insurance. But more even importantly, Bill, even though he doesn’t like it when I say this, is well known, so well known as one of the most eloquent speakers, knowledgeable speakers in the long-term care insurance industry. There is not anyone that doesn’t listen to Bill speak and learn every day that he does something. He is also one of the most popular, if not the most popular instructors in the CLTC certification, which the best long-term care insurance people in the country all have that certification. And Bill has been here before, and we welcome you back. Now, Mr. Demarkey, this is your first time I’m on the show, correct? 

Joe Demarkey:

Correct. 

Michael Banner:

Oh, I’m not hearing, Joe. [inaudible 00:08:07]. Hello? No, we’re not hearing Joe, John. But while you fix the volume, Mr. Joe Demarkey, is the director of special projects of Reverse Mortgage Funding located in New Jersey, one of the largest wholesale and national reverse mortgage companies in the country. And he is also on the board of directors, and has been one of the key players for the last decade or more in NRMLA, the National Reverse Mortgage Lending Association. If anyone has his hand on the pace or the pulse of the national reverse mortgage world, it is Joe Demarkey. Welcome to, 62 Who Knew? my friend. 

Joe Demarkey:

Thanks, Michael. 

Michael Banner:

All right. John, I don’t know if you can hear them. Bill and Steve, say hello, and see if I can hear you.

Steven Sless:

Hey, everybody. 

Bill Comfort:

Hi, Michael. I’m glad to be here again. Excuse me.

Michael Banner:

I hope you guys can hear, because I’m not hearing anybody. A minor technology glitch. We’re good? Technology glitch. We have a whole team of people here to help. 

Bill Comfort:

But it’s work is great. 

Michael Banner:

Oh, there we go. There’s my team. So, they’re like my fan club. My fan club broke up last week. The guy died. Okay. So, that was my video team helping me right there. All right. Well, now I can hear you.

Gentlemen, welcome. Our first panel show, simulcast into a podcast on several different platforms in the next couple of weeks here going forward. We’re going to be not only a national TV show, but a national podcast. So, thank you. I mean, you’re each exceptional people in your own right and in our industries. Thank you for being here really, and truly.

Steven Sless:

Thank you, Michael. 

Joe Demarkey:

Thank you, Michael. 

Michael Banner:

So, let’s get into this. The long-term care insurance world serves people like no other. Second only, or I would say probably first, we might be second only, Joe and Steve to longterm care insurance. Reverse mortgages can be used, equity can be used to help people afford long-term care insurance. Reverse mortgages can be used to eliminate their current mortgage payment. I think Bill, you have some examples of that. Yet, although we talk about it, we write about it, Bill, you and I have spoken about it at many long-term care national conventions. 

I don’t think there is a reverse mortgage person that has spoken at more long-term care conventions than myself in the last 10 to 12 years. Joe Demarkey and I, and other people in reverse mortgage funding have certainly been talking about it for at least a decade. Steven Sless, for the last several years that we know each other. I’m going to ask you your opinion. And I’m going to start with Bill, the long-term care insurance expert. Why haven’t our industries clicked? Why haven’t we wrapped our arms around each other and fell in love with each other yet? We’re not even dating.

Bill Comfort:

All right. Well, I think it’s not just the long-term care insurance business, which I specialize in, but let me answer that question in referring to financial services, financial advising, financial planning, most broadly as you’ve discussed many times on your show, Michael. Historically, and this is looking back a number of years, there’s a lot of skepticism about reverse mortgages. It was seen as dollars of last resort, only for people who had no other option to do anything with, and various criticisms of the product. And I assume, we’ll talk a little bit about how that’s changed and evolved in a very positive way for consumers. But I think it starts with the financial services industry broadly, not seeing reverse mortgages as a legitimate equity tool, a legitimate way to access a resource, an asset, which is the equity that seniors have built into their homes. And that’s changing.

Michael Banner:

It is.

Bill Comfort:

So, the question is why have we not embraced, the two industries embraced each other up before? There’s been a standoffishness that that’s some separate decision. But what we’re seeing is from a financial planning standpoint, it’s being recognized almost as a separate asset class in terms of diversification and liquidity, and flexibility. And it can be used to help find source dollars to pay for other needed coverage that protects even more than just the equity in the home, the entire financial security of a person, a couple and a family, and that would be through long-term care insurance. And I think it’s a great place to start because long-term care insurance expands the value from using reverse mortgage proceeds to help pay for necessary needed coverage that can do much more than just a person’s own money on their own. 

Michael Banner:

Exactly.

Bill Comfort:

So, I think that it’s changing rapidly from a couple of different levels. But what we need to do is we need to make that introduction. We need to have that first date and begin working this out.

Michael Banner:

Steven, as always, Bill put it eloquently, but your opinion on why, because you’re one of the… I have to say, everybody is younger than me. In fact, I’m the oldest person on the screen. And that’s annoying. But you’re young blood, even though you’ve been doing this for years. And you’re out there doing the education. You’re part of NRMLA, which we’re going to talk to Joe about. Same question to you, why haven’t these two industries just fell in love with each other, love at first sight? Is it that hesitation that Bill is talking about?

Steven Sless:

I think Bill hit the nail right on the head. For years, reverse mortgages have been viewed by the financial planning community as loans of last resort, but that’s changing and it’s changing quickly. We, today, now have a lot of retirement researchers, folks that have no interest in the long-term care industry or the reverse mortgage industry. They study retirement planning. They’re PhDs. They have alphabet soup next to their name. They have all the credentials that warrant listening to these folks. And what they’re saying is, pay attention to long-term care, pay attention to reverse mortgages. These are critical tools that can be used to fund a better retirement and to be able to age safely in place. And I think that is starting to change rapidly. 

Now, I last year received the CLTC accreditation. And I took Bill’s course, and I learned so much about long-term care that I had… I thought that I understood long-term care until I took the CLTC course. I think more folks in our industry need to learn more about the long-term care industry and vice versa. 

Michael Banner:

Yes.

Steven Sless:

If this is going to be a long-lasting marriage, I think we need to understand the intricacies of the products, how many different products there are out there. I was blown away at how many long-term care options there are, how many viable options there are for folks to be able to age in place, not only with long-term care insurance, but what some of these hybrid insurance policies. And so, I think there’s more education to be done, but I’m confident both of our industries are on the verge and on the cusp of really joining forces. And Michael, it starts here tonight with this show.

