Divorced Fed needs debt attack advice!

[Anonymous]

GS14 step 8. Should I take a TSP loan or suspend contributions?

Debt: $46k in CC. TSP loan can cover 75 percent. My contributions are $12000 a year. If I kill my contributions I also lose the agencies 4 percent.

I am already cutting back on everything else.

TIA

Fed Bill!

[Anonymous]

Neither. You earn $130K/year. You need to cut back much more on everything else. What is your budget?

[Anonymous]

2400 Mort and expenses.
450 student loan (last year)
900 Car and insurance (yeah I know)
1300 in CC payments (46k on three cards)
90 iPhone (my only Internet)
Health ins 400 (I need plan with extended Ben)

Kids are grown, no deductions.

Taxes kill me..

[Anonymous]

I am already cutting back on everything else.
900 Car and insurance (yeah I know)

Please tell me how these two statements are compatible. Please tell me why you would risk your retirement when you are spending an unbelievable fortune on driving around.

[Anonymous]

You haven't begun to cut back. Get a cheaper car, look into cheaper health insurance -- is that for a couple, or just for yourself?

I also think $90 for the phone is high, but you need to focus on larger targets of opportunity. Can you get a tenant to share your home for a year? Can you reduce your student loan payment, or is that the minimum? Can you sell some of your possessions? I'm assuming you bought some nice things to rack up the $45K, but maybe I'm wrong? Can you refinance your mortgage?

Any other expenses? What's your take home pay?

[Anonymous]

Car can't be sold or traded. It was a mistake that will last me 2 years.

Health Ins I will reevaluate.
90 plan gives me talk, text and wifi hotspot.

[Anonymous]

What is the story of the car? What car is it?

[Anonymous]

And my phone is talk, text, and data and I pay $55. At least look into it.

[Anonymous]

The car is a X6. It was a splurge and more feasible on a HHI of over 300k

I will look at breaking contract and a cheaper phone plan.

[Anonymous]

Your budget is incomplete. What is your take home? How much do you spend on food, utilities, and gas?

There is always somewhere to cut back.

[Anonymous]

Get rid of that car the first opportunity you can. Get a cheaper fed insurance plan - I can't even think of one that costs that much for a single person.

If you really need to do something with thrift, temporarily stop contributing more than one percent or so. TSP loans can bite you in the ass, especially if you're not disciplined with money, which you clearly are not.

See if you can sell some of the crap that got you $46k in debt while having a government job with good federal health insurance. Whatever you make goes right to the CC debt.

[Anonymous]

I think that's a big mortgage for one person. Can you sell and find a place for under $2000?

[Anonymous]

There must be some way to break the lease. That would be priority number one. I am not sure it was ever feasible - housing aside, if you can't afford to buy it outright, you can't afford it. Let that be your watchword from now on. Never put anything on credit again.

I would think about downsizing the house if you can. Now is a good time to sell.

Never eat out. Bring in your lunches. Make your own coffee. Bike or walk instead of driving. Think about taking in a renter if you have the space but won't sell.

Reduce your contributions to minimum. To get match. Do not take out a loan from tsp - this is not about the math, it is about the discipline. You need to fundamentally change the way you relate to money. You should not spend because you "deserve" something, but only on the things you have budgeted for.

[Anonymous]

Also - how close to retirement are you? That is needed to help assess whether a tsp loan is a good idea.

[Anonymous]

What are the interest rates on the cards? Can you do a balance transfer to knock it down (or at least some of it?). Have you called the companies to see if they'll work with you to lower the rate? Do you have good enough credit to get a bank loan to payoff some of the debt? Any if those would be better than a tsp loan.