Pay for Wedding with IRA?
I'm 62 and have approximately 10,000 in credit card debt from my daughter's wedding. I have a traditional IRA and a 401k that I can't touch while still employed. Should I withdraw 5,000 from IRA to pay down some of this debt? We live on a tight budget because I have 20% of my salary put to my IRA.
Terry Says
Ugh. I wish you had asked this question BEFORE you spent the money on a wedding! Let this be a lesson to others! The wedding dinner is now literally down the drain, and you're stuck with the bills. (Be sure to tell the happily married couple that THEY have to pay for the wedding photos and album that are on the way, because you are out of money!) Do NOT withdraw money from your IRA. You will lose all future tax-deferred growth, and if you think it's difficult to earn extra money now, it will be impossible when you are in your seventies. Someone -- you and/or your spouse -- needs to get a weekend, or evening job, and use all the money to pay down the debt. Don't pay just the minimum balances . that could take you 30 year to finish paying down the debt. You really need to attack this mountain of debt before it attacks you. And the ONLY WAY is to earn more money -- whether driving for Uber or working in a restaurant on weekends, or some other extra job to earn the money.
