Should I pay off my 401(k) loan early?

There is no way I’ll qualify for Medicaid.
That's great that you have that kind of assets. Realistically though, pretty much everyone one can eventually qualify for Medicaid to cover LTC. You just have to burn through those assets first to qualify. Which is what LTC insurance really is for, to protect those assets. No assets (such as the OP's situation), nothing to protect.
 
I’ve never bought life insurance. But I know a lot of old folks that need extended care. Better safe than sorry.
How many children do you have and what are their ages? We pay about $50 a month for long term, although we don’t really need it now (the term ends in 2 years) at the time, we were new home owners, had 3 kids under the age of 6, and 2 more on the way. The death of either one of us (or both) would’ve been financially devastating. My parents did everything right, had a solid 2 million in assets at retirement, including health insurance. Unfortunately my super uber clean eating exercising daily mother developed an aggressive cancer at 69, leaving behind her overweight unhealthy husband with Alzheimers. She got more in her pension check after making the decision that her public service health spousal benefits would end if she was deceased. His money was spent down quickly with a 24/7 in home health aid, after 4 years we were about to put him into assisted living with 3 years of self pay (over $100,000 a year) so that when his money ran out he wouldn’t be put in a crappy Medicaid bed (the house had been put partially in mine and my sisters name to protect the assets for my mom guessing the future). He had a heart attack and passed away a few weeks before that happened. Otherwise, he was pretty much good to go (except he would’ve hated to be in even a lovely assisted living home and I’m so glad that never happened).
 
How many children do you have and what are their ages? We pay about $50 a month for long term, although we don’t really need it now (the term ends in 2 years) at the time, we were new home owners, had 3 kids under the age of 6, and 2 more on the way. The death of either one of us (or both) would’ve been financially devastating. My parents did everything right, had a solid 2 million in assets at retirement, including health insurance. Unfortunately my super uber clean eating exercising daily mother developed an aggressive cancer at 69, leaving behind her overweight unhealthy husband with Alzheimers. She got more in her pension check after making the decision that her public service health spousal benefits would end if she was deceased. His money was spent down quickly with a 24/7 in home health aid, after 4 years we were about to put him into assisted living with 3 years of self pay (over $100,000 a year) so that when his money ran out he wouldn’t be put in a crappy Medicaid bed (the house had been put partially in mine and my sisters name to protect the assets for my mom guessing the future). He had a heart attack and passed away a few weeks before that happened. Otherwise, he was pretty much good to go (except he would’ve hated to be in even a lovely assisted living home and I’m so glad that never happened).
Medicaid beds aren’t crappy. The newest facilities work to get as many Medicaid beds as possible because it’s guaranteed money for their facility. Each area is assigned Medicaid beds and the facilities in that area can apply to get the funding from the state. No one except the administration and billing personnel know who is private pay and who is Medicaid. My husband did billing for a nursing home group for 7 years.
 
The OP lists medical debt in addition to student loans and the 401K loan in another thread. If it were me I would work on the medical loan first. As mentioned at least what interest he’s paying on the 401K loan is going back to him. Having medical debt and possibly more in the future feels more urgent to me. (I’d have to go back and look but I’m pretty sure the cost of that WDW trip would come close to covering it.) Then I”d throw myself into the 401K loan. That’s *if* it can be paid back early. Many moons ago we had one thinking we could just pay if off when we had the means and were not allowed to.

What I would not do is take advantage of my MIL’s kindness and essentially go on vacation on her dime.
 


Medicaid beds aren’t crappy. The newest facilities work to get as many Medicaid beds as possible because it’s guaranteed money for their facility. Each area is assigned Medicaid beds and the facilities in that area can apply to get the funding from the state. No one except the administration and billing personnel know who is private pay and who is Medicaid. My husband did billing for a nursing home group for 7 years.
I agree "crappy Medicaid beds" is a common misconception. My father had dementia and 2 years ago he had a medical event that made us realize he needed to be in a Memory Care facility almost overnight. We were trying to get him from Rehab into LTC. Even though he would have been self-pay, his choices were still very limited and the same as if he were on Medicaid. We were very surprised that we had a hard time getting him a bed anywhere, never mind at a "good" facility. We kept saying but he has money and they kept telling us that it didn't really make a difference. Unfortunately, he passed before he was released from Rehab.
 
