No W-2, No Problem: How a Liquidity Event, a Sabbatical, and an Asset Depletion Loan Got a Former CFO to Closing

I'm Adam Styer, mortgage lender in Austin, NMLS #513013. Files like this are exactly what I mean when I say "complicated income" — strong borrowers whose paperwork doesn't look like a W-2, and who get told no by lenders who only know how to read a pay stub.

The Borrower

He'd spent his career as a CFO. His company went through a liquidity event, and he's taking a real sabbatical before deciding what's next — by choice, not by circumstance. On paper, no W-2 or 1099 income looks like zero qualifying income to most lenders. In reality, he had decades of retirement savings sitting in accounts that most loan programs simply ignore.

That's exactly the situation an asset depletion loan is built for.

What an Asset Depletion Loan Actually Does

An asset depletion loan — sometimes called asset utilization — lets a borrower qualify using liquid assets instead of a paycheck. The lender totals eligible cash, brokerage, and retirement balances, subtracts the down payment, closing costs, and required reserves, then divides what's left by a set number of months. That monthly figure becomes qualifying income for the DTI calculation, the same way a paycheck would.

The divisor is the part almost nobody explains, and it's the part that actually moves your loan amount. I go deep on the Fannie (360-month), Freddie §5307.1 (240-month), and non-QM (60–120-month) comparison on the full asset depletion guide — same portfolio, different divisor, 3–6x difference in qualifying income. If you want to see it on your own numbers first, run them through the Asset Depletion Calculator.

How This File Came Together

Here's the general shape of it (illustrative numbers below — every file underwrites on its own):

Numbers are illustrative to protect client privacy. Your qualifying income depends on your actual asset mix, the program's divisor, and current guidelines — run the calculator for a real estimate.

From there it looked like a normal file: verify the assets, document source and seasoning, match him with a program whose divisor fit his account mix, and build the file so underwriting could see the full picture clearly. No pay stubs required — just proof the money was real, verifiable, and his.

Who Else This Helps

This borrower happened to be a former CFO on sabbatical, but the same tool applies to a wider group of people who often get told no simply because their income doesn't come from a job:

• Retirees living off savings and investment accounts rather than a salary
• Executives on sabbatical — a deliberate pause after a long career, whether or not it followed a liquidity event
• Founders and executives post-liquidity event — an acquisition, sale, or recap that paid out a lump sum instead of an ongoing salary
• Consultants and contractors in a gap between engagements
• Investors whose wealth sits in brokerage or retirement accounts rather than recurring income

If you've got the assets but not the paycheck, this isn't a workaround — it's a legitimate, well-established loan category. See the high-net-worth mortgage guide for the broader private-wealth lending picture, or the full asset depletion breakdown for the program-by-program divisor math.

Frequently Asked Questions