I took a 401K loan for the down payment on a house 5+ years ago. This was a simple way for the bank to “verify” where the funds came from without having to use bank records and ask about every deposit that wasn’t tied to a paycheck. This helped us avoid the PMI on the loan. We payed back the 401K loan in 6 months (that was the minimum loan repayment option). We poured $$ into our mortgage and t when we got our balance down to $50K, we took out a 401K loan again to pay off our house! We did all of this in 5 years and have since paid off our last 401K loan. Now we own a house, have more cash flow and don’t plan on borrowing any more money as we should be able to pay everything outright.
Thanks for sharing your strategy. Personal finance in many cases is about being creative and doing what is best for your situation. Thanks for sharing and the SUB!
I used mine to pay off my house and do some necessary repairs during the pandemic. So far I’ve avoided market drops and I’m still contributing so all good here.
My husband and I are in the process of building a house in another state. The house I built in 2018 has gained $200k in equity and with what I paid and what I expect to sell the current house fore, I expect to have $170k after closing and realtor fees. We are in the process of doing a two time closing to build our house and just got information that the closing cost is going to be about $15k higher than expected. We have money saved but now need access to that $15k to make it happen - and this video just helped me make up my mind that if we can't reduce the closing costs - this is the way to go. Especially with the way the market is right now and paying myself back interest% and do a big lump sum payment at the end of the year when we get closer to closing on the new house and sell our current house here. Thank you for creating this video! You made it simplistic and helped me realize that this is one of my better options!
Glad it helped. Always check with your 401k custodian on the payback options. Not sure a "large lump sum" is an available option since payback often must be done via your paycheck.
Makes a lot of sense for people who need to buy a vehicle and rather than paying a bank the interest pay your self the interest! Even though a vehicle is a depreciating asset it's still better than giving the money away!
Potentially. BUT, I am often not in favor of buying a car with a car loan that isn't intended to be paid off in less than 2 years. You should often try to save to buy any depreciating asset you need, and potentially borrow for appreciating assets like real estate. You are right that paying yourself the interest is an advantage but while the loan is in place, your collateralized funds aren't growing... (edited last sentence), Paying yourself interest is an advantage versus borrowing from a bank, but while a loan is in place against the 401k balance, the portion loaned against is no longer potentially growing. The portion of the 401k above the loan balance continues to be invested and grow at the rate of return of the investments chosen.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees thats not accurate. The funds are not collateralized for the loan. The portion taken out as a loan is sold off my the investment firm. So the remaining portion of the 401k is still invested in the market and continuing to compound. The remaining balance continues to grow while the loan is outstanding.
You are correct, I did not use the best term when trying to describe the situation. You are correct, they are not actually collateralized. The portion borrowed against in the 401k will no longer grow until it is repaid. The rest of the 401(k) not encumbered by the loan as you say continues to grow. I will edit that comment to more accurately reflect that. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees My thought is this... Yes your money is not growing if you take it out of the 401K. But, it is still earning you money. We are looking to take a 401K loan to purchase a lot to build on in the future. If I finance through the bank it is going to cost us a total of 64K after we pay interest and closing costs with the bank. If we take it out of our 401K then it will cost us a total of 48K with paying "cash" for the lot plus less closing costs (title company). That is 16K that we "save" and can be looked at as your 401K money still earning you money. Penny saved is a penny earned, right?
I did this once to pay off house mortgage to avoid paying interest. I paid it off; now I am planning to take another one for the same reason. There is no way I am letting the mortgage bank take interest from me while my money is available to fight back the unfair interest. We need to think hard on how to stop being slaves for these bankers.
I'm thinking of doing the same, I owe 48k on my home and am tired of paying on it. I also believe the economy will tank after the election so I want to have it paid off before the disaster hits
Glad to hear this info, I've been planning to take a 401k loan for a few months now, and am being as precautious as possible, until I know all the pros and cons. I talked to someone at Fidelity, and they said you can take out as many loans as you want as long as the one before is paid? Not like I'm planning to do that, but I can't decide how much I want to take, although I have a multitude of reasons to. I've had the same job for 12 years, don't plan on leaving, but I might at the same time.. so that's a factor.
