How Hawaii's Seniors Can Age in Place Without Losing Their Independence

What are the biggest challenges facing Hawaiʻi's seniors today? And how can families help their loved ones age in place with confidence and dignity?

In this episode of The Advisor Podcast, we sit down with Percy Ihara—former publisher of Generations Magazine, Certified Senior Advisor (CSA), and Reverse Mortgage Specialist—to discuss the realities of aging in Hawaiʻi and the resources available to help kupuna live independently for as long as possible. With more than 38 years of mortgage industry experience and over 24 years dedicated to educating seniors, Percy shares practical insights on aging in place, reverse mortgages, caregiving, and financial planning, while also telling the inspiring story behind Generations Magazine—one of Hawaiʻi's most trusted resources for kupuna and their families.

In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ How Generations Magazine began and why it's become a trusted resource across Hawaiʻi
✅ What "aging in place" really means—and why more families are planning for it
✅ How reverse mortgages work and when they can be a smart financial tool
✅ Common myths and misconceptions about reverse mortgages
✅ The biggest challenges facing Hawaiʻi's seniors and their families today
✅ Local resources every kupuna, caregiver, and family should know about

Whether you're planning for your own retirement, helping your parents navigate the next stage of life, or simply want to understand the options available to Hawaiʻi's seniors, this conversation is filled with practical advice, local resources, and decades of experience.

About The Advisor Podcast

We're Real Estate Wealth Advisors based in Hawaiʻi, and our mission is to help families build, protect, and pass on wealth through real estate by providing the education and options needed to make informed property decisions.

🌐 Learn more at iharateam.com

If you found this episode helpful, be sure to Like, Subscribe, and Follow The Advisor Podcast for more conversations about:

• Hawaiʻi real estate
• Aging in place
• Reverse mortgages
• Estate and legacy planning
• Wealth-building strategies
• Property decisions

Mahalo for tuning in—we're honored to be your Real Estate Wealth Advisors.

@iharateam  |  iharateam.com  |  ihara@iharateam.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you've ever been to a doctor's office, senior center, or community event in Hawaii, chances are you've seen Generations Magazine. But have you ever wondered how it got started? For decades, Generations Magazine has been one of Hawaii's most trusted resources for Kupuna and their families. Today we're sharing the story behind it. We believe in providing you with the information and options you need to make a good decision. Today, we're our guest, Percy Yahara. Thanks for joining.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Oh, thank you, Farani, for inviting me.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, yeah. So, Percy here is a dedicated reverse mortgage specialist with C2 Financial and is a certified senior advisor, boasting over 38 years of mortgage industry experience. For the past 24 years, he's focused on educating seniors, legal experts, and financial professionals on aging in place strategies and reverse mortgages. A passionate advocate for the senior community, Percy is a former publisher of the award-winning Generations magazine and creator of its annual aging in place workshop. He holds the certification for long-term care designation and maintains active roles with the Financial Planning Association of Hawaii, the Hawaii Pacific Gerontological Society, and the Hawaii Fall Prevention Consortium. Through his work with the nonprofit Aquamai Seniors and his educational media programming on Olelo, Percy continues to empower Hawaii seniors with the resources and knowledge to navigate the challenges of aging and living well. So, Percy, what got you into the aging space?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Well, I've been in finance for a long time. And in 2002, a friend of mine said, You know what a reverse mortgage is? I go, I've heard about it. I've been to a workshop, but uh I did my research. I'm a researcher, I'm a studier, and when I saw the demographic in 2002 of the aging baby boomers coming up and their parents to call the greatest generation, I took a leap of faith and took a leap in faith into the reverse mortgage space. And the rest is history, 24 years, 25 years later, I'm still in the business.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Wow. So what was the need or maybe the gap or problem that you saw that you said I want to get into that space?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

