How did you finance your kitchen renovation?

[Anonymous]

Getting quotes for a kitchen renovation that is in the 100k range. How did you finance this? Cash? HELOC? We have a healthy cash flow each month but don't keep that amount in the bank.

What have others done?

[Anonymous]

Heloc. We got one with a 12 month teaser interest rate of prime minus 2.5% from SECU.

[Anonymous]

We paid over the several months the job took. It was a combo of CC (that we quickly paid off) and cash. We had enough cash for whole project though, ours was about half of yours.

If you haven’t done so, get many bids. Ours ranged quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

"don't keep that amount in the bank."

That makes it sound like you have other assets. If you do, just sell some. (We had been saving up for a while so had some of it in cash, then just sold stocks for the rest.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"don't keep that amount in the bank."

That makes it sound like you have other assets. If you do, just sell some. (We had been saving up for a while so had some of it in cash, then just sold stocks for the rest.)

OP here. Yes, that's right. We have a automatic outflows to investment accounts (in addition to retirement, college, etc.) and try to keep our savings within a healthy but smaller amount since we're still pretty young.

We don't have any debt except for our monthly mortgage so debating whether going the debt route (HELOC, most likely) vs. selling some of our stocks is the best way to go

[Anonymous]

Saved for a year, then paid cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"don't keep that amount in the bank."

That makes it sound like you have other assets. If you do, just sell some. (We had been saving up for a while so had some of it in cash, then just sold stocks for the rest.)

OP here. Yes, that's right. We have a automatic outflows to investment accounts (in addition to retirement, college, etc.) and try to keep our savings within a healthy but smaller amount since we're still pretty young.

We don't have any debt except for our monthly mortgage so debating whether going the debt route (HELOC, most likely) vs. selling some of our stocks is the best way to go

we did HELOC but paid it off extremely aggressively

[Anonymous]

HELOC but the rates were really low then.

[Anonymous]

I just did cash. I had the cash but wanted to do HELOC, however at the end of the day wasting money on a high interest rate didn't seem wise.

[Anonymous]

How long would it take you to save up and pay cash?

[Anonymous]

Cash only

[Anonymous]

Sold one of my kidneys.

[Anonymous]

Trim your budget to what you can afford.

[Anonymous]

The only downside of selling stocks is that you pay capital gains on the gains, which is generally 15%. So if, for example, you're selling $100,000 in assets, you're paying perhaps a few thousand in taxes. For example, if your basis was $75,000 and it increased by 33% to $100,000, then it's $3,750 in taxes. And that's probably not additional taxes, but just accelerated payment, since you will probably sell and pay those taxes in the future anyway. So it might be worth borrowing depending on the interest rate, how much your assets have appreciated, and whether you plan to sell the assets or expect to hold them to death and completely avoid the taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only downside of selling stocks is that you pay capital gains on the gains, which is generally 15%. So if, for example, you're selling $100,000 in assets, you're paying perhaps a few thousand in taxes. For example, if your basis was $75,000 and it increased by 33% to $100,000, then it's $3,750 in taxes. And that's probably not additional taxes, but just accelerated payment, since you will probably sell and pay those taxes in the future anyway. So it might be worth borrowing depending on the interest rate, how much your assets have appreciated, and whether you plan to sell the assets or expect to hold them to death and completely avoid the taxes.

True, but for those of us with large unrealized gains, selling means an immediate tax hit—often avoidable. Borrowing against a portfolio gives you liquidity without triggering capital gains, and if you hold until death, your heirs get a step-up in basis and the tax vanishes entirely. It’s not just deferral—it can be full avoidance.