Yes, you can apply for a mortgage if you are retired. The Bank will look at your Canada pension income, income from investments like RRSP, investments like locked in GIC are ome of the few banks will like to see before making their decision, If you have proof of income and the ability to pay the monthly mortgage payment for the mortgage you request then you will have no problem to apply. Life insurance is another positive thing to the bank. If you have a life insurance you can guarantee the payout form the mortgage using your life insurance. There is obviously many things you can show to the bank to proof that you have a stable amount of money coming in every month to cover your mortgage and life expenses.

It will be hard unless you have a high pension plan with a decent monthly amount plus investment or life insurance you can try to obtain a not so high mortgage. But if you don`t have all of the above you most likely will need a guarantor if you want to get approved.

I am sure that if you have a big enough life insurance bank will most likely give you a mortgage but not the 25 year amortization. Is might be 5 or 10 years amortization which will double your monthly payment. For example; if you purchase a 300,000 home or condo and will need 250,000 mortgage your monthly payment for 5 year fixe 30 years amortization is going to be 1560$ and with 10 year amortization the monthly payment will be 2800$. With 5 years amortization the monthly payment is going to be about 4800 per month. So the shorter amortization the large the monthly payment. If you have a guarantor or assets to show which can act as a collateral then your mortgage application will go smoother.

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We own our house fully no mortgage value approx $550k. we are thinking that we like to retire early to near the beach. currently we found nice homes with land in that area for $175k. is it better to get a home equity for the full cost of the beach home plus any other small debit (approx $75k 2 cars and a timeshare) or continue to pay on the individual debits and add a mortgage for the beach house? the ultimate goal would be to get settled into the 2nd home and then sell the current home pay off the balance and then put the rest in an investment with monthly dividends to use as retirement income until we reach retirement age and also maybe get a parttime job.

I am a mtg broker. I would do a fixed HELOC and combine all your debt into it. If you pay all your debt separate, you are paying interest on the cars, credit cards, etc which are NOT tax deductible. Your mtg debt is. Congrats on having your home free and clear!

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Currently i have about $80k cash saved up. the only debt that i have is a mortgage with a balance of $88k. i took out a 10 year mortgage, and have been paying an extra $1000/month towards the principal balance. this summer i should have enough cash to pay the mortgage off, which i fully intend to do. i also have a rental house that is generating $1100/month in income. the rental house is paid off. so, sometime this summer i will have my primary residence paid off, and generating $1100/month in rental income. currently i'm putting $100/month in a roth, but once i pay my house i will max that contribution. i'm putting 6% into my 401k, company maches 50%, so 9% to the 401k/month. after my house is paid off, i should be able to save at least $3000/month, and possibly up to $4000. any suggestions on how to move forward and retire early? i'm thinking about saving up an additional $60k or so and putting 20% down on 2 different rental properties, with a 10 year mortgage. it would take

Max out 401k with 16500/year + 5000 in Roth IRA with 21500/year, using Rule of 72, 10% return of your investment, your 7 years will double your money. 21500 will be 200k in 7.2 years. So in 15-20 years period. Your investment in 401k is around 400k to 600k right there. with 600k, you are set for life

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This is from an article in the st. petersburg times newspaper on sunday. the business section asked readers for ideas on "how would you fix the economy?" i think this guy nailed it! a simple solution. dear mr. president: please find below my suggestion for fixing america ’s economy. instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. you can call it the patriotic retirement plan: there are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations: 1. they must retire. forty million job openings - unemployment fixed. 2. they must buy a new american car. forty million cars ordered - auto industry fixed. 3. they must either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - housing crisis fixed. it can't get any easier than that! if more money is needed, have all members of congress and their constituents pay their taxes...

How about just abolishing the income tax and reducing overseas spending to make up the difference in revenue? This would put AT LEAST an extra 20% of income in EVERY American's pocket.