My daughter (33) has a master's and a great professional job. Sadly, she's also crippled financially by predatory student loans and absurd rent increases. She desperately needed a new car, so I helped her by paying a nice down payment and she financed the rest via a loan from her 401(k) at my suggestion. It's proven to be a great strategy to suit her circumstances. True, she missed out on the current uptick in the market, but at least she's just paying herself back.
I believe the big question here is how much growth in your 401k is it costing you over time sometimes those numbers can be a game changer. I’m afraid if I keep borrowing against my 401k I’m risking my potential years of growth. I’m not sure
Yes that is THE question to consider... when money is borrowed from the 401k it is not growing in there. But what are you doing with those funds? Paying down high interest debt? Making a real estate investment? Or surviving during a job loss? The answer is, it all depends.
@ultra great comment. Yes, that is true. Losing your job would suck... for many reasons. Most loans must be repaid if you leave or lose a job. You must weigh the pros and cons about where money could come from and how fast it could be repaid.
I'm taking a $50k 401k loan to fund the rehab of a flip property. I'm expecting to pay off my 401k loan within 6 months (at or around the time I liquidate my flip), so really I'm just protecting my actual cash (checking account) by using short-term low-cost debt...whose handful of loan interest payments are going directly back into my 401k retirement account.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees honestly I just picked that option after reviewing all my capital gathering choices. Downside is I can only get max of $50k every 12 months so this isn't going to work well for more costly (or frequent) rehabs, but it'll work for this particular project (basically as a one-off). I'll make enough margin on the flip to fund all or some of the next rehab so not a big deal, but IMO this is a clever source of capital to kick-off flipping
I like your style. Being creative and responsible at the same time. Just remember, that when the loan is collateralized with 401k funds, those funds are no longer "in the market' until repaid. So you miss out on whatever gains occur during that period. So the ROIC for the flip must be greater than the market gains. Sounds like you have done great analysis already. Thanks for watching and the sub!
One thing not mentioned, you will pay taxes twice on the money you take out. You pull from a pretax 401k and pay back with post tax money which then again when you are retired and pulling that money out will be taxed again as income. (Btw i have taken 2 small 401k loans, one to buy my first house) no regrets just something to note.
This is a great comment/question... It's easy to think that double taxation is what happens but it actually doesn't. The only thing that is taxed twice is the "interest" that you pay to yourself rather than the bank. I discussed that at 6:36. The money you take out in a loan is tax-free and you previously received a tax deduction for it. You actually are getting tax free access to your funds. You then pay it back with after-tax money basically wiping out the tax "benefit" you got for taking the loan. Morningstar had a pretty good article on this myth back in 2019. For reference here it is:www.morningstar.com/retirement/401k-loans-mythbusters-edition. I hope that helps clear up that concern.
If the only available choices you have for short-term borrowing are high interest credit cards, payday loans, or the origination fees and interest on a home equity line of credit are relatively expensive, then the cost of borrowing from a 401(k) plan may still be your best option.
Plan to do this Q2 2024 if housing prices are down to the right spot and rates are still through the roof. Focusing on knocking out 50k in debt and am hopeful I’ll be able to do it in the next few months so I can start stacking away as much as possible for my first home. Question for you: what do you think rates will look like Q2 2024? I know the fed has stated they are adamant about bringing down inflation rates.
I have a very cloudy crystal ball. It all depends on what the world economy and US inflation looks like at that time. Never underestimate the ability for the government to keep rates higher or lower for much longer than is necessary. Cheers!
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees Thanks for the reply! I’m banking on moderate interest rates (6%) and a market drop of 15% (more like 20% in my area with it’s volatility). I have a suspicion that rates will remain high for quite a while.
I'm so happy I made productive decisions about my finances that changed my life forever,hoping to retire next year.. Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life
Thanks, A very informative video. I was exploring 2 options i.e. 1. 'Direct deposit cash Advance' which credit card company offers and they charge 0.00% until Apr 2024(i.e. 16 months to pay off the loan amount) and they charge 4% fee for each transaction. Ex. If i take 20K as loan, then I pay 800$ as transaction Fee. AND If i fail to pay (Principal 20K + 800(Fee) i.e. Total 20800$) within 16 months, then I have to pay 24.4% APR. THIS Option is ONLY good, if i can pay easily within 16months or earlier. Otherwise, I have to prepare paying high APR i.e. 24.4%. 2. If we take same 20K loan against 401K, then lets say, if i pay 5% as interest, then this 5% will go to my 401K. i.e. Im paying interest to myself ! Here I can pay within period of 5 years. so, 20k(Loan) + 1k (5% Interest) = 21K, So, I will be paying 21K to 401K over the period of 5years(max or earlier). Here i pay service fee upto ~$100 or so. So, this seems to be good option. I need to find out more info. on 2nd option i.e. 401k loan. In 2022, 401k took a hit !
