Where Should Settlement Money Go? (Your Advice)
When you come into some extra money and have debts to pay off, it can sometimes be confusing which ones you should tackle first. I often receive emails like this one asking for advice on which debts should be paid off first:
I’m currently $70,000.00 in debt with credit cards. I also have a mortgage ($121,000.00) and 2 car loans (total $50,000.00). Recently I received some settlement money of $150,000.00. I have 2 grown children (33yrs and 28yrs) and my husband and I have 401k’s totaling $140,000.00. We are only 52 and 51yrs old, still 8 years before retirement.
My question is:
Should I use this money to payoff the credit cards (interest rates range from 8-12%), mortgage(5.5%) or car loans (5-8%)? Help what should I do?
How would you advise this person to distribute the $150,000 in settlement and what other advice, if any, would you add?
The traditional advice would be to pay off your credit cards first.
But in your case, I’d recommend that you hide the money away in a low fee mutual fund such as Vanguard’s 500 or a target retirement fund. And pretend you don’t have it until you retire.
The reason for my recommendation? The large size of your debt relative to the small size of your 401k for your age and the idea that you’re going to retire at the age of 60 indicates that you have problems managing your money. You’ll pay off your credit cards with the settlement money and then run them up to the limit again. With nothing to show for that. If you leave your credit card balances alone, at least that should put a brake on your spending.
On the other hand, if you can mend your ways and demonstrate that change in behavior by after a year having paid down substantially your credit card debts, then I’d say you could take some of the money, pay off the high interest debt, and then repay the money into long term savings.
Perhaps you’ll come back with a tale of woe as to how the incident that led to your settlement also led to your debt. But did it lead to your high car load debt as well? And to your belief that you’re going to be able to retire at the age of 60? I’m around your age, single, with no debts and substantially more in retirement savings and do not expect to be able to afford to retire at 60 without a substantial cut in my living standard.