Michael Banner:

I hope so. Mr. Demarkey, your first words of wisdom on 62 Who Knew? Joe is a person, I have to say, I don’t want to embarrass Joe, but there are less than five people, I mean, I know many reverse mortgage people, just like I know many long-term care insurance people, but there are maybe four or five people in the nation that when they talk, I shut up and listen. And Joe Demarkey is one of those people, I have just an utmost respect and admiration for him. Joe, what do you see from NRMLA’s point of view, from the national point of view, from our favorite wholesale lender there, what do you see in comparison to what they’re saying right now?

Joe Demarkey:

So, I think they both got it right. There’s more conversation taking place between the reverse mortgage industry, and let’s call it the financial advisory industry. There’s been an enormous amount of academic research that has been done on reverse mortgages by the financial planning industry over the past three, four, five, six years.

To the financial advisors who might be watching and listening, I would encourage you to go to your publications, your trade publications, like the Journal of Financial Planning, and look for those research articles that have already been published by academia on the efficacy of reverse mortgages and how they can help ensure a much higher degree of success for your clients and their retirement plans. 

One of the things that I’ve always struggled with since I’ve been in the banking and mortgage banking industries, is why people have an adverse reaction when they think about borrowing money, specifically with a mortgage loan of any kind, whether it’s a conventional mortgage or reverse mortgage. Debt makes the world go round. And people borrow money every single day in our country, whether it’s purchasing a new home, whether it’s purchasing a new car, whether it’s buying groceries and you’re swiping your credit card. 

So, debt is an important part of everybody’s financial health. And mortgages and reverse mortgages certainly have their place in helping people manage their finances even through their retirement years. And here’s one of my favorite statistics, because people always ask questions about whether or not I should be debt-free on my house when I go into retirement. 

Two years ago in 2018, The Ohio State University, I’m sorry, Michael, recently published a study where over two and a half million people applied for a mortgage loan of some kind in our country. That’s a two and a half million people are borrowing money against their homes, who are aged 62 or older. So, are people borrowing money in retirement? Yes. Are people borrowing money against their homes in retirement? Absolutely. Two and a half million of them. 

Michael Banner:

Yes. 

Joe Demarkey:

So, people are using debt to improve their overall financial health, whether they need to take money out of their home to do something with, buy a new car, finance home improvements, maybe make their house more appropriate for their age. As we get older, sometimes our health declines a little bit. Maybe you need to make some necessary home modifications to your house, so that you can age there and you can live there, live the quality of life that you want to, or maybe you’re just refinancing your debt and you’re improving your financial situation because interest rates are low right now.

Michael Banner:

Yes, they’re.

Joe Demarkey:

And you’re either lowering your monthly payment or, Michael, maybe they’re actually exploring a reverse mortgage to borrow money, to improve your financial health and to help you age in place. And Michael, I love what we talked about the other day. Since the outset of the pandemic, most people in our country who are retired or near retirement are starting to think differently about that old cliché of aging in place. Now, it’s aging in a safe place. 

Michael Banner:

Absolutely. 

Joe Demarkey:

This demographic is right in the crosshairs of COVID. And the last thing that most older homeowners want to do is be forced to leave their existing home and move into a facility while there’s a pandemic going on in our country. And that’s why, and Steve can attest to this, we’ve seen an increase in people inquiring about reverse mortgages in our countries since the outset of the pandemic back in March.

Michael Banner:

Absolutely. Yeah. I know. Bill, would you like to show a couple of examples? I still have more to talk about with the perception, like you had said, Bill, of the reverse mortgage. We’ve tried hard, not just Steven and myself, and Joe, and help from outside industries like long-term care, we’ve tried very, very hard to change that perception. And some might say we’re doing a good job. And some might say it’s like pushing a wet tissue up a hill. Because we have a lot of detractors out there, who still as wrong as they are, still won’t let up. And I’m talking about, let’s face it, some large people. 

And I’m not going to be afraid to mention them on this particular show. Because we have Dave Ramsey, with hundreds of thousands of followers. Dave Ramsey, you couldn’t crowd the head of a pin with what Dave Ramsey actually knows about reverse mortgages, but he consistently says they’re dangerous and you can lose your house, which obviously you can’t, as long as you pay your taxes and insurance, which, wow, that sounds familiar. That’s like a regular mortgage. Isn’t that incredible? 

You have people like CNN and USA Today, newspapers and consumer digest. It seems like they just want to hurt us every six to eight weeks. How do we as an industry, and I’m directing this right now, more towards Joe and Stephen, as an industry combat that? I mean, I know a few times I’ve had a temper tantrum on LinkedIn, and that said to all my friends on LinkedIn, “Look guys, if the big boys, and let’s just say it, if the big boys don’t want to do it, maybe for legal reasons or whatever their reasons may be, why don’t the Mike Banners and the Steve Sless get together.” And I’ve put this on LinkedIn several times. Nobody likes the idea. Each put up 250 or 500 bucks, change money, pocket money. But let’s have 20 of us do it, and take out a $10,000 ad in USA Today that says, “They’re wrong. This is a great thing.” How as an industry, are we going to change that perception? Stephen, Joe?

Steven Sless:

I think Michael, I think the perception is changing, right? As there is more academic research come out.

Michael Banner:

It is. 

Steven Sless:

And as we share that academic research, I think the perception is changing. But folks like Dave Ramsey, Susie Orman, is another one, these folks they’re personalities, and they have an agenda, right? If you think Dave Ramsey or Susie Orman, are great financial minds, you’re kidding yourself. 

Michael Banner:

That’s right.

Steven Sless:

They have an agenda. Their agenda is get as many clicks, get as many likes and get as many people to buy their services and products as they possibly can. And so, they’re intentionally controversial. Unfortunately, in doing so, they’re harming the people that they claim to be helping so much.

Michael Banner:

Exactly.

