Money Matters
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Savings / debt
My husband and I have a pretty substantial amount of debt (in my mind). We do however have a savings account that was set up for me as a child. There is almost the same amount of money saved there as we have in debt. I am reluctant to put it towards the debt as my parents spent their whole lives saving for it and its money that is supposed to go towards our house, kids, etc. however, I'm starting to feel like we would be better off paying off all the debt with the savings so my husband and I can start from scratch. I would just have to get over it morally and know we no longer have this pillow to fall back on and a rainy day fund. So... What would you do? Use it or pay the debt of slower...?
Re: Savings / debt
how much money are we talking about?
if you and your DH have been living above your income (going into debt), wouldn't you just end up in the same situation within a couple years?
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
Depends on how much money. I think I may use some of it to pay off debt and work really hard to cut where I could to get the rest paid off. Are you continuing to put on debt?
You need to have something in savings.
Without knowing specific numbers it's hard to give advice. I would probably pay off the debt, but make sure you keep at least $1000 in a small emergency fund. But, you have to have a lifestyle change- you need to go on a written budget where you spend less than you make, and you focus on saving to rebuild your emergency fund/ down payment on a house fund. If the money was intended from your parents for a house, use it now and then rebuild the account once you no longer are paying interest on those debts.
Without a major lifestyle change and a written budget, you will probably end up here in a couple years again. If you cannot get on a written budget, I would just leave that money there.
PPs have given you great advice- use it but make sure you don't get back in debt!
I just wanted to tell you that you're not alone with the guilt and I know it is so easy to get in debt so fast. Last year DH lost his job right after we bought a house and had started some renovations. The renovations had to be paid so we ended up with credit card debt- which both of us had never had before. He got a new job shortly after but we had a hard time catching up with the debt we had. After a few months, I cashed in a large portion of my childhood savings. I had always looked at that money as our back-up in case something ever happened, then I realized- this was the "something" I was saving the money for! It was really hard for me to do but it was such a great a decision. We are slowly building back our savings now. Good luck!
I have a trust fund. I will absolutely not commingle it with H's money, ever. Yes, things are joint with us, but that money is staying in the market for ever and ever. I might take dividends, but never principle. My grandparents saved and budgeted for that for me, not anyone else.
We had debt, and we paid it off the old fashioned way.
This is how I feel. I don't have a trust fund but do have a decent retirement account I could have tapped into but haven't. We paid ours off the old fashioned way as well