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Dear mr. darling, please find below my suggestion for fixing britain 's economy. instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan : there are about 20 million people over 50 in the work force. - pay them £1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations: 1) they must retire. twenty million job openings - unemployment fixed. 2) they must buy a new british car. twenty million cars ordered - auto industry fixed. 3) they must either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - housing crisis fixed. 4) they must send their kids to school / college /university - crime rate fixed 5) buy £50 of alcohol / tobacco a week there's your money back in duty / tax etc it can't get any easier than that! p.s. if more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back there falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances.

Terrific idea. If only..... I would qualify!!!

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I have been with my partner for almost 5 months, lived together 6 weeks (he moved into mine), and things are great. he is my best friend and adores me as i do him. neither of us has much money but we're happy. only thing is that we want to get married and can't see a way of doing it withe next to nothing saved (i have £1000 saved, he has nothing.) i'm 29, he's 28. his sister (22) was with her boyfriend 3 months then fell pregnant (wasn't usuing any protection). she was living with her parents at the time but within a month had moved in with her boyfriend into a house furnished by her parents (she paid for nothing). they have bought lots of big items for the baby etc, and are clearly thrilled, they've wanted to be grandparents for ages, etc and tell everyone that will listen how great it is. i have always believed in marriage/stable home before pregnancy to give kids a good start in life, my parents and homelife were very influential and i was lucky. my boyfriend and i want to get engaged/married, then move in to a house (we are both in my 1 bed flat as it's all we can afford), and then have kids. i will be 30 next year and have had issues with fertility so don't want to leave it years before we start trying. i know my boyfriend want to propose on holiday (we've scrimped/put some on credit to afford it) but he has no money saved. he is also still paying back a car loan. he has said he wants to give me the best and wants to propose with a ring. i suggested talking about it to his parents which he did, and asked if they would be able to lend him some money, and they said no!! i find this so mean, they have given his sister so much (she was there when he asked them and they said no in front of her despite having spent so much on her/her boyfriend). he wouldn't need very much, and it was hard for him to go to them and ask, to get that response is terrible. i don't know how we will afford a wedding/child, let alone to get engaged, but my parents have said they will give us as much as they can. my mum has said she will sell some of her jewellery and dad is 73 and not in best health but he said he has a couple of hundred pounds we can have. my parents are both pensioners. my boyfriend's parents are well off, his dad was in the raf and retired early, but still has a well paid job elsewhere and his pension (he is under 50 years old!) and his wife works too. they've paid their mortgage already so not many outgoings. my boyfriend's brother is in the raf and they dote on him, he is going away to afghanistan soon and they are paying for a party for him etc. they have also just had their garden landscaped and a new summer house built. my boyfriend is a support worker for people with disabilites, a very hard and demanding and very important job, yet gets barely more than minimum wage, and his parents know this. he went to visit his parents last week and asked his mum if she missed him since he moved out and she said no!!! he had only been out a week and they had redecorated his room! i find it so hard not to get angry. my boyfriend is so kind, loving and selfless, even to the point of not being annoyed that they won't lend him any money, but i don't see why they won't. it's like their little princess is giving them a grandchild so she gets everything and their little price is doing a well respected job yet nothing for my boyfriend? i don't know what to do about it all, it's making me so sad :( i would like to add that i am financially independent, i have lived on my own for over 3 years, never been in debt, never even paid a bill late! all he wanted was them to loan him some money, not give it to him, for a ring, not a wedding! why should they not do that when they happily spend on his siblings?! i did have £10, 000 saved but was made redundant and had no work for 6 months. i had saved it for ten years! but through all that time i did not claim one benefit from the government, i sepnd my own savings making sure i didn't get in debt with anything hi sara, he gets £6.75 an hour. i know this as i've seen his wage slips miss lou maria, i already have 2 jobs!! i work 6 days a week as it is!

From what you said his parents do not like him.Prove to them yo do not need them and move out very far away from them.Easy.You are both young and able trust me you will make it.You do not have to be sad just remind yourself your boyfriend is only yours and do not forget to remind him every so often how for you he is the whole world.Will make you two much closer than before and he would feel so much better.As for his parents I am guessing thats why we have a middle finger?