Steven Sless:

What we can do as an industry is to continue to show the facts. The facts don’t lie. And we can present modeling and say, “Look, here’s what your retirement looks like with a reverse mortgage. Here’s what it looks like without a reverse mortgage.” And the fact of the matter is, if you call yourself a fiduciary, and there’s a lot of financial advisors out there that are going to that term fiduciary, that means that you must have your client’s best interest in mind. There is no way that you can ignore what’s in most cases, their largest asset, and totally just put off even entertaining or learning about what a reverse mortgage is, if you’re truly putting your client’s best interest first. It’s impossible. Folks that are 62 plus, for most of them, the majority of their net worth lies within their home equity. 

Michael Banner:

Exactly. 

Steven Sless:

The house is a low growth potential asset. There are other higher growth potential assets such as stocks, what’s in your retirement portfolio. And so, you have to look at this from a very holistic standpoint. You got to take into consideration that, look, if your house is only going to go up, 2%, 3%, maybe 4% per year, what can I make on my other retirement investments? And then how can I protect and preserve those investments by leveraging? And Joe, said borrowing before. I’d rather call it leveraging. Because the most astute and savvy financial investors understand one thing better than anybody else out there. And that’s why they’re so successful. They understand leverage. It’s how they built their businesses. It’s why they’re successful. You’re leveraging one of your largest assets to make your overall pool of money larger. 

And if we continue to beat that drum and explain to folks why it’s so important to entertain using the housing wealth, forget Dave Ramsey and Susie Orman, it’s going to get to the point where their opinion doesn’t even matter anymore. 

Michael Banner:

I agree with that. 

Steven Sless:

We need to continue to present the facts.

Michael Banner:

Right. And Bill, how are we going to… Well, I’m going to ask a question and it’s going to seem like I’m going off on a tangent, but I’m not. I promise I’ll draw it back in. I’m going to ask a question to the three of you. Bill, you’re the first person. You’re all going to get the same question. What are the three most powerful words in the world? Bill, you’re first.

Bill Comfort:

Drawing from my business, from my profession and what motivates people to take action with life insurance and disability, and long-term care insurance, I would answer the question and say the three most powerful words are, I love you. 

Michael Banner:

Well, I love you too. But answer the-

Bill Comfort:

And I care about you. I mean, we have to take care of ourself, be responsible for ourselves. But when we have a spouse, we have a partner, we have kids, these are people that we’ve invited in a sense into our lives, and have a responsibility to them as well. And good retirement planning, good investment planning, and from my perspective, from my specialty, good extended care, long-term care planning, it’s not about paying for your care, which it will. It’s about protecting those people who you love.

Michael Banner:

Exactly. Joe, my question for you, what’s the three most powerful words in the world?

Joe Demarkey:

Make informed decisions. 

Michael Banner:

Oh, I like that. I like that. 

Joe Demarkey:

I try and teach that to my kids. My wife and I talk about it all the time. Talk about it with my extended family and friends. And when it comes to any aspect of your life, don’t make knee-jerk decisions.

Michael Banner:

Right.

Joe Demarkey:

Be thoughtful and learn as much as you can. And just make informed decisions, would be my answer.

Michael Banner:

No one’s ever answered that question that way. Figures you’d be original. Steven Sless, what are the most three powerful words in the world? 

Steven Sless:

Look, I can’t beat Bill’s, I love you. I mean, what’s more powerful than that?

Michael Banner:

I love you too, but answer the question.

Steven Sless:

Yeah. To me, I can tell you one word that we throw out there all the time, and that’s empowerment. It just become empowered, become educated, become well-informed. If that, whether that’s one of the most important words or one of the three most important words, I don’t know, but it’s something we try to reinforce all the time is empowerment. What you don’t know can hurt you. Right?

Michael Banner:

Yep.

Steven Sless:

And so, understanding all aspects of not only retirement planning, but just general life things. I mean, become empowered, take the knowledge in and really understand before you make a well-informed decision.

Michael Banner:

All right, I’m going to bring this back to why I asked the question and I’m going to give you my answer to the question. And then we’re going to spend then just a few minutes on this topic, again, of changing what people think about us. And then we’re going to go on to the more positive giving examples and talking about how we can really help millions of seniors have a better life. 

To me, the most powerful three words in the world are always, it’s not even close. Well, I love you, was a close second. Is perception beats reality. There is no exception to that rule. If a young baby thinks holding this blue blanket is going to make them sleep, you hand them a yellow blanket, they don’t sleep. Full adults, want their rabbits or have their lucky pan, or whatever it may be, perception beats reality. And I don’t want to beat this to death, but I want to talk about this. 

In your industry, Bill, you and I know people with thousands, if not tens of thousands of agents, that actually thinks it’s against the law, that they could lose their insurance license, if they even bring up the two evil words of reverse mortgages. And Steven and Joe, in our own industry, when I marketed this show today and said what the topic was, I got hit, “So, Banner, what are you crazy? You can’t do that. That’s off limits.” We’ve got to change this perception. And yes, it starts here. And we’ve already talked about a few things. 

But now I want to go to Bill, what do we have to do, other than send them a copy of this show? What do we have to do to change that perception? Because there’s hundreds of thousands, well, there’s six million insurance agents in this country. Is that amazing? Six million. A couple of million of them sell the type of insurance, I mean, that’s right from the websites. A couple of million of them sell homeowners warranties, which are considered insurance and things such as that, that have nothing to do with what a Bill Comfort, or Mark Goldberg, or a Peter Bingel Blackstone. Of the four million left, quite frankly, there is a couple of million that do life insurance, annuities and all sorts of products. 

But there are literally hundreds of thousands of long-term care insurance agents. How do we get to them? Do we come… Of course, with COVID-19, let’s take that out of the picture. I’m not speaking at large long-term care conventions. No one is speaking anywhere nowadays. But once this is behind us, Bill, in your opinion, should there be major reverse mortgage players at every long-term care insurance event screaming this, like you said, Steve beating the drum, screaming this from the rooftops? Because I’ve been screaming it for 10 years and I’m losing my voice.

Bill Comfort:

And vice versa, Michael. 

Michael Banner:

Yes.