Never take a loan with a date to pay in full by. Terrible finnacial decision and just guaranteeing yourself a hard time. Just save some cash don't try to buy something your not ready to.
Glad I could help and thanks for watching @jacqueline mcclendon. I think it's a great tool when properly used. Just curious what info. did you use to arrive at the decision to take the loan?
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees to be honest I would have done an interest free credit card because I have offers but I already have one to pay back by March 2023. So because the interest gets paid back to me and I stretched the loan over 5 years I decided the 401k loan ..Will have it paid off in less than a year and then will probably do again to pay down mortgage👍
Great to hear your thought process and I love people who are creative with their money and financial planning, especially when you are disciplined. As far as mortgage paydown, remember, the funds you borrow against in the 401(k) are not growing when they are loaned out, this can significantly affect the long-term growth of retirement accounts if there is a loan outstanding.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees will definitely keep that in mind and will most likely be using the 0% credit card to chunk money into principal instead of 401k loan👍
I think the 401 is the ultimate source of personal banking on the planet. There is NO OTHER SOURCE where you can borrow money and pay YOURSELF back the interest. If you max out your 401 contributions throuout your working life, lending rules won't apply to you in retirement because youll be rich. A HELOC is giving your interest to a bank. What would be nice is if there was a way to put your home's equity into a 401K and then borrow against it.
First time viewer here 👋🏻 great video!! I am curious though, can you get a loan from your 401k to buy a house when the house you're buying is not your primary residence?
Great question. You can take a 401(k) loan for whatever purpose you like. The provider doesn't ask what you are going to use it for. However... if purchasing a home with a loan, the lender will often ask where the money for the down payment came from, or where assets came from. That could impact the buying process. Typically, they look back at transactions over the course of a few months. It's important to discuss with your lender the best path for you.
Only way that I can Hedge my 401k from the coming market fall (no safe cash options allowed in the plan so they can collect their fees of course) is to take a LOAN out on it and put the money in 3 month Treasury's at 5% Annualized, repeat. Can pay it back in full at any time if need be.
I haven't seen a 401k plan that doesn't have a short term government securities fund or a stable value fund in the fund lineup. As a Fiduciary, your plan administrator should offer this as an option. If you don't have one, I would reach out to your boss or plan administrator and express your concern. Good Luck!
I plan on borrowing against my 401k to pay off my student loans (now that interest is being reimplemented on student loans). The compound interest on student loans is a killer and I’m projected to pay back the 401k loan within 6 months. Do you think it’s a good strategy?
I do not give personal financial planning advice on this channel. In general, if you can and will pay back a 401k loan within 6 months, these loans are excellent places to access capital. You want to understand the risks, like if you get laid off or leave the job, will the loan be called. Also, the loaned funds will earn the rate of interest on the loan. That could be more or less than other comparable investments. Make sure you do your own due diligence before making any financial decision.
I have a question please I already borrowed 50 percent on my 401k for home down payment.. And then another 8k after three months for home renovation... My question.. Can I cash out all my 401 to pay off my credit card but still continue my contribution and this time I have to increase to 22 percent contribution to catch up for my retirement?
@angels whisper's thanks for watching and the comment. I cannot provide specific, personal advice on this channel. This is educational content. Specific, customized advice is reserved for clients. That being said, there are many things to consider when "cashing out" a 401(k). The early penalties, the taxes, the increase in taxable income and the affect it may have on other areas of your life, like qualifying for financial aid. I would advise speaking with your tax and financial advisors to create a solid plan where you know the pros and cons of "cashing out" a 401(k) in your situation.
On timestamp starting 6:38 which you discussed about the small loan interest that has tax implication that comes back later in life, are you referring to retirement?
