Page 24 - Pakistan Link - November 19, 2021

P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – NOVEMBER 19, 2021 COMMENTARY
Tapping Home for Cash

n By Saghir Aslam
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
(The following information is FOUNDATION
provided solely to educate the Mus- P.O. BOX 5481, Santa Clara, CA 95056 | (408) 244.3282 | www.hidaya.org
lim community about
investing and finan- One Million Meals
cial planning. It is
hoped that the Um-
mah will benefit from
this effort through
greater financial em- 50 C $1 $5 $10
powerment, enabling the community provides provides provides provides
to live in security and dignity and
fulfill their religious and moral obli- 1 meal 2 meals 10 meals 20 meals
gations towards charitable activities.)
A couple short on money won-
ders whether a reverse mortgage will
help or hurt.
The Problem
Paula and Dennis Arntz were
struggling. To supplement their So-
cial Security, the couple, both 67 and
retired, were pulling at least $500
a month from their small bank ac- 1. Is this your forever home? Donate online via check or card at
count. Maybe, thought Paula, they HECMs are costly. If you or your 4. Where will the money go?
could lose their $1,200 monthly spouse might want to relocate some- You’re courting disaster by get- www.hidaya.org
mortgage bill and fix their cash flow day, or if your house isn’t suitable for ting the cash without a plan. If you
by taking out a reverse mortgage on aging in place, you’re better off selling blow through the money, there’s no
their South Florida home. But she’d and downsizing. The Arntzes, who do over. But Paula had it all mapped or call us at (408) 244-3282
heard reverse mortgage horror sto- live footsteps from the Intracoastal out. After paying upfront costs and Hidaya Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) charitable organization with Tax ID # 77-0502583
ries - a wife forced to move after her waterway, can’t imagine moving. their old mortgage, she and Den-
husband died, heirs losing the family nis would have an $85,000 line of
home. 2. How much can you bor- credit available. They planned to put probably have to move. The Arntzes, ple’s plan and are on board with it.
row? $18,500 into savings and to leave the both borrowers, don’t have this con- (Saghir A. Aslam only explains
The Advice Your loan limit is based on rest for emergencies. cern. strategies and formulas that he has
First, the basics: The most com- your home equity, your age and in- been using. He is merely providing
mon reverse mortgage is known as a terest rates. The Arntzes, who owe 5. Can you afford other 7. What happens after you’re information, and NO ADVICE is
home equity conversation mortgage $88,000 on a home that’s appraised costs? gone? given. Mr Aslam does not endorse
(HECM). It enables Americans 62 at $340,000, would be able to borrow Though you won’t have to make Your lender gets back its money- or recommend any broker, broker-
and older to borrow money against $189,000. monthly mortgage payments, you’ll mare than what you borrowed, since age firm, or any investment at all,
the equity in their home with no ob- risk foreclosure if you don’t stay cur- interest (that you didn’t have to re- nor does he suggest that anyone will
ligation to repay as long as they live 3. Do you know what it will rent on your taxes, insurance, home- pay at the time) was accumulating earn a profit when or if they purchase
there. Loans come in the form of a cost? owner fees and upkeep. For the Arn- on your HECM over the years. Your stocks, bonds or any other invest-
lump sum, lifetime monthly pay- Mortgage insurance is 2 percent tzes, these expenses total about $500 heirs will have to pay off the mort- ments. All stocks or investment ve-
ments or a line of credit. of the home’s appraised value in most a month - a figure they can handle. gage if they want to keep the house, hicles mentioned are for illustrative
Reverse mortgages, increasingly cases. Closing costs are similar to or they’ll have to sell the home, re- purposes only. Mr Aslam is not an at-
popular in recent months, have a those of a traditional mortgage. 6. Who is borrowing? ceiving any proceeds left over after torney, accountant, real estate broker,
reputation sullied by reports of bor- The lender’s origination fee var- If you’re married but only one the lender has been paid. Dennis’ two stockbroker, investment advisor, or
rowers misled about their risks and ies and is negotiable. (Paula, who of you borrows, things can get dicey. adult daughters are aware of the cou- certified financial planner. )
consequences, among other prob- shopped around, was quoted figures For example, if the borrower lives
lems. Here are questions that poten- ranging from $2,000 to $6,000.) The elsewhere for 12 months or more - The Launch and the Big Error The Hubble expanded the ho-
tial borrowers need to consider. Arntzes’ upfront fees would total say, in assisted living - the loan will rizons of humankind and enabled
$16,000. come due and the other spouse will Even with all the care in the it to see the very edge of known
conceptualization, design, assem- universe.