Bill Comfort:

There need to be long-term care insurance companies, representatives, planners like me at reverse mortgage meetings. We need to get to know each other. Michael, you and I have been talking about this for years. And then Steven, when you were in the class a year ago, I mean, we spent more time in class around the subject. And everyone, these other planners, fee-based fiduciary planners, you could see them, “Yeah. That’s not really, that doesn’t fit.” And within two minutes, probably, of connecting talking, and you sharing your expertise on what the product does, was just amazing how everybody started picking up, “Well, could you do this? Could you do that? Could you take the proceeds and buy a policy and what kind of policy would be best?”

And we just have to start doing that. So, yeah, we need reverse mortgage people at long-term care insurance conferences and vice versa. What we need more than anything else, and this is one of my mantras, is too many agents and financial advisors up until now have pretty much waited for people to ask to buy long-term care insurance. 

Michael Banner:

Yes. 

Bill Comfort:

To say, “Okay. We just put mom in assisted living after taking care of her home for four years, and it ain’t about wreck the family and all our relationships, I guess we better look at this.” But what has to happen is, good agents, good advisors have to bring the subject to up, and guess what? It’s a hard conversation. This hit me this morning. I posted something on LinkedIn, and I was relating that, that yeah, it’s a hard conversation because it’s emotional. 

Michael Banner:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Comfort:

Nobody wants to think about getting old and needing care. But if you don’t have a plan, if you don’t have the funding to pay for care, it literally will wreck everything else. And here’s the little play on words that hit me this morning is, yes, it’s a hard conversation, but it’s a heart conversation. 

Michael Banner:

I like that. 

Bill Comfort:

And planners need to be connecting with what’s important to their clients. And how do we solve these problems? Now, once, and I believe that most agents, financial planners, advisors, fee-based, however, fiduciary, whatever labels are out there, most of them really do care about what’s best for their clients. 

Michael Banner:

I agree with that. Absolutely. 

Bill Comfort:

But we have to get them past their conventional wisdom, which is not wise, both on long-term care insurance and reverse mortgages. And holy cow, what if we could start to find ways to pay for more coverage for folks without it compromising other lifestyle issues. So, I think it’s happening. The insurance industry has to see reverse mortgages as the powerful, flexible tool that it is. And the reverse mortgage industry, I think broadly has to be open to our clients. Our mortgagees have to be able to use this money that they get any way they want to, not just to remodel the house or pay a bill here or there, because they don’t have any money anywhere else.

Michael Banner:

That’s exactly right. Joe, from a huge wholesale lender, well, of course you’re a huge retail company as well, what do you feel about that perception or the concept of a large lender attending long-term care? I mean, you and I had a ball at an in-home care show several years ago. But what about a large lender taking part in long-term care events throughout the country? Is it time?

Joe Demarkey:

Of course, we should. We’re serving the same demographic. And the more that folks like Bill and his peers understand what we do, and the more that Steven and I, and you understand what their industry does, the better off we’re all going to be. 

At the end of the day, we’re trying to provide financial products and services to a growing demographic in our country, who needs or wants something. And it’s funny, Michael, you and I have talked about this before. I’ve been a banker and a mortgage banker now for my entire career, which is longer than I want to admit, but coming up on 35 years, and I’ve never seen a more brilliantly designed residential mortgage loan in the country than a reverse mortgage. 

Michael Banner:

So true.

Joe Demarkey:

At the same time, it is also the one that is most misunderstood. And we need to teach people like we’re doing today, right now, we need to teach people, back to Stephen’s point from before, forget about what detractors say, just talk about the facts. 

Michael Banner:

That’s right. 

Joe Demarkey:

Teach people about how mortgages work, how home equity lines of credit work, how reverse mortgages work. And let people make an informed decision. What folks like Bill and the financial planning community learn the facts about all types of residential mortgage loans, and they’ll help their clients make informed decisions. 

Michael Banner:

All right. Steven, what can you add to this? And then I know Bill, you have some actual examples of what we can do for our mutual clients, but Steven?

Steven Sless:

Yeah. So, like we mentioned before, I took Bill’s CLTC course last year. And bill, if you remember, there was probably, I don’t know, 15, maybe 17 financial advisors from all across the country that came into the class. I happened to be the only reverse mortgage professional in the class. And in talking to them, and having conversations with them in the class and both out of the class, grabbing a bite after the class and just talking about how we help each other’s clients, I’ve got, I don’t know, five or six referrals. And these were folks that would have never been helped in the way that they were helped, if not for us joining forces, and me engaging with your community, and your community accepting my conversation about reverse mortgages.

Because if you remember, when I first started talking about reverse mortgages, everybody was on the front of their seats. And by the time I got done, they were on the back of their seats. They were like, “You know what? This really makes a lot of sense.” To Joe’s point, there is no mortgage product in the country, in any other country that I can think of that has the flexibility of reverse mortgage, that provides everything that a reverse mortgage provides in liquidity, accessibility and flexibility. And it is the safest mortgage product on the market today, because it’s federally insured. It’s the most heavily regulated mortgage product that there is, hands down, and it’s not even close. These are safe financial tools, that are not designed to be a loan of last resort, that are meant to be used as a strategic tool to help fund a better retirement, to help free up funds for long-term care, to help our clients age in place.

And it is time, I know we talked about it starting tonight. We’re working on pushing out a lot of content. We’re developing shows just like you are Michael, video series, podcast. I think both long-term care industry and the reverse mortgage industry, it’s just, I think we’ve dropped the ball when it comes to marketing directly to the consumer. We can’t rely on business to business relationships. The message has to get out to the consumer, these are all safe products. 

Now, I’m not saying that a reverse mortgage is for everybody. I’m not saying long-term care insurance is for everybody, but they are for a lot of folks who wouldn’t think they are for them. And they need to get educated. But they’re not going to get educated unless they have a wide array of education provided to them.

Michael Banner:

Absolutely. I know this is going to sound weird, when you and Joe talk about that it’s the best design mortgage in the country, as weird as this sounds, I swear it gives me the chills, because it is. 

Steven Sless:

It is.

Michael Banner:

And it truly is. And it’s the most misunderstood. It’s surrounded by half-truths and misinformation. And I hope before I retire, we have a small hand in changing that perception. But Bill, I know you have some actual examples for us. 

