The YouTube channel
Finance with Fred
Each video works one money decision for homeowners 50 and older, all the way through on real numbers. Find the one that matches where you are.
Start with the free Retirement Money Blueprint
Type three numbers from your mortgage statement and the workbook shows the month your loan ends. The 12-page guide covers what comes next: Social Security, withdrawals and taxes, property tax breaks at 65, staying or moving, and the house and your family.
Get the free Blueprint →The house after it is paid off
Most of the channel's viewers are here: the mortgage is gone or nearly gone, and the bills that stay are the question.
Mortgage Paid Off? What You Still Pay Every Month
The house is paid off, but property tax and insurance keep coming. Which part of the payment stays, and how to plan for it.
Mortgage Paid Off? 4 Things to Do With the Money First
What to do with the $2,402 your mortgage payment frees up, in four moves and in the order you actually do them.
Seniors Can Freeze Part of Their Property Tax. Here's How
What the over-65 exemption saves, what a tax ceiling saves over ten years, and the call to make.
Paying off the mortgage
Extra payments, payoff quotes, recasts, PMI, and whether to use retirement money on the house.
How to Pay Off a 30-Year Mortgage 8 Years Early
An extra $100, $200, biweekly, or $343 a month on a $380,000 loan at 6.5%: which one ends the loan first.
Paying Off Your Mortgage? Get This Before You Send the Check
Why the payoff quote is higher than your statement balance, and what to check before you send the money.
Pay Off the Mortgage or Invest? Check This One Rate First
Why the market has to clear about 7.3%, not 6.5%, before investing beats paying down a 6.5% mortgage.
How Retirees Lower a Mortgage Payment Without Refinancing
How a recast after a $50,000 lump sum lowers the payment by $372.79 a month, and when principal only is the better move.
How to Drop PMI 14 Months Early With One Letter
Why asking at 80% beats waiting for 78%, and the letter that asks your servicer to cancel PMI.
Using Your 401(k) to Pay Off the House? Retirees, Do This First
On $220,000 at 4% with 15 years left, keeping the loan takes $233,844 of 401(k) money; clearing it takes a $276,087 withdrawal.
Retiring With a Mortgage? Read These 5 Numbers First!
Keep the mortgage or pay it off before retirement: in the example, clearing $150,000 at 4.5% with one 401(k) check the year the couple retires carries about $18,200 in federal tax.
Retirement decisions about the house
Staying or moving, care costs, the kids, and what changes when one spouse dies.
Downsizing in Retirement: What You Actually Keep After You Sell
Sell for $450,000, buy for $300,000: the napkin says $150,000, and the example keeps $100,600.
How Many Months of Nursing Home Care Your House Pays For
How many months of care the house pays for once it is sold, with your own care cost and income.
Leaving the House to Your Kids? Read This Before You Sign It Over
What giving the house now costs your kids in federal tax when they sell, against leaving it to them.
If Your Spouse Dies, Know This Before You Sell the House
The four house bills against the one Social Security check that stays, and the two-year window on the home sale tax break.
Buying a Car in Retirement? Do This Before You Pay Cash
Why a 3.06% loan rate is the dividing line between paying cash and financing a $40,000 car.
Downsizing After 60? The 5 Worst Homes to Buy (An Expensive Mistake)
Stairs, the property tax reset, flood zones, a thin HOA and insurers pulling back, ranked by what each can cost, with one check for each before the offer.
Free calculators, no email
If you only want a date and a number, the calculators on the main site are free, need no account and keep nothing you type.
Mortgage payoff calculator · All the free calculators · The Retirement Money Blueprint
Fred is the illustrated voice of the channel, not a person and not a financial adviser, and the narration is a synthetic voice. The arithmetic behind every episode is mine, and every figure on screen is one I can show you the working for. Educational information, not financial, tax or legal advice.