That's a good question. I and I bring this up all the time so everybody understands where I come from. Just imagine you're I was your age and I'm my age. And so I was only 42. I'm sitting in front of a 60, 70, 80-year-old person and trying to place the reverse mortgage and how it would fit in their life, but I knew nothing about their life. I knew nothing about retirement planning. I had a 401k, but I didn't know anything much about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, 1031 exchanges, fault prevention, elder abuse. So I created a TV show, early times, back in the 2000s, on public access television, Olelo. And we did about 70 different topics on aging. So how I learned was I would bring in different experts in the field, like you are today. And that's how I learned about aging and the rest of history. I'm one of the leading senior advocates in the state. I was talking to my doctor this morning before I came here about all different things about long-term care. And so it just took off. And I love working with seniors. As you know, I was close to my parents, and um I'm a senior now. I'm 66.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Is that considered a senior?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah, my doctor said it was. Once you reach the age of 65, you're supposed to say you look really good, Uncle Percy.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, yeah. You look really good. You look really good. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

People always say that.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure your wife tells you that a lot. Absolutely. I can hear her now. She does. Um so you you were also the founder of Generations Magazine.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, so in 2007, um uh this guy came up and did a magazine, heard about a magazine called Generations. And it was a commercial rag magazine, I call it, where you read it and throw it away. So I found out about it and I became his consultant. He paid me to be his consultant about aging things. And he literally did nothing that I asked him to do, advise me to do until the last issue. After the last issue, he said, I'm gonna sh I'm gonna shut it down. I said, You're gonna shut it down. Aging became, by the by the by the end of 2009, aging became a little bit bigger. We started up with with the Elderhood Project on K1 with Kirk Matthews, who was a good friend of mine. He was my first cover story. And we started bringing out all these aging topics in in the media. And in 2010, when I being 50, I approached the owner. I said, I'll help you run it, don't pay me, but we need to change it and make it into a resource magazine. So he goes, No, you go do what you want to do with it. So I kept the Generations magazine name, so I didn't create that, but I created the resource type. And we're the only magazine in the country uh that does print magazine. I did radio for many years, which we'll bring back by the end of the year or next year, uh, webinars, and uh senior workshops, like the Aging in Place event coming up on August 1st, which you'll be there. Yes, I can't. And you'll be speaking.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

I will be.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I'll be listening to you, Randy.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Awesome. So yeah, if you guys want to come check out the Aging in Place workshop, uh All in Moana Hotel.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah, they just got to Google Aging in Place or Generations Magazine, it'll pop up immediately. And it's a whole spread of workshops.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah. Yeah. Great resource for anyone out there looking for themselves or for their parents. Exactly right. Resources on that. Exactly right. Yeah. So what inspired you to start that, or turn it into a resource for the seniors?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So by about 2007, when the magazine first started, by his name was Kini Popo. I already had five years of counseling for seniors, and I ran into so many situations where people had questions about, want to know about this, wanting to know about that. And so, you know, I wanted to be able to find solutions and resources for them. So I started digging around the state in a town. That's why we did the TV show on Olelo back in 2003 or four, it was. And so I started contacting all the different resources around town. And if I, and of course, you want to find people that are experts and people that are not going to sell you something. So I really had to self-educate myself and kind of vet the professional that I was in front of me. And so we just created that magazine with the people wanted to read stories. They wanted to read not about ads and things like that, but want to read stories or learn from people. That's why we created a workshop because we want to be in front of people. There's nothing that people on the mainland can do, we can't do here. You know, I don't like people calling the mainland for health or Medicare or mortgages or whatever. They can do everything here. And you want to be in front of that person. And seniors are a big prey. You know, a lot of so many scams against seniors today. It's ridiculous. So we try to give trusted people in front of them, have people that they're respectful and honest, and that's why I got those designations, the certified senior advisor and a certificate certificate in long-term care planning.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

