eliminating debt

[Pko]

I am 46 yrs. old , married w/2 children(one in college) ,the other will be on her way in 20 mo. I have apiece of property worth 70K, and equity in my home of 75K. Unfortunately I have debt of around 20K not counting the two vehicles, and my mortgage which makes nearly impossible to save the money I would like to have for retirement. The property appreciates in value at around 5-8% / year. Should I sell the property to pay off my debt so I can start socking money away for retirement?

[terry1156]

How much interest are you paying on the $20K debt you have? If it's 10% or more, then it makes sense to sell the land, and pay off the debt. You just need to make sure you take the rest of the money and invest it again and not spend it on something else. If you"ll spend the money, then leave it in the land where you can't touch it, make that land your retirement and start paying down your debt as quickly as possible. The latter is what you should also do if the current debt interest rate is less than 10%.

[midnight]

Who is paying for your children's college expenses?

[Tree0164]

Hi Pk,
Is the land making you any money right now? If not, I would sell it and then pay off your credit card debts and vechicles. If your car payments are really hurting you or too much-downsize the cars.

Then focus on becoming very agressive in your savings towards retirement. Max out your 401k or company sponsered plan, also contribute to a Roth IRA if you are within income guidelines. When you turn 50, you can also put in additonal money called catch up.

I highly recommend reading Dave Ramsey at www.daveramsey.com as he has a great program to get out of debt.

Good luck and keep us updated!