Bill Comfort:

Sure, I do. But I want to turn the questioning around a little bit, because I want to raise the question that it’s one of those perceptions in my industry and I think in yours as well. So, before we look at some examples of what could be done, just as an example, let’s get right on the table right now, and answer to this question. And Joe, maybe to start with you from the top down, can a consumer take a reverse mortgage in whatever payout form it might be, just generally, and use those proceeds or use the extra financial flexibility they have to purchase other financial products? In this example, specifically, can they use the reverse mortgage to buy long-term care insurance? Is that allowed?

Joe Demarkey:

Of course, it is. The only issues for the reverse mortgage industry and answering your question Bill, is that there’s a regulation, there’s a law that says that Steven, picking on Steven because I can see him, Stephen, can’t be compensated for the sale of the reverse mortgage and the sale of the other financial or insurance product, as long as Steven is not as a salesman.

Bill Comfort:

And the same for me, I can’t both make an insurance commission and a reverse mortgage.

Michael Banner:

Right.

Joe Demarkey:

Exactly. Exactly. 

Bill Comfort:

Yeah. 

Joe Demarkey:

But can Stephen refer a client to you or you to Steven, and Steven originates a reverse mortgage, and you secure a transaction regarding LTCI? Absolutely. There’s nothing that prohibits that sort of behavior between our industry and the long-term care insurance industry.

Bill Comfort:

And I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions that’s out there. I know it’s in my industry, and we’ve talked about it Michael, that it’s in your industry. And I think as soon as we get past that, and here’s an analogy, and I think we need to think about it, this simply having the availability of a hundred thousand or 200,000 of home equity in whatever form through a reverse mortgage, and you use that, or you use some of that to buy other needed things like long-term care insurance. That’s no different than having a hundred thousand or 200,000 in CDs, that you’re accessing it. It’s the same kind of financial transaction.

Joe Demarkey:

Bill, here’s my favorite example. Let’s suppose that a client wants a reverse mortgage and they have an existing mortgage of $250,000, and they’re making their monthly payments to their lender every single month. They’re a great borrower. They’re responsible. And they talk to Steven about a reverse mortgage. And guess what? Based on how old they are and how much their house is worth, they qualify for $250,000. So, they would use 100% of the proceeds of a reverse mortgage that Steven helps them obtain to pay off an existing mortgage loan. They don’t get any cash whatsoever, none from the reverse mortgage, but what they’ve done is they’ve improved their cashflow. They’ve eliminated maybe their biggest monthly expense. And it allows them to be able to better afford a long-term care insurance policy, if that’s what they want.

Bill Comfort:

Perfect. Right. Right. Steven, you were going to add something. And then I think this sets up the examples, Michael. 

Michael Banner:

Yes, very much. 

Steven Sless:

Yeah. I mean, I think we can go even more granular than that. How about we use the reverse mortgage at 65 and we turn on a five-year tenure payment to bridge the gap. So, instead of turning on Social Security at 65, you delay Social Security, turn Social Security on at 70, and use and leverage your housing wealth, your home equity to bridge that five-year gap. And the result is going to be permanently increasing your Social Security check. So, it’s 70, you’re receiving a check that’s much larger than you would have at 65. And you’ve been able to do so by using reverse mortgage funds to get you to that point. And then if you want to turn funds off, you can simply turn them off.

That’s something else that folks don’t understand about reverse mortgages, is it almost works like a spigot. My friend, Don Graves came up with that analogy. You can turn funds on and you can just as easily turn funds off with a reverse mortgage. It’s the most flexible, customizable mortgage loan that there is. And I think great points, Joe, and great points, Bill. And I know Bill, you have some really fantastic examples that I want to take a look at.

Michael Banner:

at  his point, I don’t know which one of the three of you I love most. I’m actually, I mean, I’m in reverse mortgage heaven. I hope I don’t wake up this morning, and have them go, “Oh, I guess tonight is the new show.” Right? That this is reality. Thank you for asking that question, Bill. Thank you for answering it, Steven and Joe. I’m going to replay that segment of the show, probably 4,000 times tonight before I go to bed. But Bill, show us some real life examples.

Bill Comfort:

Sure. Now, this is just an example of some different ways to use reverse mortgage assets dollars to buy long-term care insurance. I’m going to give you just a couple of different examples. These are neither better. None of these are better nor worse. You need the input and advice of a skilled long-term care specialist to design your coverage, the rest of your financial team folks like Joe, and Michael, and Steven, on the reverse mortgage side.

So, what I want to show you is I’m starting with a very, I would call this a meaningful average type of a benefit today. So, we have a 65 year old couple, and the long-term care insurance, If either one of them needed care, physical help, or cognitive mental supervision like Alzheimer’s or dementia. A benefit, it starts at 4,000 a month. There’s total coverage of four years each. Ideally, you design it with what’s called shared benefits. So, there’s an eight year pot of money that this couple can use interchangeably, flexibly either way. $384,000, is $4,000 a month times eight years. That’s your starting savings account for long-term care needs in a sense. And a critical provision where this 4,000 a month and the total, automatically grows at 3% a year to keep up with the growing cost of everything. 

And look at this, this plan for this 65 year old couple, when they reach age 85, the benefit will be $7,224 a month, just simple math on the 3% inflation. And the maximum pool is close to $700,000 for care. 

Michael Banner:

That’s amazing. 

Bill Comfort:

That’s eight years of care for one or shared between the two spouses. So, let’s look at a couple of pricing, examples. And these are just ideas. 

So, first up in, and it’s interesting, I hear from people in my industry, “Oh, if people do reverse mortgages, that’s great. They can get a hundred thousand or 200,000 of equity out. We can put it into one of these new linked hybrid programs that has death benefits. So if they never need it, their heirs get the money back and the single pay.” Well, that might be a good idea, but it might not, if you need to do other things like stretch or delay Social Security or fund other things in your life. But just to buy the package I just described, and this is an average premium from three different companies. Single pay, this is for the husband and the wife together, would take about 186, let’s call it 190,000. At a 50% reverse mortgage loan, you’d need about 380,000 to 400,000 in equity to do that. But you do one and done. You’d be paid up.