Very good question! I am referring to the point at which you would start withdrawing funds from your retirement accounts. You may or may not be retired at that point.
As an investing enthusiast, I often wonder how top level investors are able to become millionaires of investing. . I’ve been sitting on over $545K equity from a home sale and I’m not sure where to go from here, is it a good time to buy into stocks or diversify ?
Thanks for the video!!! Very informative! When paying back, will it withdraw before tax or after tax? It sounds attractive if it is before tax. Also, if getting a mortgage later, will 401k loan payment be counted in DTI? I’m currently getting an auto loan with interest rate at 5.69%, the 401k interest loan Apr is 9.75%. I’m thinking of borrowing 20k out from 401k loan to the auto loan principal , in this case I’m paying less interest to the bank😅.. I do have saving to cover the whole loan amount(40k) but just checking if any other ‘wise’ option out there
Great questions. 401(k) loans are repaid with after-tax dollars. That would be too sweet of a deal to get a deduction on loan repayment. I discuss that in the video at 6:57. One of the great features of 401k loans is it's your money. There is no credit check when borrowing from your 401k. Likewise, I am almost positive 401k loans are not counted as part of your DTI for traditional loan applications. Maybe a mortgage broker can chime in here to confirm. But, if you are contemplating a loan, best to discuss with your loan officer first.* _*As stated in the video, this is not personal investment or financial planning advice._
So i have a car loan thats got about 2 years left of payments. But i also have a huge maintenance coming up for the car. I could just trade it in and use the profit to get into another car loan. But i kinda wanna use my 401k to take a loan out, pay the remaining balance and do the maintenence. Avoding getting into another 6 years of financing a car. Even tho, Id be paying my loan back in through installments for possibly 5 years as well
In general, I am not a fan of using a 401(k) to finance a depreciating asset like a car, motorcycle, RV, ATV or boat UNLESS you plan to pay it back in an accelerated fashion, like under a year. Losing 5 years of retirement growth in your example is a steep cost. I would work to find other ways to supplement income or reduce expenses or both to pay for auto maintenance. It's just my opinion, and every situation is different.
My wife wants us to consider taking like 4k loan from her 100k balance in her 403b to pay all 4k of credit card debt. but I told her it doesn’t make sense bc if she earns 8% this year on her 100k that a lot better than paying off that credit card debt. Thoughts? Great video
Great question. Speaking hypothetically, because nothing on this channel should be construed as personal advice, I believe a 401k loan, especially when markets are at all-time highs can be helpful. Only the amount of a 401(k) that is collateralized is not earning market based returns. In your example, the $4k. Not the $100k. Lastly, the interest you pay on the loan is paid to yourself, into the 401k rather than interest being paid to the credit card. I would just keep the payoff period short. Ideally less than a year so you don't sacrifice longer term market returns.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees to be honest, knocking out this credit card debt would give us an extra $800 before interest! It’s definitely appealing. If we took a loan we definitely would try to pay it off within a year. Did I understand you that only the 4k wouldn’t grow but the remaining amount in the 401 would during our repayment period. I would also need to see if see could contribute. I also thought whatever the interest rate is dictates the growth during the repayment period as well?
All those questions are answered in the video. You pay yourself the dictated interest rate on the funds borrowed, so their ROR is the interest rate during the repayment period. That's why doing it when markets are high versus when they are low can be a much better strategy.
I'm a bit worried that if you take a 401k loan and your employer knows you're not free to leave the job it can change the workplace power dynamics. Are these worries founded?
My take would be that if you work for a company or business that acts this way, you should probably look for another company to work for. (Before taking a loan of course).
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees Even so, picture this. You take out a $30,000 loan from your 401k planning to pay it back in 1 years time. 2 months later, the company runs into a financial shortfall and needs a round of pay cuts. Picture this from your boss or CEO's point of view. Do you cut someone who might have options and leave the company during a difficult time or do you cut someone who would have to pay a huge tax bill and/or find money quickly if they were to leave? Just some food for thought. Call me conservative but I hate (with a passion) anything that limits my ability to freely choose my work.
