despite i have liquid assets several times of the mortgage amount i want to apply, the bank will only look at my w2 salary to determine how much loan to approve.

They want to make sure you have adequate cash flow coming in to service the outgoing cash flow (the mortgage payments, etc.)
OTOH .... I once saw the underwriters note on my mortgage application. She wrote "note that he has more money in his 401K than the requested mortgage amount." My salary was good enough to get approved anyway.


Bernanke complained he couldn’t get a mortgage because he’s retired. The lending rules of the banks are indeed quite restrictive

If Bernanke really said this, he was lyin... uh, shading the truth.
I have gotten 5 mortgages since retiring. One purchase mortgage and 4 refinances.
What they want to see is incoming CASH FLOW. You just have to show them that you have set up a regular monthly distribution from your IRA/401K and enough money in the account for 36 months of that distribution amount. IOW, they want it to look like a paycheck.

It is all detailed out in the FNMA rules for lenders. Most mortgage people don't know about this, because 99% of borrowers have a paycheck and are not retired.

The underwriter who keyed me to this said "You can stop this after the mortgage closes." Just as you could lose your job after the mortgage closes.