And there’s about 200,000 of total death benefits, if neither spouse needed care. So, this is one idea. You could also pay for it for life, 15,000 a year, or about 1,200, 1,300 a month. So Joe, your idea, or forget, in the conversation, use the reverse mortgage to pay off your first mortgage. And if your principal and interest let’s say was $1,500 a year, you’re not making that payment anymore.

Michael Banner:

A month. 

Bill Comfort:

So, excuse me, a month. Yeah, correct. 1500 a month. Well, you can afford this premium on a monthly basis without having to commit the capital. But look at this, and this is unfairly received a lot of bad press. And a lot of people are dismissing it, and they should not. And that’s what we call just traditional long-term care insurance. So, no cash value, no death benefit. You just buy the pure long-term care insurance.

So, let me go back. You were paying for the death benefit here. You were paying for cash value. Maybe you don’t need that. Maybe what you need is just the long-term care insurance. So, the exact same design, the exact same care benefits that would cost 1,300 a month with a hybrid plan, only costs about 640 a month with the traditional policy. 

Now, so Joe, let’s use your example. Couple pays off their first mortgage with the proceeds from the reverse mortgage, and they now have $1,500 a month in principal and interest they don’t have to pay. They do, Michael, you always are good about reminding folks, “You still have to pay your taxes, property taxes, and insurance and upkeep.” But if you had 1,500 a month, you can buy excellent long-term care insurance. Let’s just call it 640, 700. And you’ve got 800 or 900 a month more that’s back into your life and lifestyle. Maybe just that cash flow helps you stretch and wait on your Social Security till age 70, or just helps you expand the way that you want to live. 

So, these are just two quick examples that show different types of reverse mortgage, taking a lump sum and buying another financial product that has tremendous value. By the way, you put 186,000 in or at the low end 640 a month. And at age 85, you have almost $700,000 available to pay for long-term care expenses, if you need care. And that’s tremendous leverage, to use a word that we’ve used. But think about it, what it does for your spouse. Think about what it does for your kids. Think about what it does for the rest of the financial security that’s there. 

So, those are some examples. And I think we’ve got another whole show, probably waiting in the wings, Michael, about ethically, where do you draw lines and measure what’s best? But at the end of the day, we can’t draw general conclusions. It’s client to client, family to family, planners and specialists like those of us on this call that we’ll work it out. But it’s available. And I think that’s really exciting.

Michael Banner:

And I want to just throw something out quick before Joe and Steve put in their opinion. This’ll be another show and probably one or two of the three of you, I hope we’ll be on this show when we bring on a Medicare expert. It’s a totally different topic. But if they were to use $600, $640 of that $1,200 to $1,500 payment that we just eliminated with a reverse mortgage for long-term care insurance. 

And since your example was for two 65-year olds, if they use the other 600 or less for two med sup policies from mom and dad, they are now literally set for life of never having to hand out a penny and never worrying about… Let’s face it, this is the first pandemic in our lifetime. So, I don’t want to be one of those salespeople that goes, “Oh my God, what if there’s another one? What if this one gets worse?” I’m worried about that. But just for every reason, cancer, female cancer, man cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, these are things we live with now and they have a cure rate. That’s one of the good things about the baby generation. They have a cure rate higher than ever before. But to use the term from your industry Bill, they’re getting… What is that term? They’re getting their premium while they’re on-

Bill Comfort:

While they’re on claim that premiums are waived or forgiven.

Michael Banner:

That’s right. So, for them to have, I know my mom and dad, mom ended up dying of cancer, Dad of congestive heart failure. Mom went too early. They both went to early, but they lived great lives. If we didn’t have them med sup policies between back surgeries, minor heart attacks, some female cancer from my mother, prostate cancer from my dad in his seventies, even though he was cured of everything. They were both cured. But if there wasn’t a med sup policy, my dad would have been bankrupt or I would have bankrupt the company paying those bills. Now, that’s a separate show. But to be able to say to somebody with a $1,200 or $1,500 mortgage payment, we can eliminate that and give you the two things that guarantee you never being in the home. You will say, it’s your home safely. That’s a life changer for this country. Am I over-exaggerating Joe, Steve or Bill?

Bill Comfort:

No, that Steven, that’s your point of the ability for this product to be so flexible that it can meet so many different needs as different clients habit.

Steven Sless:

Absolutely. And I think, retirement is expensive, but what’s more expensive is a lack of information. And what we find is too many baby boomers and too many seniors try to take retirement on themselves. And there’s a big difference between wealth accumulation and wealth distribution. Now, having to understand how much you can draw safely, how to pay for long-term care. What if something goes wrong in the house? Sorry, are you covered for that? Medicare is a whole different subject. So, there’s a lot of information to take in, but there’s great professionals out there. Reach out to one of us or reach out to anybody in your local market and become empowered. That’s my best point of advice that I can give as we try to wrap it up here.

Michael Banner:

Well, you know what? If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to say this very quickly, we have 30 seconds left in the TV show, but since we’re transferring to a podcast, the TV audience, if you’d like, because we’re having a good conversation, I don’t want to rush it right now. I don’t expect you to be here for hours more. But when the TV show ends, we are going to continue on Facebook and on several other platforms. So, to our TV audience, thank you very much. Thank our panelists. But we are going to continue on, go to Facebook, go to Facebook or YouTube, and you can see the continuance of this, because we’re not stopping until we’re done. So, thank you to the TV audience, but we can keep going.

Joe, again, the thoughts of really reaching out to hundreds of that, when you gave that two and a half million figure of that’s how many seniors, that is such a number that is so far above numbers, you and I discussed maybe five or seven years ago at a NRMLA conference in California. Two and a half million seniors is still borrowing money on their house. To be able to say to those two and a half million or the next two and a half million, that we can show you how to buy long-term care insurance, Medicare supplement insurance, we can protect you for the rest of your life. I mean, what a staggering legacy for the reverse mortgage to reach for from that topic that no one understood, from that product of last resort to possibly that product that can help an entire new generation.

Joe Demarkey:

Yeah. And I guess, to folks like Bill and other financial advisors that are watching or listening, a good chunk of that two and a half million population who applied for some sort of mortgage loan, might’ve been encouraged or educated by their financial advisor to do so. 

Michael Banner:

Yes. 

