Pros and cons of a reverse mortgage

By Mike Switzer

Published August 13, 2024 at 6:30 AM EDT

Ashton Lawrence, certified financial planner with Mariner Wealth Advisors in Greenville, S.C.

Reverse mortgages, which provide payments to you instead of you making payments, used to have a bad reputation with high costs involved and many scammers around. But then, several years ago, the federal government stepped in and laid down some rules. Mike Switzer interviews Ashton Lawrence, a certified financial planner with Mariner Wealth Advisors in Greenville, S.C.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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