What's maybe can you share a time where you've seen the magazine and generations really help a local Kapuna? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Because when I first started in 2010, it it was around town, but it in 2010, we weren't really seriously talking about senior issues yet. But about, I would say 2013, 14, it really became eye-opening that people with dementia, Alzheimer's, uh long-term care, uh, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security became bigger, bigger topics. We were talking more about senior issues around there, not only on social media, but really in the newspaper and TV and events around town. And I think that's when it really took off because many people that have started with me didn't see any interest. People were in that interested. But when it hit the fan like 2014, 15, our workshops became very vital. Our workshop, we started maybe 300, 400 people there, 500 people, and now 1,800 people show up at the workshop. And it's really, really crowded. It's one of the best resources, as you know, for seniors around town. So now everybody's talking about senior stuff. I I deal with a lot of my own my own clients, my own peers, my fraternity brothers from UH, guys I play softball, golf with, every meeting, every golf outing sports like yesterday, we played Sunday. People ask questions, what doctor did you go to? And by the way, what kind of therapy did you go to? And you know, my I got a call. This is actually this morning saying, Oh, I want to call you, but my husband has dementia. Why didn't he know what to do? So all this is kind of percolated for years and now is it's prevalent. Almost everybody, as you know, your parents or grandparents are gonna start dealing with aging things, or your neighbors or your or your clients. So you want to be that resource. And once you can get information under your belt, now you become a resource and you're providing really good information for the community, which like this radio show and podcast does.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

What would you recommend? Someone who maybe has a problem in that senior aging world that doesn't know what to do or where to start. What would you tell them?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

They call me. I'm your one call. If I don't know the answer, I can get you the answer. But the state office on aging, they they revamped their website. It was around for many years back in 2000, but it was never really quite functional. Didn't have a lot of updated information, or they didn't update it for many, many years. Up until about a year, two years ago. It's called Hawaiiadrc.com. ADRC stands for Aging and Disability Resource Center. And so that website has a lot of information. Also, I highly recommend people read the Generations magazine. And if they can go online, read the Generations808.com website, has all the past issues of every magazine we've done since the first one we did with Kirkmasters in 2010. If you go on a search bar, any issue they have, they can type in elder abuse or Medicare or reverse mortgages or real estate and put in a search bar, and all the articles that were in that are there. All the past radio shows that I've done, I've done hundreds and hundreds of topics on aging. One of my last ones, one of my favorite ones was about sleep. How important sleep is as you get older. It's very interesting. We had a neurologist, we've had geriatricians on there, you know. Um, so the website has a great amount of resources. Um, we encourage people to be active and engaged. Senior clubs, senior centers are all on there. The locations, times they meet, phone numbers, everything is on there. So that's the best thing to do is just go to generations808.com or call me up.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Yeah, it sounds like everything they would need, they can be found there.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I can't say everything, but a lot of stuff there, more than most people think. And and that's the thing, you know, Randy, we all have to be advocates for our friends and neighbors and clients. Because they all need support. And one of the biggest things we found out in 2010, which is still a problem today, we did a survey in 2010, the office and aging did. And the number one thing they found out from their survey was they didn't know where to go for information. Number two, they didn't know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. And that was number two. And so if we don't know where to go or who to call, how would we know this? Where would we, who do we trust? So that's why we modeled our magazine after the Hawaii ADRC website, and then we added all our radio shows, TV shows. As you know, we're very involved in almost anything, active aging, fall prevention, dementia care. It's it's everything that we're all gonna have to start thinking about. Just imagine in about 15, 20 years, there'll be more people over the age of 50 than under the age of 50. Because the younger people are having less kids and older people is living longer. So that's why the demographic of baby boomers coming up is gonna weigh heavily on our community, let alone with dementia and long-term care and caregiving. And the younger people are gonna have to deal with that, but they're having less kids. So that's why the numbers are growing to 15 over demographic. It's a pretty scary thought to think about, but it's gonna happen. We see the numbers already.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Let's kind of switch gears. I know that you've been doing reverse mortgages the last 24 years.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

24 years going on 25, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

24 years, yeah. What got you into that space?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