Joe Demarkey:

Again, because the house has been… Bill, you can speak to this better than I can. Most financial advisors have ignored home equity as an asset class in their planning for their clients. I’ll use my dad as the example. My dad is still with me. Thank God. He’s 82 years old. And I remember when I was growing up as a kid and I started to learn about financial matters, that he always told me what he was taught. You work hard. You save during your working years. And then you spend down that money during your retirement years. 

And the fact of the matter is because we’re living longer, that most people haven’t saved enough. If you’re going to get Social Security, which most people do, if you’re lucky enough to have a pension, which not most people do anymore, that traditional three legged stool that my dad taught me about Social Security, your savings, your pension, that was going to carry you financially through retirement, not when we’re living so much longer. Michael, those statistics you gave at the top of the broadcast were incredible. You have a 50% chance of living till age 90, if you are 62 years old today. How are you going to afford to live the quality of life that you want to, if you’ve got another third of your life to go? You got another 30 years to live, can you afford to live the lifestyle that you want to for yourself? And if you can’t because you haven’t saved enough, or you’re not receiving as much guaranteed retirement income as you’re going to through Social Security, again, if you’re lucky enough to get a pension, that’s great. What do you do? 

And for the first time ever financial advisors are starting to realize that a lot of consumers around the country are starting to realize, “I’ve got to think about my house. What do I do about my house? Can I help improve the chance that I have to be successful with my retirement plan, if I use my house some way, some form?” And two and a half million people did that in 2018, they applied for a mortgage loan of some kind-

Michael Banner:

That’s right. 

Joe Demarkey:

… to help improve their financial situation.

Michael Banner:

Yeah. And although we have spent a great deal of the show talking about reverse mortgages, let’s not forget, correct me if I’m wrong, Bill, but your real target audience, or I should say the smartest time, which I wasn’t smart enough to do, and so that ship has sailed, is actually to buy long-term care insurance around your mid fifties, or am I close to reality there when we can do it? 

Bill Comfort:

Yeah. That 55 to 60 is the sweet spot of pricing health for insurability. And the other big commitments are done or almost done, particularly putting kids through college. And so, let’s tie this in there, right? Because let’s say through your 54, 55, 56 year old couple, they’re not eligible for reverse mortgage yet. But one of the questions I always get is they say, “We can afford this premium.” Now, it wouldn’t be 640 a month. It might only be 400 a month at 55, the example we used. And I’m just shooting from the hip there. But they say, “We can afford that today. We’re both still working.” But it’s just, it’s a little concerning, we get to 65, 70, where we’re retired, we’re on a fixed income, Social Security, drawing from our savings. 

And I think for some people, they hesitate to buy the coverage at the right time, because they’re not sure how to pay for it forever. Now, paying upfront one single lump sum is one way around that. But honestly, most people don’t have enough money to put that big chunk in there, particularly to buy enough coverage. Some do, but broad market, we’re not enough into the great middle market. And of course, there’s people with money that’s less that shouldn’t be buying the insurance. But I could see, at 55 you buy it. And then you begin to talk about the possibility, just the possibility. And Joe, this is right to what you’re saying now of using a reverse mortgage later to free up cashflow, eliminate the monthly P and I, principal and interest payments, or to pull a lump sum out to reallocate. There’s that future financial security that I think the boomers are more than willing to start looking at and thinking about.

Michael Banner:

I don’t want to keep you guys for hours and hours, although at the rate it’s going, I really would like to, because this has just been fantastic for me. I have to tell you that. Steven, talk to us a little about the proprietary reverse mortgage programs that are now going up to three and $4 million. This is a whole new class of people that can take a million dollars out of their two or two and a half million dollar house, or pay off a million dollar mortgage and not free up 1,200 a month, free up 8,000 a month. And the amazing financial tools that could be done with that type of capital. Or Bill, instead of them putting up 186,000, maybe they’re putting up 300,000 and getting a staggering, that’s a whole new world for us. And of course, Joe, with a reverse mortgage funding has one of the finest proprietary programs in the country. I’ve closed several of them. This is a new world for reverse mortgages. These people that say it’s just for poor people, not anymore.

Steven Sless:

Well, because that goes back to the point of leverage, Michael, what these folks understand, and we just closed a jumbo reverse mortgage a couple months back for a guy in Boca Raton, Florida right in your state, Michael, $4.5 million home, completely free and clear of any mortgage. Now, why in the world would somebody with a four and a half million dollar home and no mortgage, take out a reverse mortgage? You’d think this guy is crazy. This is what the most astute and savvy investors understand better than anything else, it’s leverage. It’s like, Steve, why wouldn’t I leverage this equity? Look at what I’m making. And this particular person has a lot of means. I mean, he has a net worth, well, into six, $7 million. It’s like, why in the world would I draw that out? When I can draw the equity out of my home, my home is never going to go up at the rate of my investment portfolio right now. They understand leverage.

And now, we’re seeing a whole new class of reverse mortgage clientele come into our industry. And they’re looking at their home as the investment tool and the financial tool that it truly is. 

I think backtracking for a second. And then, Joe can certainly talk about RMF’s product because they’re one of the big innovators in the market with the proprietary products. But I want to go back for a moment and talk about the everyday person. I was talking to a financial advisor yesterday on a Zoom call and he’s like, “You know what, Steve? I, the financial advisor, I’m only talking to the upper 5%, right? What about the other 95%?” And I look at my parents, my parents, I just did a reverse mortgage for my parents two months ago. 

And I think my parents represent exactly what our normal reverse mortgage client looks like. They’ve worked hard their whole life. They’ve saved. They’ve invested. They’ve done all the right things, but they were late savers, right? They need to start saving until they were in their late forties, early fifties. It really took until my sister and I were out of the home before they could really start to ramp up their retirement savings. And by that point, it’s just too late. They didn’t feel they have the means to entertain talking to a financial advisor. They’ve always been DIYers. They’ve just done it on their own. And they’ve gotten to this point where now it’s time to start talking about retirement.

