At age 41, I have 25K in credit card debt, a nascent 401K, and I just spent the several thousand dollars I'd managed to save for emergencies on, well, emergency expenses (medical and car).
I've recently gotten a raise and started saving more, and I've been paying off credit cards in earnest as well as learning to live without debting. But this good behavior is relatively new for me and I'm a little worried about sustaining it. I want to make it to retirement (never mind early retirement) in good financial shape.
My question is whether I should sell my condo. I made foolish decisions to get it (such as borrowing from my 401K to make a 20% down payment, then getting nailed with $8K of taxes the next year, then using credit cards to pay back my 401K loan....), and now I'm living in about 65K of equity while suffering with credit card payments and no savings!
I figure I could pocket about $50K from the sale, which would pay off my credit card debt and give me a great nest egg for emergencies and investment. I can rent an apartment to live in (smaller, but adequate) for the same or slightly lower monthly payment. Although I won't be gaining equity anymore, in a few years when I'm totally debt free and had some time to increase my savings, I can consider buying something again.
Any advice is most welcome. Thank you.