Layout:
Home > Decisions

Decisions

May 8th, 2008 at 02:01 am

Hope I am making the right decision. I was listening to Dave Ramsey last night when he told a caller it was ok to hold off from contributing to their IRA temporality in order to save for a house. So I decided to hold off until the end of the year and use the $100 that I was contributing to pay down my car. I really want my car balance as low as possible by the end of the year. I figure I am already paying an extra $100 how about making it $200. I just hope I made the right decision

Any how, I received a copy of my cancelled check so I am sending it to Equifax trying to clean up my credit; I am also filling out the loan papers through the credit union to refinance my car at a lower rate


6 Responses to “Decisions”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1210209073

    Amber, I think that is perfectly fine! You are really focused on your goal of a house and the contributions will only be stopped temporarily to meet the goal. Keep up the good work.

  2. monkeymama Says:
    1210256556

    We didn't make retirement a priority at all when we bought a house. I also think it was of lowest priority (rightly so) during college. It was easy enough to fund five year's of retirement when I graduated and my wage tripled. At age 30 we have a years' salary saved in retirement. Which I don't think is half bad for all our retirement contribution vacations.

    Of course, for us this was a very serious decision since housing costs were out of control. IT was important to get into a home, to keep our costs down for life, and we did get in well before the boom.

    But overall I don't think the world will end if retirement takes a back seat some times in life.

  3. Aleta Says:
    1210263280

    I think you need to listen to your own gut feelings. The housing prices are falling and the rates are affordable right now. We really don't know when the bottom will hit and when these interest rates will start rising. Sounds like you are getting a good deal with that program. I would investigate it though. You might google some questions about the organization. I've found alot of feed back by googling.

    Since you think you are going to buy your house this year, you might have some time to get some of your 401K money in next year. You will have until April of 2009 to contribute to your 2008 fund.

    I don't know if you are maxing out your retirement fund now, but you could plan on maxing out as much as you can in the future once you have more funds available from your job.

  4. terri77 Says:
    1210289593

    I like to listen to Dave Ramsey's radio show, I don't always agree with him, but he is always thinking of solutions for people in tough situations. I think you should do what feels right. Myself, I lived at home and saved for both until I had good size sums saved for both goals. That's not everyone's situation. I think if paying down your car is important to you, then do it.

  5. threebeansalad Says:
    1210293381

    It's my understanding that you can withdraw the moeny you contribute to a ROTH without penalty but you cannot withdraw the earnings. Am I correct? I'm trying to save for a house and max our my ROTH. I figure if I need to, I can tap into thh ROTH contributions (but I do really view that as a last last last resort).

  6. Amber Says:
    1210294141

    Threebeansalad,
    I am not sure I thought there was a penatly but not as much as the fill 10% that you are hitt with twice

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]