Author Topic: Cars, IRAs, and Help...Oh my!  (Read 2141 times)

exactlybrianna

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Cars, IRAs, and Help...Oh my!
« on: July 14, 2015, 09:55:11 AM »
My husband and I have just been growing our mustaches (maybe peach fuzz) for about 6 months.

We have $5000 in savings (from just 6 months of starting this process)
We have $10,800 in a retirement IRA (would cost 25% to cash out)
We owe $18,000 on a 2013 Prius V (which is what it's worth right now) Payment is $306/month.
We own a 2004 Hyundai Accent that just died and needs $4000 in repairs.

We are a family of 4, and we homeschool so I run the kids (10 and 14) around a lot throughout the day. My son is a musician in an active band so we need a car big enough for his gear (the Hyundai isn't). Between biking or me driving my husband to work we don't absolutely NEED a second car, but there would end of being a lot of schedule conflicts without it that I'm not sure how we would handle them.

We don't know if we should pay to fix the Hyundai, or sell it now for what we could get for it, maybe $1500? We could buy a second car outright, but it would have to be pretty cheap and we don't know anything about cars. We could cash out the IRA to pay for a second car. We could trade in the Prius. We could cash out the IRA to help pay off the Prius faster, and buy a second car outright with our savings. Lots of options, just seeking guidance on the smartest decision to go from here.

TIA!!!

Forcus

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Re: Cars, IRAs, and Help...Oh my!
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2015, 10:53:31 AM »
What does the Hyundai need?

seattlecyclone

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Re: Cars, IRAs, and Help...Oh my!
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2015, 12:10:19 PM »
Don't cash out your IRA. $4,000 is a lot for a car repair. Have you gotten a second opinion? Consider selling the Hyundai and replacing it with another 10-year-old car out of savings if the repair costs more than the working car was worth. If you go this route, consider buying something sized more like the Prius so you can sell your Prius. Try going with one car for a while to see how it goes, and enjoy having an extra $306/month to save!