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I have two units property in california. mothers 'will' states do not sell property. mortgage payment $2,050.00 monthly. these unit (houses) are rented out. i can not live, in one of the units because i can not afford to pay the difference in money to complete my mortgage payment. i rent a house for $400.00 so my mortgage will be paid. no late payment at this time. i worked in law enforcement, good pay and benefits. had to retire early, i have parkinson's. i'm 57yr old. i receive no social security, not enough hours accumulated, so i was told, (unknown how many hours needed) but i do have medicare /kaiser. this i pay for. the money comes out of my check before i receive it. medicare coverage..$345.00 every three months. kaiser ..$134.21/dental 56.61 monthly. mr. president - not all of us that have a house can live in that house! i need a program to lower my payment, like you have done and saw the needs for the american people. thank you. i'll get back to looking for some relief. your a very good president, and a smart one too. thank for a job well done plus more. marilyn valdez 626 789-7481. lol phone number has been changed due to high numbers of calls. thanks

Marilyn, I know this is not what you might want to hear but please consider that your own rental payment is low and affordable while the rental units appear to be beyond your means and might be a good investment until paid off. You have medicare so you apparently receive law enforcement retirement benefits, which might explain why you are not eligible for Social Security disability benefits. The Social Security administration can tell you how many quarters you would need before you can make a Social Security claim as well but if you are not able to work, this is not a logical pursuit.. If you own the two income properties, do they pay their own way? When will those mortgages be paid for so that you own them free and clear? Once these rental properties have paid for themselves, what are your plans for them? ' Was it your mother's intention to provide a steady income from these properties for your anticipated retirement which was probably not expected for another 8-10 years? Have you spoken to the mortgage companies about a refinance? I realize that there are several factors operating against you but it is still worth a try especially if they have produced steady rental income and are in good repair. It is also possible that once you turn 62 one of these properties would be eligible for a reverse mortgages despite the terms of your mother's will against a sale. There are many caveats, however, and you would need legal counsel before venturing in that direction. http://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-02-2011/10-questions-answered-about-reverse-mortgages.html Matilyn, please remove your phone number and last name from your question. You have just left yourself open to many dangerous calls and risks. Did your mother anticipate your Parkinson's disease disability before she wrote her will? You may need to discuss her intent with the attorney who drew up the will or perhaps your own attorney. But do not be too hasty to try to break the will, if you have a slow PD progression, you could benefit in the future from having the income from these properties...or not. Please get legal counsel for your options. Best Wishes

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I believe i am a typical 33 year old, married male, who earns a decent living and manages/invests my money well, i think, but i am not 100% sure.  most articles and research i see highlights either the super rich or people who have tanked. i make between 150k and 185k p/year depending on bonuses.  my pay has risen sharply over the past 5 years with some promotions and i've increased my investments along the way.  here is a high level breakdown of my financial situation: debt: 22k school loans (combined wife and mine into single low interest loan) home - owe 350k on a home worth about 420k.  i pay an additional mortgage payment per year automatically by spreading that payment out into 12 monthly payments. auto - owe about 2500 on a 2004 durango.  i pay $500 per month so i am almost done with that.  i plan to continue to dump $500 per month into an account after this car is paid off.  the hope is to drive this car for 3-4 more years and use the money from that fund to buy a new, more energy efficient car, using cash. no other debt account balances: 20k emergency fund in ally bank savings account.  i place $100 dollars per month automatically in this account each month. 10k in liquid savings account.  i put left over money manually into this account monthly.  i try to keep this at 10k at all times. 100k in 401k all invested in fidelity 2040 target fund.  i now max 401k each year.  my company doesn't do a match.  they dump profit sharing into the 401k yearly regardless of if i invest into the account or not. 11k in traditional ira all invested in fidelity 2040 target fund.  i now max this out at 5k each year with monthly automatic payments. 1k in newly opened traditional ira i opened for my wife.  i plan to max this out now yearly at 5k and this is also invested in fidelity 2040 target fund. 5k in 529 college fund invested in growth strategy fund in illinois bright start fund.  i automatically invest $300 per month into this account. donations: i donate about 3k to church tithes yearly (i should do better here) other than that, that is my financial situation.  i spend just about everything else per month on entertainment, food, bills, etc. for my wife, myself, and two year old daughter.  we plan on one more child and other than adding an additional $300 to another 529, my current financial plan would stay the same. other than maybe some better budgeting to leave some money for some short term investing, is there anything else i should be doing?  anything i am doing i shouldn't be doing?  i know target fund approach seems lazy but i work and travel a lot and just don't have the time to micromanage my portfolio. from goals perspective, i want a few simple things. 1. retire early if possible 2. pay for some or all of kids college 3. pay for daughters wedding again, most investment advice doesn't seem to be geared towards someone like me so any advice is appreciated.  i just don't want to "think" i am doing ok if i could be doing something better. thanks for the candid feedback steven. i don't disagree with anything you said. i can definitely do more with my income. i think i should hit up a financial advisor to dig even deeper and get me on the path you outlined below.

