LETTERS

COST A FACTOR IN REVERSE MORTGAGES
I was so happy to read the headline, “Top Ten Things to Know About Reverse Mortgages” (Top Line, JofA, Jun.06, page 17), but I was greatly disappointed after reading the article. It is nothing but a rehash from the HUD Web site.

As CPAs, the most important thing we need to advise clients with respect to reverse mortgages is cost. Closing costs can easily exceed $20,000. In addition to normal closing costs, the loan origination fee alone is 2%, and there is also a one-time 2% mortgage insurance premium plus 0.5% annual mortgage insurance. There is also a loan service fee ranging from $30 to $35 a month.

I think the JofA owes its reader a follow-up article pointing out the pitfalls of reverse mortgages.

Guy M. Wong, CPA
Sacramento, Calif.

Editor’s note: The JofA published a more comprehensive article on reverse mortgages, “Going Forward With Reverse Mortgages” (Jul.06, page 35).

A WIFE’S VIEWS ON SOCIAL SECURITY
I found the article “Social Security: What’s the Magic Age?” (JofA, Jul.06, page 28) informative, but I was a little offended. It assumed that a wife could have earnings only up to 100% of her husband’s earnings (see the chart on page 31). In the next year I will be earning more than my husband and will continue to earn more. I would hope in the 21st century we will see wives earning more than their husbands and that we no longer take for granted that the wife is the secondary breadwinner in the family.

Cheryl Ward, CPA
Denver

TEACHING: A TRUE CAREER
Great issue! I am fascinated by your articles about teaching shortages (“Teaching for the Love of It,” JofA, Jun.06, page 30). In fact, every issue contains many important facts that help us all keep up and in touch with the times and our profession. I’ve made it a practice to pass along my JofA copies to students majoring in accounting.

Throughout my career as a CPA in public accounting and in business and industry, I have made teaching part of my agenda, teaching night courses and grading CPA exam papers.

I hope other members of the profession will explore a true career in teaching as I did. Teaching is a great contribution to the accounting profession and to society.

Frank Mascari, CPA (retired)
Scarsdale, N.Y.

WHEN DID THE WORLD CHANGE?
I missed one of the great philosophical debates of my generation: whether there should be one or two spaces after a period. When I took Mrs. Higginbotham’s typing class in high school, we learned there are two spaces after a period. Mrs. Higginbotham’s position on this universal question was supported by our Gregg typewriting textbook. Were Mrs. Higginbotham and Mr. Gregg wrong?

It has not escaped my attention that the JofA, and many others, have converted to the modern one-space-after-a-period convention. It must be important because Mr. Zarowin instructs us on how to do this in his Technology Q&A column, “A Fast Way to Replace Two Spaces After the Period With One” (JofA, Jul.06, page 82).

When did the world change from two spaces after a period to one? More important, why did it change? Thank you for providing this vital piece of information, but I think I will continue to observe the classical two-spaces-after-a-period rule.

Randell W. Eoff, CPA
Bernalillo, N.M.