Loans from retirement fund

[kv968]

Originally Posted by ngordonmd

I wasn't ever looking for advice. If you read my original post, I just wanted to know if anyone had experience or knowledge about the retirement fund loan, which no one was able to answer.

Just out of curiosity, what is your father's "retirement fund"? IRA, 401k, SEP-IRA...? Because if its a 401k, he most likely will only be able to out a $50K loan at the max.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by ngordonmd

We spoke with his accountant who said there was another option that included loaning the money to a third party who could not be an immediate relative who could then endorse the check to me. The third party would have a promissory note saying they would pay the money back with interest within 5 years and I would also sign a note saying that I would make payments to third party.

So getting back to the original question, you are actually borrowing money from two different people - your father and the third party who is essentially co-signing your loan. That leaves two people on the hook if anything goes wrong. You said you got the answer elsewhere. What was the answer?

[maynard]

Yikes

[disneysteve]

Something occurred to me that I think is worth mentioning if OP is still around.

What any of us would do personally and what we advise others to do are sometimes two different things. Over the years, I've done things in my personal financial life that worked out just fine but I'd never tell others to do the same. For example, I got my first credit card in college with my father co-signing. It was never a problem and I was very responsible with the card. Will I do the same with my daughter? I might. Would I ever suggest to someone else that they co-sign for their child? Absolutely not! I think as a general rule it is a horrible idea to co-sign for a credit card or loan for another person regardless of the relationship.

So some of this may apply here. We tend to give general advice that will apply to most people without us knowing all details of the situation (which isn't possible given the venue). Take our advice for what it is. You may not agree. You may choose not to follow it. That's fine. It's your money and you know your situation better than any of us.