I am thinking of taking $10k out of my IRA to pay for a car. I will be charged a %10 trans. fee. Is this wise?
493145
This is a HORRIBLE idea. When you withdraw from your retirement fund prematurely the company that is holding it is REQUIRED to withhold 10% because that's the penalty, however, that isn't all you end up paying for that money.  You still have to pay taxes on the additional income from this withdrawal on top of the 10% penalty, which can total as much as 20-30%.  \n\nFor example, if you withdraw $10K from your retirement fund, you will receive a check for $9K, however during tax time your employer will issue a 1099-R for $10k and you will have to add this to your wages.  So if you make $35K per year, you will have to pay taxes on $45K rather than $35 K in addition to paying $1k in penalties.  \n\nDon't touch your retirement fund, instead, finance your car.  Paying 6% to finance a car is much better than taking money from your retirement fund and paying 20-30% to be able to use your retirement money.
92549
You have to contact your 401(k) company and inform them you want to transfer the money into a IRA.  OR you can do it yourself by opting to withdraw all of your 401(k) money and then depositing that into the IRA yourself.  Either way you shouldn't be charged any tax penalties for the transfer.  \n\nIRS 401(k) rollover info:\nhttp://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413.html
70900
Yes you can.  And I recommend it.  ETrade IRAs give you more control and may be less costly.  I have been a customer of ETrade for over 5 years and the company has only gotten better as time goes on.  Their online instructions are easy to follow and there is always a live person to talk to (although try not to call during the peak time of day because you may have to wait more than 30 minutes to talk to someone live.)
1018959
Its always best to pay the intrest fist befor earning interest.  Unless you are earning higher interest then what you are paying.  If you are earning higher then 11% intrest with the IRA, then dont pay the card at all.  If the intrest rate of the IRA is lower than 11%, put all of your money to the card.  Money works faster if its not being charged intrest. \n\ni.e.  lets say you have a ballence of $10 at an apr of 10%\nYou also have a savings account with a rate of 5%\nIf you put $10 in the account it would earn $0.50 in a year.\nDuring that same year the card balance would increase $1.00 \nSo you lost $0.50 that year.  If you payed off the balance at the begining of the year, you wouldnt lose any money.
393236
It depends.  Do you have a Roth IRA?  You can use that money without a tax penalty.  A regular 401K through an employer will have some penalties usually.
884689
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc557.html\n\nCheck out that link. Basically, it states that if you set it up as "made as part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments over your life or life expectancy, " you can avoid the 10% tax penalty.\n\nI would speak with your financial advisor/tax accountant to discuss ways to set it up this way.
565494
I'm so sorry about your loss.  I've been there and I know it's tough.  Talk to the funeral home and see if they have payment options.  I would advise against taking money out of you company's retirement plan - 401(k).  The penalties (10%) and taxes (15-28%) make it unprofitable.  Plus you lose all the interest/time the money would be working for you.\n\nCheck with your bank.  If you're a good customer, they may make you a personal loan.
950228
First of all, since the money in the fund is pre-tax, when it is pulled out, it is always taxable income.  Nothing at all prevents this from happening.  Therefore, you will add it to your regular income to determine your taxes for the year.\n\nIn addition to that, if you pull the money out before the year in which you turn 59 1/2, you have to pay a 10% penalty.  To avoid the penalty, you:\n\n- must be disabled\n\n- must be deceased\n\n- used the money to pay for medical expenses which exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (the bottom number on the front page of your 1040)\n\nAnother thing you could do is rollover the money into an IRA.  Once in the IRA, you could pull the money out and, to avoid the penalty, you could use it to (in addition to the above mentioned items):\n\n- pay for medical insurance after losing your job\n\n- pay for higher education expenses (tuition, fees, books, expenses)\n\n- pay for the purchase, building, or rebuilding of your first home (by definition, a first home is when you or your spouse had no interest in a home in the last 24 months prior to the purchase of the new home)\n\nAny other withdrawal will suffer the 10% penalty.  All withdrawals will be included as taxable income regardless.  The taxable income usually kills you more than the penalty does.  Try as hard as you can to leave the money in your retirement.  It will be needed when you retire and it is hard to build back up.\n\nBest of luck!
44339
No you won't get penalized.  It is like giving an interest free loan to the IRS but a good way o trick yourself into saving money.  $100 might make too big of a difference in you paycheck try $50.
788650
You will probably have to pay a penalty for overdrawing your account and interest on the $10 that you "borrowed".  The bank is always looking for ways to take your money for any reason.
1161043
Don't ever borrow money on your car.  Period.  Not for anything.  I lost my car that way once.  I lost a $6500 car for a $1000 loan.  I would not do it again for anything!!
453308
I just spoke to the principal of an international school about this last week.  His school has worked out a Roth with an office that is in a U.S. territory nearby.  The tax is prepaid so there's no tax or penalty paid at retirement.  Email a investor in the Mainland to see what they can offer.  Some offices are just ignorant of the law, as most folks are for most things like voting, taxes, shipping things to people who are abroad.  You may want to email an investment group someplace like the Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico...  They're more familiar with policies and retirement programs for Americans living outside the Mainland.
193234
if you were deducting expenses or depreciation for the car on your tax return, then yes.\n\nif you are in a trade or business of selling cars, then yes.\n\nif it is just a sale of your personal vehicle, no.
453126
I'm not a financial advisor, so you should check on this, but I believe that you will pay early withdrawal penalties plus income taxes at your current base rate on whatever you take out for whatever reason before you are 59 1/2.\n\nYou can take a loan against it, but you'll  have to pay that back.  I think you can also divide the entire value by how many years you likely have left to live (from actuarial tables) and take annual "substantially equal payments" without penalty.  All in all, very, very bad idea to use 401(k) money before you are at least 59 1/2.  \n\nCheck the Motley Fool for sound advice on paying off your loans.
796996
That seems like a lot of money.  It might be worthwhile to call the bank where you have your account and ask their advice -- there may be someone there who is accustomed to seeing this type of business and can tell you whether the fee is reasonable for what you are trying to do.  And your bank will know about the transaction, anyway, once you get the money deposited.
100244
There is a 10% penalty for early withdrawal if not rolled into another tax-deferred account (i.e., another 401K or an IRA), plus the distribution is taxed as normal income.  The 10% that TaxCut is applying is for the 10% penalty.  The amount of the distribution then gets added into your total income, and the tax depends on whatever tax bracket you are in.  But the withheld amount shown on Box 4 of the 1099R gets counted as prepaid tax, so your total tax+penalties due will be decreased by the amount of tax already withheld at the time of the 401K withdrawal.  In your case, the 10% withheld pays for the 10% penalty, and then you still owe the regular income tax on the amount of the distribution.
808126
A good interest rate is 4.9% or better.  Whether or not they will give it to you with 670 is another question.  You might want to try and get a pre-approved loan from a lender like Capital One or something first, then you can go shopping with a blank check.  Dealer financing is usually more expensive.  I would guess that you'll land financing around 15% from the dealer.