I had a good friend of mine that played a lot of softball at Bank of Hawaii. He told me, you know many reverse mortgages, right? I said, I kind of heard about it. Went to a class, and after two hours out of the class, we walked out of the class going, what was that? We, you know, in your mortgage background, you think, okay, 30 year, 15 year, you pay it down, da-da-da. Reverse mortgage, just opposite. You don't make any mortgage payments because retirees on a fixed income. And so I took a leap of faith and I got educated, and I became one of the top producers in the country. And I continue to educate myself. And it's now we're seeing the reverse mortgage. Basically, it's a line of credit. You know, we have a million-dollar home. You bought it for $100,000. Now it's worth a million, two million dollars. They have all this equity built up. So it's a line of credit they can use the takeout to pay for care, pay for the grandchildren, pay for schooling, pay to fix the house up, renovate. But the most important thing today is most of the people today are using that line of credit, let it sit there, we call it a standby line of credit, and they use it to pay for long-term care. Because at some point down the road, we're all gonna need some form of care. And so it's really important. If you live long enough, you're gonna run out of your funds. And most of us today only live on Social Security. You know, they stopped pensions 30, 40 years ago. There's very few people that have pensions anymore. So they have retirement funds, 401k, and this and that, but if you live long enough, you may run out of money. So, what else do you have left over is your home equity. So they can take out a loan, a home equity loan out of Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian, American Savings, Central Pacific, or the credit union, or take out the reverse mortgage line of credit. So that's why I've been doing most of my time in the 24 years, educating the public about the differences, why it's important, and to dispel a lot of miscommunication, misunderstandings about the reverse mortgage, because I can guarantee you go out today and talk to 10 of your friends, you know what a reverse mortgage? Oh, Randy, don't do that. My friend said, my yard van said it's not good. And it happens to this day. So I try to educate them what it is, what it's not. I typically train financial advisors, attorneys, CPAs, realtors about the uses of the reverse mortgage and why it's important to understand, because home equity is going to be a big factor as we get older in life. So who's a reverse mortgage built for and who is it not for? Good question. Um, people asked me, one person asked me the other day. So people that have pension, which is because if they have pension, they're pretty good financially set most of the time, not all the time. Uh and a lot of time they they would they could afford having buying long-term care insurance. You know, um, it's for people that need money or want money. People that need money, they got to pay for medication, they have cancer. You know, some of these prescription drugs are highly very, very expensive. They need to fix the house up, they gotta make a second floor, they have to put a lift or an elevator in the house. Uh, my my my son's getting married, we want to help him pay for the wedding. You know, they want to travel more. People that that that want money, that's they want to enjoy life, or they don't have kids, or all the kids have their own home already. So they said, Oh, mom, my kids said, My mom, dad, you go enjoy yourself. So they take our line of credit to start traveling more, try and stay healthy, and you'd be surprised. You go ask your your friends, ask your auntie out for dinner, and they will always decline you. Do you know why? Why? Because they don't have money to take you out for dinner. See, in old style, is you go to somebody's house, you always take something with you, right? My neighbors, they're all 80s, 90s. My wife will cook something for them, three hours later, they bring over something that to give us. It's reciprocation. So that's why a lot of times they don't take invitations because they don't have funds to do that, or they have a hearing issue, or they have a vision issue, or they don't drive. As you get older, unfortunately, that's part of life. In fact, I have a t-shirt, I might wear it to Aging a Place Workshop that says, aging is not for sissies. Have you seen that before? I have not. Okay. I have not. That's why I'm trying to lose weight because I'm still I gained weight since I got that shirt 20 years ago. 20 years ago got that shirt. And it's a little tight now, so I'm hopefully I can lose weight by then.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Okay. So you're kind of speaking of it like a line of credit, essentially. That's exactly what it is. So if that's the case, then I guess why would someone do that versus like a home equity line of credit or other things like that?

