Will protect you – keeping “all your eggs in one basket” has never been a wise idea and yet a vast majority of Americans have more wealth inside their homes that all their other assets combined. We feel safe with lots of home equity, but we cannot send our kids to school or buy food with shutters. We need liquidity to be safe!  You may have heard to idea of taking some “winnings off the table” when it comes to the stock market or even gambling.  We do not want to gamble with our homes but successfully using home equity over time, as the value of our home increases, is simply a way of diversifying our assets and building wealth.  When you sell or refinance a mortgage is the time to evaluate the opportunity to diversify the funds locked in your home.

• Home improvement – add to the value of your asset
• Education funding – prefund education for high school or college
• Retirement funding – most of us will not make it with Social Security and our 401k –using equity to fund a non-qualified retirement plan can bridge that gap
• Second home or investment properties – build your wealth
• Health Care funding – long term care is a critical gap for many – self funding Long Term care through Single premium plans or cash value plans can be a huge safety net
• Legacy Planning – pass on wealth while it can help the beneficiary, with estate and gift planning, home equity can protect the next generation now.