I am changing jobs soon and I have 10K in an IRA that I would love to empty and pay down the CC so our overall debt obligations would be less. I know it doesn't make mathematical sense but I want to sooo bad.
Like others, I've done it and regretted it. I reached my 40s with nothing in my 401k because I withdrew it, rather than make the changes necessary to eliminate my debt and modify my lifestyle. Now, I still have a crappily small amount, since the maximum you can put in each year is $16,500 or something like that, and you can hardly retire on that, especially if you don't start until your 40s, but it's better than having nothing there.
The only circumstance under which I could possibly imagine withdrawing money from an IRA would be if I had already made all the changes I needed to never get into debt again (barring a confluence of cataclysmic events), knew I could replace the money in no time flat, and were going to pay off the very, very last of my debt outside of a mortgage. And even then I still would look at the $3000 cost of this little satisfaction, and say, it's not worth it.
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Like others, I've done it and regretted it. I reached my 40s with nothing in my 401k because I withdrew it, rather than make the changes necessary to eliminate my debt and modify my lifestyle. Now, I still have a crappily small amount, since the maximum you can put in each year is $16,500 or something like that, and you can hardly retire on that, especially if you don't start until your 40s, but it's better than having nothing there.
The only circumstance under which I could possibly imagine withdrawing money from an IRA would be if I had already made all the changes I needed to never get into debt again (barring a confluence of cataclysmic events), knew I could replace the money in no time flat, and were going to pay off the very, very last of my debt outside of a mortgage. And even then I still would look at the $3000 cost of this little satisfaction, and say, it's not worth it.
Kelly
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