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Good question. So when you retired, you're on a fixed income. And like I was talking to my friend yesterday, the couple, said whenever you pass away, how is your wife going to be able to survive living on her just for to hire the two social securities? Can she afford to make the maintenance fee? Can she afford to fix the house up? So it comes to become a cash flow issue. And a lot of times people don't plan this out. I was talking to the doctor this morning. I said, your doctor, your advisor didn't talk to you about long-term care insurance because he's not an advisor. He's an investment advisor. He's not a long-term care, he's not a financial advisor. Because we're all gonna need some form of care. ARP came out of a study 16 years ago in 2010 saying women, 80% of women are gonna need some form of care. And manage a 70% chance of needing some form of care. That's about three years. So I tell couples when they get older, be nice to your wife. Because most times she'll outlive you, and so she'll take care of you. She'll be pushing in a wheelchair. So that's really important. And then when she when the husband passes away, what's mom's life gonna be like? Look at it from a financial point of view. Can she stay in this big house? Can she afford a maintenance fee? And that's a big thing with economies, as you know, maintenance fees are going through the roof, insurance is going through the roof. So it's a really big issue that people need to understand. It's hard to think three, five years down the road. But you have to. That's why I do long-term care planning because all my clients stay with me to the day they die. And like I said, before they die, they need some form of care. So I'm a I'm a local expert on financing long-term care, but different care options, the level of care, on the cost of care, all the different venues around town, retirement facilities I've been to. And it's really important to understand things are gonna happen in life. So try and do it planning now while you still have your capacity, you still, your wife is still around, that we can plan it out because something's gonna happen. We don't live perfect lives. And so something's gonna happen. So what when you if you got it planned out, you kind of have an idea what to do. Because I get calls every week from people are panicking, they don't know what to do. I got a text this morning from this lady, she wanted to meet me, but she has to deal with her husband has dementia this morning. He says he's being a little verbally abusive. So I said, I talked to you last week, let's get together as soon as possible, and I'll counsel you on how to plan that out because these are you're talking about people's lives here. These are game changing, life-changing events that's gonna happen in people's life. And people just people spend more time planning the vacation in Vegas than they do planning their long-term care planning. Right?

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

I mean, you know that. So but it's it's it's it's it's it's something we're all gonna face. And caregiving is gonna be the biggest financial problem and social problem this century because the cost of care we're one of the highest in the country, we're lived longer than anybody in this in the country. Hawaii is the oldest state in the country. We live longer than Hawaii than any place else.

unknown 19:29

Really?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Do you know what the age is? Average, depending on who you talk to, about 82, 83 for women. Men's about 79, 80.

unknown 19:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

But I'll tell you, we did a study, the University of Hawaii did a study in 2012. Japanese lived in Hawaii and Japan, Chinese live in Hawaii and China, Filipino, da da da. And they all live longer in Hawaii. Wow. Specifically Oahu. And you know why? Why? We didn't know. So University Hawaii did the other presentation to the capital, the politicians. Number one reason why on Oahu, especially? We're only 10, 15, 20 minutes from a hospital. So heart attack, cancer, you can visit the doctor faster, easier. You know, even though we have a 450, 500 doctor shortage in Hawaii, but we can see the doctor more, we do to see the doctor. Now we're online, now we're educating people that they have the kids help you out. So you can reach a doctor faster, you know, especially for emergencies. That's one of the major reasons why. Because if you take the Philippines, China, whatever, you got a long way to go to drive, right? Not going to see them that often. Whereas Hawaii, we do. I thought the clients they visit them every month, every other month. So now they can do it online.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I just did my first one last month. It was very easy. As long as you got Zoom. Very, very easy. And we have to drive. Yeah. Oh, how are you, Mr. Yah? How are you doing? Hi, doctor, how are you doing? Very easy. So people are gonna embrace technology, but also being a senior advocate for your own parents. At some point, your parents will get older or something may happen, and you're right there. So be their advocate.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, yeah, we should all do that for our family, our friends, or your clients. Yeah, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