Most employers offer life insurance as part of your employment. Better to get long term care insurance that you can actually use when you’re alive. I need to get a policy this year.

I know 2 people who died young due to cancer. One was 44 and the other was 52. I can't speak for the 44 yr old's situation but the 52 yr old was a coworker. We get 12 weeks of FMLA and beyond that they don't have to guarantee your exact job. After 6 months she was fired. Unless she had private life insurance before her cancer diagnosis, she was no long employed at the time of her death less than a year later, therefore no longer insured through the hospital where I work. I've never needed COBRA benefits so this is a big assumption, but I thought that was only for health insurance. I had hoped for her family's sake, that she had a separate, private policy.
Prior to her situation, I relied on my employer's life ins for years. After that I decided I'd accept the standard amount they give us for no extra charge, but would prefer my main life insurance to not be linked to employment at all.
 
So I understand the money would best be spent back in the 401k. However, is there any sense in trying to achieve my other goals first? We are going to move no matter what, but we could put off buying a house to work on the loan. Not sure if that's wise or not because I'm also losing money towards rent right now.

Basically this whole situation sucks. I had to take out the loan, because I used it to cover credit card debt that I wouldn't have been able to pay off otherwise.

I follow the Dave Ramsey road map. Check it out if you haven’t already. Gives a good guide to the actual order of what to pay and when to save. not For everyone - but it has helped me.
 


That's great that you have that kind of assets. Realistically though, pretty much everyone one can eventually qualify for Medicaid to cover LTC. You just have to burn through those assets first to qualify. Which is what LTC insurance really is for, to protect those assets. No assets (such as the OP's situation), nothing to protect.
Hard to say I guess depending on your assets and the cost of your LTC. Typical need for LTC is 18 months at at average cost of $2727 (and yes, that seems low to me). So about $54,000. I just would be surprised if people of the age to need LTC didn't have at least that much equity in their homes.
We bought LTC insurance at the right age apparently, in our early 50's. Premium is $4800 for both of us. We price shopped last year at age 62, lowest premium we could find was $14,000!
 
Ugh. Why did I even go look at that thread? I only skimmed, but it seemed like 90% of it was about vacations (cruises, Disney deluxe, Italy, etc).
:rolleyes:FWIW, the Italy trip was me. You said you only skimmed but I feel a need to explain. All of our debt has been paid off except for our mortgage which has about 8 yrs remaining.

During an emotional time last June, about a month after the sudden death of my mom, and contemplating life and the fact that my dh is only 15 yrs younger than my mom, I decided to splurge on a cruise to Norway.
I got a 0% interest offer that cost us about $200 in "balance transfer" fees so it's not racking up ridiculous amounts of interest compounding away. I have over 50% of the payback amount saved (earning some interest in our Ally account) and will have it done by mid-March. If for some reason we became really financially stuck before then, I could withdraw from our Vanguard account to pay it off well before the 12 month exp date but that account is doing so well right now, I'd rather keep it there.

In mid-March I plan to start saving for Italy in October which will not be difficult. Flights are cheap and the tour is cancellable up until 60 days prior.

I drop in on Debt Dumpers now and then to discuss savings goals mostly because I've chatted with them for years and it's just somewhere to go chat. If people want to drag out their debt so they can vacation, that's on them and not for me to stress over. I didn't cut out all vacations while paying off debt either, mostly because anything that feels like a starvation diet is hard to stick with.
 
Why did you even post your question then? I believe every single person said to pay that 401k loan, and now it’s you next goal? This seems to be a case of financial immaturity. I browsed some of his other post, someone isn’t thinking straight. The fact that he wants to move to Orlando (I’m guessing a higher COL than PA) because his wife wants to work for WDW (known not to pay well) says something.

