When I speak with advisors, clients and/or members of the family, I am still surprised when those false bits of information come flowing out of their mouths. “Look”, I say, “the program has been around for 20 years. It has a history. A half million seniors can’t be wrong”. Shouldn’t these misconceptions finally be exterminated? Well then, why do they survive?
Well, I have come to the following conclusion. These bits of wrong information have been repeated so often, that like a river whose course cannot be altered, these bits of information will always be an issue when one thinks about reverse mortgages. I believe that this steely thought process emanates from the primary/elementary early education experience of our borrowers. Everything depends upon an ANSWER. Edward De Bono, the creator of the Lateral Thinking Concept believes that once we reach a conclusion- that first answer is when thinking stops. Our focus takes on the characteristics of a laser beam. We become locked into a direction, a singular point of reference.
Accordingly, there is no such thing as shades of gray. What exists is an answer. Our parents were guided by this process to a greater degree. But its impact on the Baby Boomers has nevertheless been significant. In the early grades, the learning process for parent (Matures) & child (Baby Boomers) was similar. There could only be one answer.
Cognitive Dissonance then plays a key role in keeping these misconceptions alive. This concept suggests that when what one already knows and believes comes into conflict with a new idea, the ingrained idea will stomp out the new idea, even when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It is easy to see why the Matures (influenced by the family’s great depression experiences) and their progeny (Baby Boomers- younger than 63)) have until recently, not unconditionally embraced the reverse mortgage program. Until now, for many, it has been a CONTEMPLATIVE process. The laser focus/ingrained answer was easy to arrive at- its expensive; or its debt and debt is bad; or its for those that are destitute; it’s too good to be true therefore stay away; The media, acting like a mobius strip, has repeated these things thousands of times over the years.
Today, things are different. “big business” is failing. The “little people” are drowning financially and do not have that financial life line. Today the decision is more an EMOTIONAL one. This is why the originators have to treat the borrowers as clients. This is the only way to ensure that the right path is being taken; that the choice to proceed is in fact the correct answer.
