Real Estate Articles » Money & Finance

Use Your Retirement Money To Save Your Business

By: David Cole
Submitted: 10:26AM on Thursday 06 November 2008

When it comes to your real estate business I'm sure you would agree with me when I say "cash flow is king". No matter how fast your business is growing or what its potential profits are down the road if you don't have the cash to pay today's bills you are in a world of hurt.

Many people turn to high interest credit cards as a band aid for their cash flow woes. Of course, they fully intend to pay off those credit cards as soon as possible but either their much needed cash flow dribbles in slower than expected or the amount is much less than they hoped for?

Unfortunately for so many, those exorbitant interest rate credit cards are like little plastic thieves that shout use me now so that they can happily plunder your cash flow for years to come.

If you see yourself heading that direction or have reached a point of drowning in red ink then you may need to stop the madness by investing your retirement monies in yourself.

Were you aware you can set up your own self administrated 401k plan roll over your old IRA's, 401k's, etc. and then borrow up to $50,000 to use for any purpose you choose such as, paying off your debts?

This is where traditional, died in the wool accountants and financial planners begin slinging mud and stones at me chanting about never touching your retirement monies because you will take all of the air out of the power of compounding returns and you know what? They are absolutely correct.

This is one of the decisions you have to make when considering whether or not you should use some of your future money to get you back on track for today? So, I suggest taking the emotion out of the process by making it a spread sheet decision.

Make a complete list all of your high interest debt you need to pay off. The balances, interest rates, minimum payments, how much interest you have already paid, etc. Oh by the way, you may want to have some Pepto Bismol handy!

Now that you have real numbers take the total needed to pay off those accounts and input that into an amortization calculator. Amount borrowed / term 60 months / interest rate 6.00% and viola' this is your new payment (paid off in 5 years or less) if you use some of your retirement funds to pay off those parasitic credit cards.

If this new payment represents a significant enough savings over your current cash drain then borrowing from your retirement plan may make sense for you?

Oh by the way, if you are married your spouse can also roll all of their retirement money into the same 401k and they also can borrow up to the $50,000 maximum.

The key to making all of this happen is implementing a 401k where YOU have 100% check book control (yes, this is allowed in the tax code) not letting some faceless custodian control the purse strings.

I almost forgot, in my that example of 6.00% interest to whom is that interest being paid to? Yep, you're right, your 401k, so you're paying yourself the interest not some multi-billion dollar credit card company.

How great is that?!