You are 33, and STILL have $22,000 in STUDENT loans? What are they, pets? You also say you have $30,000 IMMEDIATELY available and STILL have $22,000 in student loans. Pay them off NOW. With your income, there is NO reason you can't replace the savings inside of ONE year. You say you can do 'better budgeting'. I say you can START budgeting. You literally have NO CLUE where most of your money is going. With 1/2 your income, I could be 100% debt free, including the house, and have more set aside for retirement as well has fully funding my children's educations and weddings. Note: People think he rich get richer and the poor get poorer for a reason. The rich KEEP doing what made them rich, and the poor KEEP doing what made them poor. All advice is targeted to one group or the other because EVERYONE have one of those two mindsets. In addition, GOOD advice is IDENTICAL for both groups. Act like the rich, not what you THINK the rich act like, and building wealth just happens. Act like the poor, and building DEBT happens.

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My boyfriend and i have been going out for almost 6 years and we've got a 18month year old baby and one on the way (3months gone). we live in my mums house and we pay her mortgage for her. recently we have been arguing a lot and i must admit i do loose my temper over the littlest things but i find that hard to control. i work full time but he has been unemployed almost through out our relationship. i seem to have to pay for everything. some of our bills for the house gets paid by my mum which he is suppose to pay for but because of his stuation he is unable to pay. my mum is retired now and is having about £900 a month pension. she has bills to pay herself so its really not fair. the amount he owed her was £1,000 so i decided to pay her so basically i pay for everything. over christmas he spent a lot on his credit card which is £980 at the moment which i have decided to pay for. h gets charged £30 a month for having it. he keeps on getting overdrawn on his current account and last month the charges were £200ish!!! he came to me then and as for help so i got all his passwords for his accounts so i can keep an eye on them and put some of 'my' money in if the account gets too low. mind you the only bills that comes out of his account is his van insurance £80 a month. although the lack of money he went to a festival abroad last year and he borrowed money from his father to go again this year dispite what he owes my mum, me and the bank!!!! he gets a few jobs here and there and he puts gigs on which he gets him some money so he's not 100% out of work all the time. he works on average say 3months out of the year through out the year. you know i paid for him to get a van in 2006 which he said at the time he will give it back as soon as he gets a job which until now he hasnt paid back. i paid for him to get a full kit on the sound system which cost £2000, his grandmother left him some money for him to have when he was 25 he said once thats come through in august 2010 i can have it. but, he says because the change of address the money is taking longer to come through!! and appart from the money troubles we have, he has no respect for me and speaks to me like i am dirt. he says that recently because im pregnant i do and say silly things and he finds me really annoying and wants to spend as littlest time with me as possible. i find it if its easier just to say nothing to him! i finished work a bit earlier yestersay and i was home at 5pm. he was sat on his arse infront of the telly playing on his playstation. we're decorating downstairs for over two years mind you!!! it is still not finished. i went out for my friends birthday and was home at 9.30pm he asked me to get him some beers. he was sat in the living room untill early hours of the morning drinking and it was his turn to get up with our son. which i had to keep asking and asking for him to get out of bed. i got up at 10am this morning and he hadnt even made himself or me a brew or some toast. when i got up he asked me to make breakfast??? i refused. my overall feeling i get with him is that he is sellfish, extremly lazy and basically he is no good for me. but when i try to speak to him about it he turns te conversation round and makes me look like the bad person in all this and i agree i am not perfect. even though he is no good he still is the father of my child and the other in my belly. so i get very upset at the thought of leaving him and find myself unable to go ahead with it. i think about how im going to cope being alone with 2 children but not sure what to do??

