A Paradigm Shift: the End of Inheritance for the Middle Class
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Patricia Barnes
Increasingly, the old family homestead is not being passed down to the family when the parents die.
Older parents are taking advantage of reverse mortgages to pay off credit cards and to escape poverty and debt. This reduces equity in the home and often leads to foreclosure, leaving traditional heirs with nothing but memories.
Not only are reverse mortgage companies feasting upon the assets of older Americans; so too are health insurers and prescription drug companies.
Moreover, seniors on a fixed income were adversely affected by President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which raised the threshold on medical expense tax deductions and placed a cap of $10,000 on the itemized deductibility of state and local taxes.
America seems to be in the midst of a paradigm shift. Wealth transfer is skipping the deceased’s traditional heirs and going directly into the pockets of mortgage companies, banks, international corporations and the government.
Barnes discusses the lure of reverse mortgages, and poor public policy.
