How to retire without a mortgage
Other than health care, one of the most substantial drains on retirement funds can be an outstanding mortgage. Years ago when homes were less expensive and older adults rarely moved, mortgage issues were less common. Today, mortgage debt and home equity loans among retirees are more likely. Here are some plans, some of which take awhile to implement, to reduce reliance on a mortgage once you decide to relax and take your retirement. • Make Extra Mortgage Payments. By starting early and adding an extra few hundred dollars to your mortgage payments every month you can decrease your overall obligation substantially and can pay off the loan years earlier. Some lenders even have an on-line amortization calculator allowing you to compute how much sooner the mortgage would be satisfied and how much would be saved.
• Refinance Your Mortgage
But Reduce the Term. To pay off your mortgage early using refinancing, you will need a shorter term loan. You might reduce the term of a 30 year conventional mortgage to 15 years, for instance. This works best if you refinance earlier in the current loan since mortgages are front end loaded when it comes to interest. If, for instance, you have 25 years remaining on a 30 year mortgage at 6 percent, with a balance of $175,000 and refinance to a 15 year mortgage, not only would you have ten years less to pay, you could refinance at a lower rate and save interest. Your monthly payments will be higher but you might be surprised. They might not be as high as expected.
On the other hand, if you have already paid 25 years on a 30 year mortgage, you have already paid most of the interest and principal on the current loan. In that case, the first strategy of paying more monthly on your current loan would make more sense.
• Downsizing Your Home. Obviously, selling a larger and more costly home and moving to a smaller one can give you cash from the first sale and might even pay for the second purchase entirely. It is up to you whether to downsize recognizing, however, also that there are costs associated with a move.
• Relocate to a Less Expensive
Area. When considering a move to another location, whether local or out-of-state or even out of country, all of the factors in-
ucators and other disciplines in the Berks County region, the release says.
“We are very excited about this new collaboration, which offers our students a great opportunity to train with excellent physicians at a top-quality facility,” said Drexel College of Medicine Dean Daniel V. Schidlow, MD.
The Tower Health system has 11,000 employees at six regional hospitals. In addition to Reading Hospital in West Reading, the system consists of Brandywine Hospital in Caln Township, Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, Jennersville Hospital in Penn Township in southern Chester County, Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville and Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown. It also includes Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences in West Reading; and a network of 2,000 physicians, specialists and providers across 65 locations.
Brandywine, Chestnut Hill, Jennersville, Phoenixville and Pottstown hospitals were purchased last year by Reading Health System — now Tower Health — from former owner Community Health Systems Inc. of Franklin, Tenn. The transaction, announced in May 2017, was finalized Sept. 29 and became effective Oct. 1.
While terms of last fall’s sale were not publicly announced, according to information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November by Community Health Systems Inc., Tower Health paid approximately $418 for the five properties.
Drexel University College of Medicine is the successor to two historic medical schools: Hahnemann Medical College and the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in the world for women. Today, the school has more than 1,000 medical students.