If you are in your early 50s and just buying a home, you may be paying that mortgage in your 80s. Most financial planners believe this could lead to disaster down the road because seniors don’t usually have the income to support debt repayment in addition to monthly expenses, so they may run out of money way too soon. Yikes! You need a better plan other than being a Wal-mart greeter to pay for it. Here’s a few ways this may not destroy your retirement:

You have enough saved.  If you are paying $1000/mortgage, you’ll need an extra $300,000 assuming a four percent withdrawal rate to make that payment. Is that awful? Maybe not. With lifetime mortgage rates again below four percent, this may not be a huge amount for people who have spent a lifetime saving.

A mortgage payment may be lower than renting. The median home price in Berks County right now is about $159,000. With 20 percent down and decent credit, your mortgage payment would be less than $800 at today’s rates. There may be few rentals in your favorite neighborhoods renting for less than that.

Your new house has lower operating expenses. My old house had taxes of $9,700/yr. My new downsized house has less than $4,000. A smaller or newer house may mean less in heating and electricity. Those expenses last a lifetime; a mortgage can be paid and gone.

Your new house is cheaper to maintain. If the house is easy (and will stay easy to maintain), it can save you decades of handymen, remodelers, landscapers, and other help that older people need. While maybe not less expensive, many older couples pick condominiums, newer homes and smaller lot sizes for the express purpose of cutting down on maintenance expenses in retirement. That way they can spend more time traveling and not worry about the lawn.

You can afford a 15-year mortgage. Right now the rate on a 15-year mortgage is under 3.5 percent. So for about $300 extra per month, you could be done paying your mortgage by age 66 even if you bought your new home at 50.

Your current house is just way too big. Okay, I had a 5,000 square foot house. Two retired people don’t need more than 1700 square feet. You can get two bedrooms, two living areas (my husband loves TV documentaries and I don’t) where two people can have different entertainment habits, room for guests and places for projects (we currently use the dining room).

You have to live somewhere. Renting may cost more than your new mortgage and you have to live somewhere — will another place be any less?

You’ve found a dream retirement location. Some of my clients start buying their retirement home in their desired area in their 50s just so that payment will be gone, predictable, and way more affordable fifteen years from now when they retire.

Mortgage payments are predictable. Rent typically rises with inflation, traditional mortgages don’t. As a financial planner, I have to ensure a rising amount of assets to support rent increases and have a more achievable goal with homeowners, even if they have a mortgage in their 70s.

All-in-all, taking on a new mortgage in your 50s is not to be taken lightly, but need not derail your retirement if you’ve planned accordingly. Oh, and by the way, being in your 60s or even 70s is no longer considered old!

If you’d like help planning for your mortgage during retirement, call, click or email me and together we’ll make a plan.

Merra Lee Moffitt, Certified Financial Planner, is a Senior Partner at Good Life Financial Group, Wyomissing. Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Good Life Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Good Life Advisors, LLC and Good Life Financial Group are separate entities from LPL Financial.