It's a good referral too, because now you can refer out, like I refer out my car guy who does home visits to fix your Toyota, Lexus Honda. Uh refer my dentist, my my uh my personal trainer, you know. Um all the different things you can refer out, but people that we trust. Don't go online, don't go look in a newspaper or whatever. People that we personal referral that you trust.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

What uh what's like the biggest gap in the senior community that you wish people knew about? And you know what what would your your recommendation be to them?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

The biggest thing is, you know, I'm 66 now, my peers, my classmates that went to MidPEC, like you. We're all have dealt with our parents' caregiving, and now they're starting to plan out. Their lives. And that's really, I'm a big planner in life. If something happens, we know what to do. So I'm starting to do it with my life and my wife and my son because something's going to happen down the road, you know, and we want to be able to plan for long-term care. I did buy long-term care insurance. You're too young for that, but we have a really great plan. But a lot of people do not. 90% of people don't have long-term care insurance policy. And about 80% don't even plan. I know, but I get the calls. Something happened. My client yesterday finally find out. No, my I went to physical therapy this morning. And her parents, I said, How often do you see your parents? Well, every other month. That's kind of strange. How old are they? Oh, mid-70s. They must have a medical issue, right? How'd you know that? Because you don't see visit their parent every other month. But they have medical issues. So he has Parkinson's. And a mother has knee problems. That's why they see him so often. So understanding what people's lives are like and be able to provide a solution. So I told him, come to the aging in place workshop.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah, I think we see that a lot in, you know, the clients that we deal with, that they just they're not ready when when life happens, when accidents happen, when things go wrong, they're not prepared for that. Right. And, you know, to their defense, they don't want to think about those things. They don't want to think about, you know, your wife passing away, your husband passing away, whatever it may be. Um, but we have a saying that, you know, we like to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Absolutely. And, you know, at least you're ready when it does happen because we don't want our clients and people to make decisions, you know, in a few days or a few weeks when they could have spent years digesting and thinking about it and doing the research to be able to make those.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Well, you guys are doing a good job with regards to 10 31 exchange and and and separating assets and you know, because the kids, but we got to get the kids involved. They're kids all if they can, if they trust them, if they understand, because it's not a thing you do overnight. You know, it's hard for them to think like that, but you have to think that way because things are gonna happen, like you said. So we can be prepared, and that's why these podcasts are really great. Hopefully, if you like the podcast, if you hear what you you like what you hear, pass it on to friends. Because it's so important. Information is is really key, resources is really key to live a better life. If you look at my license plate, you saw my license plate says?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

What does it say?

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Live well. That's my motto. Call my voicemail, live well. Look at my email, live well. That's what I plant people to do. Because we we want to. I mean, I don't know about you, but I I deal with a lot of bad situations. Health situations, financial situations, abuse situations, and it's very sad out there. So we want to provide and get them to live a better quality of life. That's really what it's about. Amen to that. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Um, if people want to reach out to you, how do they find you?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

They can Google me, Percy Har or call me. I don't know if you can get my phone number in there.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, we can throw it in the description.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah, 808-234-3117. A lot of people email me.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Uh or look online. My website is Hawaii Reversemortgages.com. And I have videos on there. My TV shows on on there right now. And soon I'll do a podcast. Uh, I'm sorry, blog. I'm not photogenetic like you do, but do a podcast. Not yet, at least. But and then you saw in my stomach, Randy. So yeah, you gotta go from here up. But anyway, yeah, just reach out to me. I'm their one call. If I know the answer, I can get you the answer. Um, I'll give you the trusted referral. So I do a lot of follow-up. I'm on a call all day long. Um, it's helping families to strive to live a better life and live well, you know. And you're my call for real estate, as you guys know.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, so we'll we'll um put it in the description uh Percy's information as well as the information to Generations Magazine, um, as well as the Aging in Place workshop that we got coming up. So uh we hope to see you guys there. Live well.