You have two choices: continue to put up with it or kick him out. I would go for the latter. He is not even trying to change. On a side note; you have enabled him to be a lazy leech by not demanding more from him all of these years. I don't understand why you were giving him money to blow. He should not even have a charge card if he doesn't have a steady job to pay the balance off. Its one thing to buy him a van so that he can to work-but why would you blow the money on a sound system?

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I was just wondering what you thought of this. i currently rent, but will purchase a primary residence in the next three to six years. i have taken a look at the values in my taxable investment accounts around february of 2009 (an investment portfolio low point for me) and compared them with the value today. there exists a significant increase in value. do it make sense for me to sell off these taxable investment accounts so that i could put the gains into something more safe- say the vanguard short term bond fund? then, when i make the real estate purchase in the next three to six years, i will be able to pay for most of the property, if not all of it, in cash? i figure everybody needs somewhere to live, and you are either paying rent or paying off a mortgage. if i can purchase a residence with cash, then my retirement budget will be reduced significantly because a major expense (housing) will already be paid for. i should tell you that i have a goal to retire early (the sooner the better), but realistically, i don't think i could do it for another seven to ten years. someone who knows more about investing than me suggested that i stay away from my tax deferred/tax exempt (401k, roth ira, etc) accounts and focus on the taxable accounts if i am going to take this course of action. i am thinking that housing prices will not rise significantly in three to six years, but i am not sure that the gains i see today in my taxable accounts will necessarily still be there three to six years from now. that is why i thought it might be a good idea to lock into those gains now. i know that if i do sell off these taxable investment accounts, my asset allocation will completely change, and i will need to make necessary adjustments moving forward to get it back on track. also, does it make any difference from a tax perspective, if i sold all of these taxable investment accounts in one year or if i spread it out over two or more years? thus far, i have only added to these taxable investment accounts, so the idea of selling them is somewhat unusual to me. thank you for your advice.

Leave your investment right where it is at. At the time you are looking at, you will probably realize another up turn in the values of your current investments. I like the future, versus the last two years. At that time, withdraw what you want, and buy the house. You will need to pay taxes on some of the gains, but your home is a very important asset for your secured future.

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Are you doing anything at all to prepare yourself for financially for retirement? are you investing in stocks, planning on living on a pension, storing money in bank accounts? i'm curious to know what others are doing (or not doing), and i'm also curious to see how it differs based on age and political party. for example, here's me: my husband and i are saving money each paycheck by not having extras in our lives right now (like cable tv, internet service, fancy clothes, new cars, etc.) so that we can buy rental properties. we will shop around until we find a good deal, maybe a fixer, put in the work ourselves to fix it up, and rent it out (the rent will cover the mortgage payment). rents will go up over time, but the mortgage won't, so we'll be able to pay them off early and/or buy more properties. by the time we retire, we will be able to live very comfortably without worrying about where our money will be coming from. i'm 24, and republican. to everyone saying they have retirement funds/retirement plans, are those basically just accounts where you store money, like a savings account? if it is, what happens if/when inflation hits, and all of a sudden all that money isn't that much any more? or if you live longer than you expected, and you run out? wouldn't it make more sense to invest it in something that will go up in value over time, like real estate, instead of just making a few percent of interest on it each year?

I started planning for my retirement when I was in college. I started contributing to a DRIP with a utility company. At every job I have been in, I made sure to invest as much as I could afford in my 401k and have actively managed it. I am looking into a self directed 401k plan in order to invest in a business (you can do that without penalty of taxes if you know what you are doing). I also have a stock trading account and have certain investments in gold, rare coins, and collectables. I do not expect I will ever see a dime of Social Security, so I am planning to take care of myself and not rely on that Ponzi scheme. if I get it, great. It will be gravy. I am a 38 year old republican