The Golden Handcuffs

Between the Biden administration in Washington D.C. and the Newsom administration in California, seniors have been devastated. With out-of-control inflation and interest rates, even the small COLA raises for Social Security make it hard for seniors to make ends meet.

The golden handcuffs are the most damaging things both administrations have done to seniors. Golden handcuffs refer to properties owned by seniors that they want to sell to downsize in their retirement years. Seniors like myself typically downsize to make ends meet in retirement. Our children have moved on, and we have large homes that we no longer need. Unfortunately, we can’t sell and take the equity anymore.

With near 7% home mortgage rates, it would cost most seniors more to buy a smaller home than to stay in the one they are in. Additionally, insurance companies in California have walked away, leaving seniors with annual policies costing $10K or more with minimum coverage, like “The Fair Plan” in California.

Who would want to buy a property at a 7% mortgage rate with high property taxes and insurance? Who could afford that? Nobody, and that is why there are limited homes for sale. Seniors are handcuffed to their properties, and buyers can’t purchase the larger homes. This scenario is bad for young people raising families who want a larger home and for seniors who want to downsize.

In my case, I have a property with a mid-range value of $700K. If you were to take out a mortgage on the home, the P&I would roughly be $5,000.00 a month with a minimum down payment. Property taxes on my home are about $7,500 a year, and insurance is around $8,000 a year. So that adds another $1,250 a month to the mortgage payment, making your monthly payment around $6,250 a month. You would need to make about $150K a year (with no debt) and upwards of $200K a year with car payments and credit payments. Nobody can afford that.

The golden handcuffs are destroying seniors. The only winners are the banks. We cannot sell our homes, we cannot use our equity, and if the home is not paid for, we cannot use a reverse mortgage. We are stuck in our large homes with no way out – and eventually, we will lose them because there is no way to downsize our expenses in retirement.

Due to this, most seniors, including myself, are still working while collecting our retirements. We are afraid to touch our 401Ks and savings because the future looks dim for us. We have seen our expenses rise over 22% in the last couple of years between food, energy costs, insurance, and medical expenses. I have seen my costs go up here in California a staggering 29% in the last two years. Both Joe Biden and Newsom are responsible for this due to their bad policies, out-of-control debt, and devaluation of the dollar. Neither can manage a budget, and their policies are “tax and spend,” which further devastates the dollar and seniors.

The golden handcuffs have crushed my retirement dreams. Housing costs all over the nation are unaffordable unless you want to move to crime-ridden Democrat-controlled areas in the “hood.” The unhoused litter the streets, addicts are shooting up on every corner, and carjackings, robberies, and home invasions are the norm. Seniors are an easy target in these areas. They may be affordable, but our life spans will be very short.

If you are reading this article on the web, look up “golden handcuffs,” and you will see what I am talking about. This has been all caused by Democrat leaders mismanaging our finances by overspending, printing money, and out-of-control debt. Biden has added trillions to our debt, and Newsom is adding billions to California’s. There is no end in sight.

I predict that seniors will be losing their homes en masse, the banks will be flooded with foreclosures, and the housing market will eventually collapse. Seniors will pay the ultimate price, banks will close, and the stock market will crash. With the economy in shambles, at some point the economy will return, but it will be too late for many. The golden handcuffs are just the beginning. You have a chance this fall to change all of this, provided you put the right people in charge. The housing market can be fixed, and the golden handcuffs can be removed simply by balancing the budget and lowering interest rates. These things can be done if you elect responsible people. Nobody says balancing the budget is an easy task, but if the pork was eliminated, government handouts were curtailed, and the border was closed, it would be a good start. Think about it.