My dad is almost 70. He’s going to be retiring soon. And my mom, she’s just not long for the job that she’s doing any longer. At some point sooner, rather than later, they’re going to need to retire. And now, they make the big switch. The big switch from wealth accumulation to wealth distribution. We’re having to talk about long-term care. My grandfather, God bless him. He’s 97 years old. He was healthy as a clam until COVID hit. And with him being locked down for the past nine months, his health has gone dramatically downhill. And now, the whole family has to come into play. And we’re realizing how difficult long-term care is. He does not have long-term care insurance. We’re having to fund his long-term care insurance and provide that care as well. 

But I think my parents represent that 95% of folks that are out there on an island. They’re not represented by a financial advisor. So, who’s speaking to them? Shows like this, we’re speaking directly to them. But how else are we getting directly to those folks, those folks who are just out there doing it on their own, but they’re going to have a big surprise coming really soon, if they don’t talk to a professional, a long-term care professional, a financial services professional, and maybe a reverse mortgage professional to help them navigate the murky waters of retirement.

Michael Banner:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Very well put. Absolutely. Joe, do you want to say anything about the proprietary product and what you think that’s bringing to the industry?

Joe Demarkey:

Yeah. Listen, the government products which dominates the industry today has helped over a million homeowners around the country be able to access their home equity, never have to make a monthly payment, as long as they’re just being a good borrower, a good homeowner. They’re paying their taxes on time. Keeping their house insured, and they live there as their principal residence. The proprietary products, the non-government products that we’re talking about, help meet the borrowing needs of other people. For example, Steve’s example of somebody who lives in a very high valued home, who might need to borrow a lot more money or want to borrow a lot more money than the government program would allow for, that’s the obvious segment of the market that the proprietary reverse mortgage products that are available in the country can help me.

We can also help me, the borrowing needs of people who live in properties through no fault of their own, that don’t qualify for the government reverse mortgage program. And I’m thinking about condominium owners, Michael, especially down in your neck of the woods in Florida. It’s a startling statistic that only, I think it’s like 11% or 12% of all condominiums in the country today are FHA approved. That means 88% or 89% are not.

Michael Banner:

That’s right.

Joe Demarkey:

And there’s plenty of those condominiums unit owners who happen to be 62 years of age or older, and proprietary reverse mortgage loans can help a good portion of those folks as well. So, listen, proprietary reverse mortgages help to expand the market. They help to serve borrowers who are not well-served by the government program that exists today.

Michael Banner:

Absolutely.

Joe Demarkey:

And that’s a good thing. We’ll reach more of those borrowers. So, a lot of product innovation that’s happening in our industry, including at my company, and we’ll come out with even more variations of the product, I’m sure in the years ahead that will help expand the market even further. 

Michael Banner:

Fantastic. All right. Well, I kept you about 10 minutes longer than expected, but I do thank you for this. To me, this has been, I don’t know, almost a culmination of 10 years. And the three of you made that come true tonight. 

In the next couple of months, our new Longevity Initiative is going to be dealing with Medicare and Medicaid, quite frankly, last expense insurance. We all know how expensive funerals have gotten. Of course, Medicare supplements. We’re going to be bringing back our national expert on dementia, which it’s amazing to me what our numbers, what our viewers are when we talk dementia. Because we all are, I mean, of all diseases, I know that’s my number one fear. That that’s just a crippling disease. And it doesn’t know what religion you are or what color you are, or what income bracket you’re in. Unlike a lot of other things that your income bracket can help you cure. 

We’re going to be bringing back the Weizmann Institute to talk about examples. And I know a few of you have seen those shows when the Weizmann Institute from Israel was on two shows ago, two Weizmann shows ago. I don’t know if you remember when we brought on Mr. Richard Ellison, he said to me, “Michael, how old are your grandchildren?” And I said, “Well, they’re 14, seven, three and six months.” And he went, “And I’m going to give you my word on something.” I said, “What’s that?” 

And I don’t know if you guys remember this, because I know you watched the show. I don’t know if Joe, if you watched back then, it was a couple of months ago. He said, “Michael, your grandchildren will be playing tennis in the heat of the summer in Florida, when they’re a hundred years old. They are, the medical community, as much as we’ve made advancements in the last three decades, in the next two to three decades, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, all types of female and male cancers, we’re almost at an 80% to 90% cure rate.” 

But the Weizmann Institute just about a year ago, and it’s already in human testing right now, came up with a medication that eradicates the plaque on your arteries. Okay? If you eradicate the plaque on your arteries, people will not have heart attacks. Well, they will, for other reasons, but that’s the main reason. People will not have strokes. And then another section of the Weizmann Institute said, “Wait a minute, Alzheimer’s is created by plaque on the brain. Can we have that medication?” And a year later, they now feel they are this close to a cure for dementia, eradicating the plaque on the brain. People are going to be living to a hundred, 110, 125 years old. That’s not only a financial problem to your average person, we’re going to have to increase the loan to values, guys, on reverse mortgages. 

But how about the food shortage? How many supermarkets are there? There’s a shortage now of healthcare people. What’s going to happen when we’re living to be a hundred, 110, 120. How about senior housing? Our world is going to be different in the next two to three decades. And I hope we can be a source of some information on all the topics I’ve mentioned. 

I hope the three of you will be back not just for a reverse mortgage show, but I want the three of you or two or one, or three of you to always be on the show to talk about the things that are affecting seniors. And I just thank you so much for being here. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. Thank you so much. 

Steven Sless:

Thank you, Michael. 

Joe Demarkey:

Thanks, Michael. 

Bill Comfort:

Thank you, Michael. 

Michael Banner:

All right. Now, guys, before we cut off, I know the TV audience has gone and I didn’t get a chance to say this. So, hopefully, a lot of people switched over to Facebook. But to my three guests, to John Gaston in the back, who is the owner of We Beam TV, and to all our 62 Who Knew? viewers, I hope you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I know it’s going to be a rough one with COVID-19. 

I have to say, I’m going to be told a million times when we cut off, “You didn’t bring up the website, Michael. You’re not selling.” Can you imagine Joe, somebody telling me I’m not selling enough, that I didn’t bring up the website the whole damn show. Everybody, our people, our viewers, go to 62whoknew.com. Send me an email, [email protected] “I need information on reverse mortgages. I need information on long-term care.” I will put you with the best. You’re looking at the best. So again, happy Thanksgiving. And thank you all so much for being here. Take care.