[AUDIO LOGO]

- Today on Ask MoneyTalk, we answer a question we're hearing around, using your home's value as part of your retirement strategy. Nicole Ewing, director in tax estate planning with TD Wealth joins me now. And here it is. What role does my home play in my retirement? And how can I benefit the most from it? Nicole.

- In the past, many people have thought about their family home as being a big part of their retirement plan. And now it's actually become a bit of an outsized influence on retirement planning. We want to make sure that the retirement planning is determining what we do with our home, not the other way around.

And so when we are thinking about what we should be doing with it, we want to be thinking about a goal. What is our goal? What does retirement look like to us? Are we planning on traveling? Will we be taking up new hobbies, maybe spending time in other places?

And so we want to define that goal and then create a map to get there and really look at what our cash flow is going to be in retirement, what sort of income sources we will have, whether that's government pensions or private pensions, savings that we might have. And then look at the expenses that we're going to have in retirement as well and create essentially a map to get you from goal to an enjoyable retirement.

- OK. So then what are some of the things to consider when factoring a home into the equation?

- Well, we don't want to be forced into anything. We want that to be in control of our situation and be really making a mindful plan by looking at a number of different considerations. So those would include, for example, whether and where you want to live, does that match up with what your retirement savings looks like?

If you are planning to sell your home, for example, you may have significant funds to be able to fund your retirement, but there's other considerations as well. If you're selling your home, where are you going? Is downsizing really a viable option for you? Would you have condo fees that you weren't expecting? Would you prefer to pay rent over paying a new mortgage?

If you're thinking about relocating somewhere, what does that mean in terms of access to your family, your grandchildren, or other issues like health care and the providers and the facilities that might be available to you as well? And so when we're looking at this holistically, we need to be thinking about what the plan means for us and whether or not we want to be carrying a mortgage into our retirement, whether we want to be renting.

There's other options as well. We could use a home equity line of credit. And this allows you to essentially access the money in your HELOC when you need it and how much of it that you actually need. And when compared with other unsecured options, you can get some preferred interest rate opportunities there as well. So we need to do that fulsome review of whether or not downsizing makes sense for you, whether you're going to stay in your home. And if so, what those costs are from an overall retirement planning perspective.

- And finally, how can people make all of this happen? Where do they go for guidance?

- Well, your TD personal banker will be able to work with you to help figure out what a lot of this looks like, what your options are, help you define what those goals are, and help you really understand how your home fits into your retirement strategy.

ANTHONY OKOLIE: Nicole, thank you.

- My pleasure.

[MUSIC PLAYING]