MASHRIQI FROM P21 is kept due to the breathing of the to earth via telemetry. bly, and testing, when the Hubble The awesome pictures of our
Movement began as a misguided person. The strain-free mount- The Fine Guidance Sensor on was launched in 1990, and the first universe have gone a long way to-
effort to protect the institution of ing of the Secondary Mirror was the Hubble used triangulation on images came back from space, they wards understanding who we are
the Khalifat, Mashriqi was able to entirely my contribution which known stars to fix direction (“And were fuzzy. That meant that the and how we got here.
use the opportunity to advance his resulted in awards of multiple US He it is who created the stars so big mirror was flawed. What hap- There were many who ques-
broader agenda around bringing an patents. that you use them to navigate in pened? The interferometer used to tioned the wisdom of spending so
end to colonial rule. The Focal Plane Structure the depths of darkness on land and measure the final shape of the Pri- much money on a single instru-
While Mashriqi believed houses the bays for the Scientific in the oceans (of water or space). mary Mirror was itself flawed. A ment. I remember a conversation
that the Khaksar Movement (Pri- Instruments (SI). It is built of ad- Behold! We have described in de- final test on the Mirror would have with Paul Brickmeier, one of the
vate Army) needed to be powerful vanced composites, except for the tail Our Signs for a people who shown this error before assembly Senior Program Managers on the
enough to bring about indepen- “feet” that interface with the Main have knowledge.” Qur’an 6:97). and launch. However, by the time Hubble, when we were both visit-
dence, he was generally a peace-lov- Ring, which are built of Titanium. Solar panels were used to generate the Hubble was completed, it had ing Boeing in Seattle in connection
ing individual. Throughout his life, This was done because the ad- the 2,800-Watt power required of significantly overrun its budget. with advanced composites work.
he preached brotherhood, equality, vanced composites were found to the telescope. The initial estimate for the Hubble Paul was not sure if the cost
justice, and the uplifting of all poor, be inadequate in compression and was 225 million (1975) dollars. was worth the effort and if the
regardless of religion, class, color, flexure (bending). Challenges in Assembly and By 1983 the costs had exceeded money could be better spent on
or creed. The world can learn from The Hubble was designed Testing 1.25 billion dollars. An alarmed more worthy social projects. I still
these lessons even today. “inside out” so that the Scientific While the systems, concep- Congress refused to allocate ad- remember what I told him: “One
(Nasim Yousaf, a grandson and Instruments could be serviced or tualization and design are chal- ditional funding for the final test. day the story of America will be
biographer of Allama Mashriqi, is removed, and new ones inserted lenging tasks, manufacturing and Fortunately, the error (it is called a written. In that story the Hubble
a researcher based in the USA. He by astronauts visiting it on the assembly are even more challeng- low frequency error as opposed to Space Telescope will be written as
has presented papers at academic Space Shuttle. A similar “inside ing. This is because most of the “er- patchy blotches that appear in iso- one of America’s finest hours.”
conferences, published many books, out” design was later used on the ror budgets” are consumed in the lated spots on the mirrors which Indeed, it was one of the fin-
compiled a digital version of Al- Solar Optical Telescope (SOT). A structural joints. You can have the are high frequency errors) can be est hours for humankind and I am
lama Mashriqi’s historic newspaper variety of Scientific Instruments most perfect design and superb in- corrected in the scientific instru- happy as a South Asian and as an
(“Al-Islah” weekly journal), and con- were used on the Hubble designed dividual components but if the as- ments (SI) by inserting a correc- American Muslim that I played a
tributed articles in prestigious and by American, European as well sembly is sloppy, all you will have tive lens train and modifying the key role in it.
peer-reviewed encyclopedias and as other national agencies. Each is a sloppy instrument. The assem- Optical Path Distance (OPD).
academic journals. His works have had its own focal plane arrays and bly is done in class 1 clean environ- Here are more lessons for scien- (The author is Director,
been published in newspapers in detector cooling means, if any. ment, cleaner than the cleanliness tists and engineers: be humble and World Organization for Resource
both the East and the West.) The Wide Field of View Camera, in the best surgical wards in top never be too sure about what you Development and Education,
Near Infrared Camera and vari- notch hospitals. Access is restrict- have done until you have empiri- Washington, DC; Director, Amer-
HUBBLE FROM P9 ous spectrometers are well-known ed. Testing is conducted as each as- cally measured and satisfied your- ican Institute of Islamic History
which is ground to 1/700th of examples. The awesome pictures sembly is complete to ensure that self that what you have done is and Culture, CA; Member, State
a wavelength of light, is so sensitive of the heavens that we see on the the “error budget” allocated to that correct. Knowledge Commission, Ban-
that it changes its shape when a per- web were taken by these Scientific assembly is not exceeded. galore; and Chairman, Delixus
son walks into the room in which it Instruments and then transmitted The Payback Group)
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