FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – More baby boomers are retiring while still paying mortgages – and some expect to make house payments into their 90s, mortgage brokers and financial planners say.

It’s part of a trend: Many current and future retirees are opting not to follow the traditional golden rule of paying off their home before their last day at work so they will have less expenses in retirement.

“It’s a very hot topic,” said Howard Dvorkin, founder of the Fort Lauderdale-based Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, which is now seeing more seniors grappling with large debt loads, including mortgages. In the past two decades, seniors have increasingly retired while still making house payments, Dvorkin said.