I am picturing that. And, yes that is a risk with a 401k loan. The question is, if you need the $30k what are your options? And which one is the best for your situation. It may or may not be a 401k loan. It depends on what other options are. And if you do want to leave a job and you have an outstanding loan, you just use plan B to access the money to pay off the 401k loan. Then at least you were using plan A for however long it was in effect. As far as "management" choosing to keep you because you are "indebted" to the company, unless that "manager" has access to the HR database to know who has a loan and who doesn't, that thought probably doesn't run through their mind. IMO, I agree with you that it could be an issue, but it would be a lower concern than other potential cons of other ways to access funds. I love that you brought this up and hope this exchange helps others. Cheers!
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees Fair enough. I've learned the hard way that if you put yourself in a position where you can't leave your job you turn yourself from an employee to a slave. Not with a 401k, but I've had times when I leaned too heavily on my job and it blew up in my face.
If I get a loan from my 401k , let’s say I was doing 9% of each paycheck to invest , after my loan will I have to make a payment for the loan AND pay a payment for the loan itself ?
I have a 401k with old employer. I do not want to roll it over to new employer plan. What should I do so I can move my old 401k and still be able to get a hardship loan or for kid college education if I need it in the future ?
Great question! Typically, once you leave a job, you cannot take a loan against an old 401k. This is because there isn't a salary for them to take repayments against. In most, if not all situations, 401k loans can only be taken against a 401(k) at your current employer. I hope this helps. Cheers!
So we took 401k loans to help w down payments on a home . We had not yet sold out other property at the time of the purchase. Now our other house is set to sell .. we will be getting a nice amount of equity from that sale and plan to recast the loan to get a lower monthly payment with the equity proceeds and we were planning to payoff the 401k loans also. But im wondering it we would be better off making payments on the 401k loans and use that extra equity for the recast and drop our mortgage payment even more. Probably would drop it $800/ month What say you?
@bret koops this is a great question and specifically applies to your personal financial situation. This is educational and not personal financial planning advice. My answer, unsurprisingly is it depends, on a lot of factors. The funds that have been taken out of the 401k will not "grow" in the 401k until returned. So, if they are invested in growth assets and the markets improve from here, you will miss out on that retirement growth. But, by making the scheduled payments, you will dollar cost average back into the market. So it depends upon how those retirement funds are invested and the unknowable rate of return on them during the life of the loan. Additionally, it depends. upon what you do with that extra $800 a month freed up? That xtra equity would now be locked into an illiquid home, but allows you more cash flow freedom. That freedom could pay off other higher interest rate debt, invest in other assets, payback the 401k in larger chunks, allow you to shore up other holes you may have in your financial plan like disability or life insurance, education funding... There isn't an easy answer, that is why financial planning is so specific, but I hope this at least gives you some things to think about. This is the kind of custom planning we do for clients. I encourage you to learn more at celestialwm.com. Cheers!
Great question! Every situation is different. I can't provide specific planning or investment advice through this channel. Hypothetically, ifIf it were me, I would not use a 401k loan to pay off a credit card loan. You would take uncollateralized debt (credit cards) and place collateral attached to it (401k). For similar reasons I would rarely use a HELOC to pay off credit card debt. But, as I say every situation is different and we must make the best decisions for our own situations. Credit Card debt should generally be paid off by reducing standard of living until paid back IMO but discipline of payback could dictate borrowing against a 401k. Cheers! Thanks for the Sub!
The answer is, it depends.... At this point in unknowable things. The assets you took a loan against are no longer growing....or declining. So if those assets were to grow at say 7% over the next year but you have a loan outstanding you miss out on that growth. BUT, if markets decline it may make sense. I assume you got a 1 year CD. Make sure you come back to this comment a year from now and let me know what happened!
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees The interest is not going to yourself, it's going to your 401k/TSP provider. Ex: Fidelity is earning the interest, instead of the bank - not us the ones taking the loan.
Great question. Every plan is different so I would definitely ask your plan administrator. In many plans however, as long as you are still contributing on top of the loan payback, the match is unaffected. Let me know what you find out! Thanks for watching and the sub!
I have $15000 in high interest credit card debt from a medical emergency several years ago. At a rate of 19.99 %. I am also 58 years old. Should I take a 401k loan at 9% interest. I will need 4/5 years to pay it back.
