Hacker News Reader

Comment by charlie0 | Hacker News Reader

Which is odd because I don't see a lot of downsizing from any boomer I know, the equity is locked away on the home until they sell.

View on HN

> the equity is locked away on the home until they sell.

Some people get reverse mortgages so they can spend some of the equity of the home while they still live in it:

https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/...

This is the same tax trick that the obscenely wealthy use with their stock portfolios. It's a "fantastic" way of accessing accrued wealth without paying taxes on it.

I think I would prefer that we investigate this more thoroughly, as well, to reduce some of these tricks that further stratify the haves and the have-nots.

The thing being omissed here is that there's a cost-basic step-up when you die.

So, if the value of the home increased by say 2x the taxes on it are 0 because the cost-basis on it isn't the price your parents bought it for; it's the price when they died and you got it.

This works out a lot better for stocks because when you created the company and gave yourself a million stock units for a total of $1 (not each) and those stocks appreciated to be $300 each that's a ton of capital gains. Except when you die and it's stepped up its not. -- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stepupinbasis.asp

What do you propose we "investigate" exactly? There are no tricks here. Everyone with a basic understanding of finance knows exactly how it works. People have always been allowed to borrow money and use their assets as collateral.

Is it? There are several ways to draw against the equity of the house in the U.S. Are these absent in Canada?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com