On another thread he posted his medical issue. All the big plans, impulsive actions & spending can probably be directly attributed to his medical issue not necessarily financial immaturity.
 
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On another thread he posted his medical issue. All the big plans, impulsive actions & spending can probably be directly attributed to his medical issue not necessarily financial immaturity.
I read that too, but as a married couple they appear to be financially imature.
 
:rolleyes:FWIW, the Italy trip was me. You said you only skimmed but I feel a need to explain. All of our debt has been paid off except for our mortgage which has about 8 yrs remaining.
Yes, I did just briefly look and it seemed to be mostly about expensive vacations which seemed very odd for a thread about getting out of debt. I do understand how your posts could be motivation for others just starting out ("Yay! We've paid off all our debt and are now able to go on a dream vacation.") But it definitely seemed like many of the posters mentioning vacations were still deeply in debt.

Again, I have said on other threads that I understand the value of taking a vacation to enjoy time that you will never get again with your family, but one that costs $10k+ seems excessive if someone is struggling financially.

I read that too, but as a married couple they appear to be financially imature.
That has been my vibe as well with the dismissive attitude toward any suggestions anyone has made along with the "we're doing better than most other people" comments. The OP also has mentioned multiple times over various threads that he fully recognizes that the GF is too extravagant/expensive, but that's what his wife wants so there's no compromising on that.
 
For what it’s worth, I don’t think a majority of the people in the debt dumpers thread are taking 10k+ vacations or encouraging 10k+ vacations when there is a massive debt.

Good luck to the OP. Hopefully he makes the decision that is right for his family and it turns out well for him.
 
On another thread he posted his medical issue. All the big plans, impulsive actions & spending can probably be directly attributed to his medical issue not necessarily financial immaturity.
The medical issue can definitely explain a lot, including his responses on this thread. It's interesting that it appears his wife is also on the Debt Dumper thread. So I would say it is a combination of both.

The medical issue can be a tough one for partners to live with and it sounds like they both use spending as a coping mechanism.
 
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It's not relevant because I'm not asking for advice about the vacation here. It's happening regardless. I just want to know, if I have 10k, what should I use it for? And I'm asking because if I have 10k sitting around, should I use it all to pay off a loan that is only costing 200 per month (and that money is going towards my retirement anyways?)

I personally would rather stay at a cheaper resort, but my wife really wants to stay at the Grand, so that's that. It's not going to change. I feel like it's a waste of money, but I don't care about resorts like she does.
It's your money and you're paying yourself back with interest. I really don't see what the big deal is. Take your wife to the Grand Floridian if that's what you want to do.
 
We did a loan on one of ours years ago to replace the roof. We had matching 401k accounts before and took it from my husband’s. His account has never caught up to where mine is currently- so I’d say pay it back ASAP.
 
I’m really shocked that only @wenrob ie the only other one to point out that OP is living off of someone else’s generosity right now. No way would I live in someone else’s house and take such an extravagant vacation.

OP, play back the 401K; tackle the debt, and then move.

Thanks to PPs for all the life insurance and annuities talk as well. I learned quite a bit along the way, and I consider my DH and I well insured and on the right track with our investments, annuities, and insurance.
 
I’m really shocked that only @wenrob ie the only other one to point out that OP is living off of someone else’s generosity right now. No way would I live in someone else’s house and take such an extravagant vacation.

OP, play back the 401K; tackle the debt, and then move.

Thanks to PPs for all the life insurance and annuities talk as well. I learned quite a bit along the way, and I consider my DH and I well insured and on the right track with our investments, annuities, and insurance.
He's also planning a 2nd WDW trip later this summer.
 
I would not pay back 401k loan right, stock market is too high. Save up or tackle other debts where you're paying interest to others.

I have used 401k loans to my advantage by taking out when market is high and repaying on pullbacks, it can be done if you're patient. Please double check the 401k loan is not due immediately if you were to leave your employer, I believe most are.
 

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