Thanks for asking. That's a tough question to answer, especially without knowing all the variables in your financial situation. I don't give personal advice on this channel. But in general, the interest you pay is going to yourself, not the bank with a 401k loan, so that is a good thing. Second, the rate on the 401k loan is 50% lower which is a good thing. Taking 4-5 years to pay it off is on the high side but still reasonable. The big potential downfall is that the money you take in a loan is NO LONGER working in the financial markets for you. So, that impacts the potential growth of your retirement accounts. When looking at paying down debt. One of the first things I do with clients is analyze cash flow. Watch a video on zero based budgeting. It is essentially where you start from scratch with your net income and then start by subtracting all necessary expenses and seeing if you can negotiate any of those lower. Then see if you can free up cash flow by reducing discretionary expenses. Sending any excess cash flow, including any tax refunds toward debt is a great way to get it paid off faster. *This is all educational and not personal advice for your specific situation, which I know nothing about. These are general personal finance strategies to potentially reduce debt. I hope it helps.
See the comment above by @boss hog for a real world example. The answer is always it depends upon your personal situation and beliefs. If the 401k investments are invested in stocks, and the average stock market return is 7-10% depending on the metric and time period you use, then IMO your mortgage would have to be above that rate for it to make sense, and financial planning software would back that up. If you have a mortgage of 3-5%, financial planning software would most likely tell you, your net worth would grow faster by just paying the mortgage as you go and allowing your 401k investments to grow. But of course there is the real life emotional satisfaction of a paid for home. So every person has to evaluate what is right for their situation. *This is education, not personal advice. You should consult with your financial and tax advisors before implementing any strategy. Thanks for the question and the SUB!
Ok so I applied for a 401k loan. I'm young and have been at my company for 12 years. I should have no trouble being approved right since they offer the loan on our investment website? I'm just worried about being denied because I really need the money and soon.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees thank you. I was approved right after midnight. I'm going to pay it back in a couple months when I get my tax return though instead of over 4 years.
@@seetheforestthroughthetrees yes, need a new hot water heater as mine is very old, and then paying off credit cards and then going to try and find a point a to b used car for work.
@@mds525700 going forward look into Home Warranty plans. It's monthly cost of less than $100 and the plan requires a service charge around $100 when something needs to be replaced in your house. The hot water tank would be replaced with you only spending a $100 and $100 for the service charge. I use American Home Shield but there are other comparable companies. Good Luck!
The best thing to do with a HELOC is to borrow the $ and buy a very stable dividend stock like Coca Cola/DOW/Johnson & Johnson and take the dividends and pay off the HELOC. Repeat this principle until retirement and you have a home thats paid off and dividends for life. I know a doctor that did this with bank stocks over his working career and now gets over $500,000/year in dividends from one bank stock.
I have a financial investment opportunity that I want to invest in and I don't have any other options but to borrow from my 403 b is that a good choice?
Loans are not allowed from an IRA. Here is a handy ebook I put together with the pros and cons of an IRA Rollover from a Plan like a 401(k). celestialwm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/401k-Rollover-Tips-CWM-Ebook.pdf
Great question. I preface this by saying, every plan is different, so you should check with your provider. Typically, the first money that is paid is toward the loan. So whatever the loan repayment amount is. Then, after that is satisfied, you can often choose the percentage or dollar amount you want to invest/save. However, I have heard of some plans where once you take a loan, 100% of all new contributions go toward the loan until it is paid back. You also want to confirm what happens to the company match if you have a loan outstanding. That should factor into the equation. You don't want to miss out on the matching component if your plan has one. Speak with your plan administrator to find out the specifics of your plan before taking a loan. *This is for educational purposes for the community only and is not personal planning or investment advice.
I'm wondering if people who went through the financial crisis in 2008 had an easier time than me right now. The stock market is making me really worried because I've lost over $27,000 in just this month and I'm not making as much money as I used to. This is making me concerned that I might not have enough money saved up for my retirement since I can't add to my savings.
I want to pay off credit cards cause I'm paying 300 to 400 interest every month. I want to borrow 30k , so i can live debt free and just pay back the loan from my paycheck so I'll never feel the hit
@@Guy-mx4fb You're sorta robbing Peter to pay Paul. $400 monthly cc interest may be indicative of out of control spending that you cannot afford continue or repeat. Your plan *_might_* work if several things go right. *STOP* using your credit cards. You must drastically reduce spending.
