A passion for technology led her to work in the fintech<\/a> and blockchain spaces, and she has now turned her attention to the senior finance space by founding a company called Graceful Finance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To gauge what caught her attention about this space and how reverse mortgages intersect with her work, RMD sat down with Frankowska to discuss how and why she is choosing to become involved in the senior finance space.<\/p>\n Frankowska explained that her journey into the reverse mortgage sphere was primarily motivated by what she observed her parents going through as they got older.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents are retired, and putting my entrepreneurial and finance hats on, I just got to see challenges they face<\/a> and conversations they\u2019ve had,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat occurred to me is that they\u2019re classic examples of demographics that we are seeing<\/a> right now, which is [being] incredibly asset rich. <\/p>\n \u201dEveryone has been programmed to buy a home and they\u2019ve accumulated so much real estate wealth, which is amazing. But the problem is they\u2019re cash-flow poor in relative terms.\u201d<\/p>\n As retirements become longer and there is additional pressure to find adequate retirement financing tools, Frankowska discovered the reverse mortgage product concept and found it to be a potential solution. But she quickly realized it is facing real challenges, and she began asking why it has not grown and developed to a place it could be.<\/p>\n \u201cI started with that \u2018why\u2019 question, and then dug deeper to understand the history, how it works and the opportunities, which then led me to my research and different findings about what\u2019s possible in the retirement financing benefits and disadvantages of reverse, and what can be done to improve the sector for existing stakeholders as a whole,\u201c she said.<\/p>\n Frankowska is originally from Poland and her parents still live in Warsaw. But she has a lot of family living in the U.S., naturally exposing her more closely to the American reverse mortgage industry. That, coupled with her interest in the demographic by seeing what her parents had gone through, made her want to understand why reverse mortgages have such unrealized market potential.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. has the biggest growth potential, the biggest needs,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd it was really surprising to me to see that actually in Europe or Australia, you have more variety of products, whereas in the U.S. they\u2019re a little bit more limited. So, as an entrepreneur, I feel this is an opportunity to bring blueprints that exist somewhere else to the U.S. market, and lessons learned to improve and work alongside existing companies.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about how European and U.S. reverse mortgage programs compare, Frankowska has noticed that American customers are asking for more solutions. When it comes to government-backed reverse mortgages, there are certain product features that customers wish could be different, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a high level, customers wish they could unlock more money than they can get now with a reverse mortgage,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd part of it is because of compounding interest rates and where the rates are<\/a>, and part of it is because of life expectancy set-aside or origination fees, etc. Which leads me to the second point: Many existing reverse customers said that high fees really bother them, and they primarily referred to the mortgage insurance premium and the ongoing costs they had to pay.\u201d<\/p>\nPersonal ties<\/h2>\n
![\"Anna](\"https:\/\/www.housingwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/annafrankowska_gracefulfinance.jpg\")
Reverse mortgage findings<\/h2>\n