Refinancing after 50: when does it make sense? Aarp money credit, debt & loans

Refinancing a mortgage after 50 might not seem like the most logical course of action. After all, it's a time in life when you're at least thinking hard about retirement, if

you're not already there. The last thing you want to do, reason would suggest, is to add more years to the end of your home loan. Yet for 62-year-old Eileen Fitzpatrick, refinancing

made perfect sense when it came to her two townhouses in Sterling, Va. "We knew we were going to stay in one for another two years, and then three years in the second one," says

Fitzpatrick, a public relations specialist. "We weren’t concerned about closing costs. We rolled them into the mortgages." Fitzpatrick’s interest rates on both homes fell by a full

percentage point with the refi, saving her $150 a month on each mortgage, or $3,600 in total annually. The average closing costs for a $200,000 mortgage, according to Bankrate.com, are

$3,741. For Fitzpatrick, the savings were worth it considering the length of time she planned to own the houses. With interest rates hitting record lows, many older homeowners are wrestling

with the same question: Is it worth it to refinance at my age? The answer depends on a number of factors, including how long you plan to stay in the home, the interest rate and time

remaining on your current mortgage, and the terms of your new loan. FACTOR IN YOUR RETIREMENT PLANS If you're over 50 and contemplating a mortgage refi, first give careful thought to

your retirement plans. Do you expect to relocate soon? Downsizing to a smaller and more manageable home can make perfect sense. Even if you don’t plan to move, are you healthy enough to

remain in your current home indefinitely? Weigh your medical conditions and family history. Unless you can stay put long enough to recoup the closing costs and start pocketing the savings

offered by the lower rate, refinancing might not make sense. Use a mortgage refinance calculator to run the numbers on your loan, paying particular attention to the breakeven point when your

savings surpass the closing costs. Have good-faith estimates from lenders handy so you can input accurate closing costs. "A person 25 and a person 65 should view lowering the interest

on a mortgage the same way: I’ll benefit to pay less interest — the question is will I recoup the closing costs," says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans. "If the answer

is yes, then I win."