Need some opinions on personal finance

**Max G** · 08-12-2012, 08:08 AM

If you are carrying a balance on your credit cards and getting chardged interest than yes, you should definitely sell off some of investments to pay off your credit cards. You probably getting charged 10 to 16% interest on ccs maybe even 20%. It's unrealistic to think you can do better in your stock portfolio, no matter how well you did previously.

**Kircheis** · 08-12-2012, 10:15 AM

Would you be willing to post your age and net income? Based on the assets you have been able to accumulate, I would guess that you could probably pay off your debt fairly quickly without selling your investments.

**sblatner** · 08-12-2012, 10:58 AM

If you have gains, you will have to pay taxes so what you think will be $28k after the sales, will really be less. Can you figure out how much in capital gains you will have to pay? It may not be worth it to sell the stock right now.

**MonkeyMama** · 08-12-2012, 11:27 AM

Hard to answer without knowing your age, tax bracket, interest rates on loans, etc.

BUT, Apple stock has done *really* well in the short run. I'd absolutely sell it. Use the new cash flow to buy back in when it dips.

Another option is to sell 50% of the stock (or some percentage) and use cash savings for the rest. It does not have to be all or nothing. OR use some of the stock to pay some of the debt, and pay off the rest later.

Some favorable investing tax rules are set to expire December 31, so it may be wise to sell stocks this year, anyway.

**benalexe** · 08-12-2012, 11:29 AM

i am 41 take hoe 11,800 / month combined

**disneysteve** · 08-12-2012, 04:39 PM

Originally posted by Kircheis View Post

Based on the assets you have been able to accumulate, I would guess that you could probably pay off your debt fairly quickly without selling your investments.

I agree. With a take home pay of 142K/year, why do you even have 23K in credit card debt?

What are your monthly expenses? The answer to that will tell how much of an emergency fund you need to maintain, though I'd be fine with a small EF for now and paying off the debt.

I would not decide on selling stocks based on the debt. I would sell the stock if it makes sense to sell the stock on its own merits alone.

**benalexe** · 08-12-2012, 04:54 PM

I have he debt because I live in an expensive area with a big mortgage (Over $3,000 a month) 3 kids 2 cars - Insurance LIFE.....

We do not live lavishly at all o the other hand I will go out to dinner with my wife on a Sat nigh, I will spend money where it makes sense.

But as most of you know life is expensive. Just wrote a check for my sons soccer $1,000 for the year! I will not deprive him of his activities.

**disneysteve** · 08-12-2012, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by benalexe View Post

I have he debt because I live in an expensive area with a big mortgage (Over $3,000 a month)

A 3K mortgage is not an issue with a 12K income. That isn't your problem.

We do not live lavishly

I suspect this isn't true. It would help a lot if you would post your budget.

But as most of you know life is expensive. Just wrote a check for my sons soccer $1,000 for the year! I will not deprive him of his activities.

Life is expensive if you make it expensive. You gross close to 200K/year. That's FOUR TIMES the median household income in this country. If you can't manage to live without credit card debt on that income there is a spending problem that you aren't acknowledging. None of us wants to "deprive" our children but I certainly don't do anything for my daughter that we can't afford or anything that would require us going into debt.

**snafu** · 08-13-2012, 12:40 AM

Without a listing of your regular & irregular expenses it's hard to see where the money goes. Do you have a budget that helps you plan for irregular expenses? What interest rates on house, car, CC? Did you know your son wanted to sign up for soccer? Can you get DW [wife] on board with the idea of paying off CC and then only using credit if you're certain it can be paid in full when the bill is due?

Your income should make it easier to clear existing debt so long as you have a plan. You may choose to sell some shares of Apple but you needn't sell it all. You could trim spending between now and Christmas without much disruption by enjoying activities that are free or nearly free in your community. You could plan and make a special meal for the family yourself, have fun doing it and enjoy the compliments your efforts garner.

**bjl584** · 08-13-2012, 05:18 AM

I'm going to have to agree with the others have been saying. You have a very large income, and with some budget tweeking you should be able to pay off all of your debts without selling any of your stocks or liquidating your savings account. It would be helpful if you post up a detailed budget so we can look.

**BMEPhDinCO** · 08-13-2012, 08:11 AM

If you want to use the $7k from savings to help pay down some of the debt, do that. But then trim the budget for 6months and pay off the other $21k from that.

While I understand that life creeps up on us, my DH and I make down with much less than you... and even if we added 2 kids to the mix, along with another $12k per kid, we'd still be making less.

You don't need to take your wife to dinner, or pay for soccer. Those are wants.

What is your budget broken into needs, wants, savings? We can help you from there.

**DebtAssistance** · 08-13-2012, 09:42 AM

Set up a budget

Originally posted by bjl584 View Post

I'm going to have to agree with the others have been saying. You have a very large income, and with some budget tweeking you should be able to pay off all of your debts without selling any of your stocks or liquidating your savings account. It would be helpful if you post up a detailed budget so we can look.

I'm on the same page as most of the others. As many are asking for a budget, I understand that many families today don't even keep records of a budget and just pay for everything as the bills come in. It would be beneficial if you sat down and hammered out all of your "need" expenses, and even separated from your "want" expenses that way you can see what your actual overflow is. I don't think it would take very much tweaking for a short period of time, and you can have your debt paid off and hopefully set up a healthy lifestyle with your family without going outside of your financial abilities.

If you don't already have a budget like this laid out, take a month or two to record all of your expenses and categorize them into clothes, eating out, extra activities, hydro, etc. This will give you a good place to start, and you can see where you can skim back a bit.

**JoeP** · 08-13-2012, 12:18 PM

What are the types of items/services that get put on the credit card? With your savings accounts, it appears those could be used for some of your expenses, such as dining and sports.

We found that using different savings accounts is a good way to logically partition our money, and with auto-deposit from our employers, we don't have to worry about moving money around. When our insurance bills arrive, we know there will be money there, rather than have an "oh crap" moment and put it on a card.

**Kircheis** · 08-19-2012, 11:09 AM

I think that the other posters have asked you to post a budget. Do you have a written budget that you operate from? If you are not doing it already, it would be useful to try tracking your expenses. I started tracking my expenses only earlier this year and was shocked at how much money was going out the door on "regular expenses." Although it was a painful to get started and used to writing down everything, it is useful in letting me better plan my purchases/spending.

Need some opinions on personal finance