You know that feeling when a topic keeps popping up again and again until suddenly, it hits you and you can’t ignore it anymore?

That was me and reverse mortgages.

I kept hearing about them at conferences, in articles, and on podcasts. So finally, I paid attention. I sat through a presentation and, surprisingly, it wasn’t what I expected. In fact, it sounded a lot like the conversations I was already having around income, taxes, and sequence of returns risk. Only this time, it was a different tool. One I didn’t know how to use... yet.

I got curious and did some research. I watched videos of financial industry experts like Wade Pfau, Barry Sacks, and Jamie Hopkins break down the product, the math, and the concepts. No sales pitch. Just data, facts, and proven outcomes all pointing to a more complete financial picture.

Somewhere along the way, everything I believed to be true about reverse mortgages started to unravel. I realized the advice many of us had been giving didn’t match what I now knew to be possible.

And I started to wonder... why aren’t we all talking about this?

I identified four reasons we don’t talk about home equity:

1. Common Oversight

Home equity is often a client’s largest asset. Yet many financial advisors don’t know how to integrate it into a financial plan. They’re not trained on it, and they’re not incentivized to use it since they’re not compensated for doing so.

2. Bad PR

Reverse mortgages have a lingering reputation problem. Stories about widows being evicted from their homes still stick with consumers and professionals alike. But here’s the truth: that issue stemmed from nonborrowing spouses being left out of federal protections in the past. That policy was corrected years ago.

3. Unknown Benefits

Reverse mortgages offer several advantages that many people don’t know about:

• Eliminates the monthly mortgage payment. With about half of Americans still paying a mortgage as they enter retirement, this can be a major cash flow improvement.

  (Note: The homeowner is still responsible for property-related expenses, including but not limited to taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees. They must also maintain the home and live in it as their primary residence.)

• Can serve as an additional retirement resource
• Nonrecourse legal protection for homeowners, heirs, and the estate

  (The homeowner literally signs a liability release document when taking a reverse mortgage.)

• Underwater insurance, so the homeowner never owes more than the home is worth
• Disaster-resistant line of credit. Unlike home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), many of which were frozen during the 2008 financial crisis, federally insured reverse mortgages remain accessible even when property values drop or the home is damaged.

If a borrower’s home is destroyed—by fire in California, flood in western North Carolina, or hurricane in Florida—the line of credit still remains available. There is no contractual provision to freeze it.

Too many homeowners in those scenarios had too much of their wealth tied up in appreciated, underinsured homes. When disaster struck, their home equity disappeared, but the mortgage bill still came due. With no way to tap that lost wealth, recovery was even harder.

A reverse mortgage might have helped. Isn’t the financial advisor’s job to help reduce the client’s risk in retirement?

4. Lack of Integration in Planning Software

Most financial advisors acknowledge that their clients’ home equity appears in their financial planning software. But it usually sits there, illiquid and unused.

It’s hard to imagine any other asset being neglected the way home equity is today.

If that same equity were integrated into a retirement plan, it could improve the client’s overall position. And isn’t that the shared goal? To use all available resources for a stronger retirement?

There’s also an added benefit for advisors:

Using home equity as a third “bucket” (alongside income and investments) can help preserve those other two. That means helping clients sustain their assets while also protecting the advisor’s 1% AUA/AUM fee and future practice revenue.

Financial advisors who aren’t having home equity conversations with their clients are usually relying on outdated assumptions and a lack of training. But this is too important to ignore.

Home equity is a major financial asset especially in a country full of retirement under-savers. Housing wealth for those age 62 and older now totals $14 trillion.

It’s time to bring this conversation to the forefront.