Garnishments are taking food off this family’s table

Dear Liz: Do you have any advice for a family of six with only $200 a month to spend on food? My wife and I are in dire need of advice, as our bills keep increasing but neither of us has gotten a raise in six years. We have two garnishments on our paychecks that effectively take 50% of what we make. After health insurance and 401(k) loans are deducted, we bring home $2,000 a month. Our rent takes $1,400 of that and utilities take most of the rest. Do you have any miracle advice for us?

Answer: Many families are facing your dilemma: flat incomes with rising costs. But your wage garnishments and 401(k) loans indicate you have a history of mismanaging your money, which has led to even more pain.

You need the advice of an experienced bankruptcy attorney. Wage garnishments by federal law aren’t supposed to exceed 25% of your disposable income, and state laws often provide even lower limits. If you can get your garnishments adjusted or have them wiped out in a bankruptcy filing, you may be able to create more breathing room.

In the meantime, see whether you qualify for the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). If you make too much money or have too much in assets to qualify, you can still visit a food bank to supplement what you’re able to buy.

If you can’t find a way to lower your costs further, the only solution is more income — not an easy prospect given the high unemployment rate, but you may be able to find a job at a competing business that pays more or start a business on the side.

Unfortunately, there are no miracles when it comes to money math. You can’t make two plus two equal five or have outgo that exceeds your income without eventual disaster.

When should you replace your car?

Dear Liz: The conventional wisdom is that you save money by hanging on to your old car; the longer you keep it, the more money you supposedly save. But the longer you wait to replace your old car, the more prices for new and used cars will rise due to inflation. Since you eventually have to replace your car, at some point will you lose money by waiting too long to replace it? How do you figure out where that point is?

Answer: Predicting future inflation is pretty tough and depends on a number of factors. Right now, for example, many used-car models are fetching significantly higher prices than in the past because of the sharp decline in sales of new models during the recession (leading to fewer available used cars now) and the fact that many owners are hanging on to their cars longer to save money. The production slowdown in Japan after its recent disasters is also affecting used-car prices.

Since predicting inflation is tough, you’d be smarter to focus on the factors you can more easily control: your savings and the condition of your current car. With proper maintenance, today’s vehicles can notch well over 200,000 miles. Owning a car for 10 years or more gives you plenty of time to save up cash to buy your next vehicle.

Money priorities: Put retirement savings first

Dear Liz: It’s still not clear to me how I should prioritize saving for retirement, paying down (massive) student loan debt and buying or building a modest house, even though I have read a number of your articles and answers to many other readers’ questions. Once I pay off what is left of my credit card debt and build up an emergency fund, what then? Do I put retirement first, paying down student loans second and a modest house last? Or should I pay my student loans last — for instance, by opting for an income-based repayment rather than the higher, regular payment amount and going for the house instead?

Answer: You should put retirement saving first now, even before you pay off your debt. If you don’t get a relatively early start putting away money for retirement you’re unlikely to be able to catch up later. Those who start saving after age 35 have a very tough time putting away enough money to comfortably retire, says Roger Ibbotson, founder of Ibbotson Associates financial research firm and a Yale School of Management professor. The ideal time to start saving for retirement is with your first job.

Prioritizing retirement means you’ll have less money for other goals, so paying down your debt and building up an emergency fund will take longer, but so be it. The amount of extra interest you pay on your debt will be overshadowed by the tax breaks and investment gains you’ll make in the long run in your retirement accounts.

After paying off your credit card debt, your next goals will depend on your individual situation. If all your education debt is federal student loans rather than private loans, then you needn’t be in a rush to pay it off. That’s because federal student loans have relatively low, fixed rates and many flexible repayment options. You also may qualify for student loan forgiveness in 10 years if you work in public service or 25 years if you don’t. An income-based repayment plan would allow you to minimize your payments so you could put money toward other goals. You can research your repayment options at FinAid.org, a financial aid and student loan education site.

If, on the other hand, you have some private student loans, you’ll probably want to make paying that off a priority since the rates are variable and you don’t have as many repayment options. (You probably wouldn’t be able to make income-based payments, for example.)

When to prioritize a home purchase depends, again, on your individual situation. If you’re sure you’re where you want to be for the next 10 years or so and are eager to own a home, you could start a down payment fund as soon as you finish paying off the credit card debt.

Self-employment for beginners

Dear Liz: In the last two years, many of my friends and former co-workers have been forced to attempt self-employment, independent contracting, freelancing, etc. None of them had any previous experience working for themselves, and none had personal acquaintances who could provide guidance. Not surprisingly, although many have good business and interpersonal skills, none have yet had success.

Please advise of any websites, books, associations or other resources that suggest what pitfalls to avoid (taxes and benefits have been nightmares for many people I know), how to plan before taking the plunge into self-employment and how to maximize the chance of success.

Answer: An excellent place to start would be “The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The Only Personal Finance System for People With Not-So-Regular Jobs” by Joseph D’Agnese and Denise Kiernan, two freelancers who figured out through trial and error how to cope with the erratic incomes while trying to pay for their own benefits and keep the IRS happy. The authors’ system revolves around putting aside a percentage of all income toward these expenses, rather than trying to save specific dollar amounts, which can be tough on an unpredictable income.

Two other great sources include the Small Business Administration website at http://www.sba.gov and Entrepreneur magazine’s site, at http://www.entrepreneur.com.

Your friends also should look for professional groups that can provide networking opportunities with successful freelancers and entrepreneurs in their fields. Nothing beats one-on-one advice and mentoring from those who have figured out how to win the game.

How to prioritize your money goals

Dear Liz: We’re a newly married couple with an 11-year-old and hope to have another baby soon. We have $20,000 in emergency savings, $40,000 in investments, $480,000 in retirement funds, $20,000 in low-interest student loans and $43,000 in high-interest credit card debt. If we have another child, we’d like for my wife to be able to stay home. I am struggling with how to prioritize debt reduction, college savings, home improvements and building our emergency fund. I don’t want to tap our savings or investments, as there are often surprises in life and I do not want to be caught short. The problem is that aggressively paying down the debt hurts our cash flow for our other goals.

Answer: It’s understandable that you don’t want to tap your savings or investments, since it’s difficult to build up those funds. But it really makes no sense to carry high-interest debt when the returns you’re getting on these other accounts are probably much lower.

Talk to your tax pro about the implications of selling some or all of your non-retirement investments, though. If your investments have gained substantially in value, you’ll want to factor in the tax bill or consider selling some of your money-losers instead.

Once the credit cards are paid off, some money that used to go to those payments will be freed up for other goals.

Your priority needs to be saving for retirement. Once you’re on track there, you probably should focus on rebuilding your emergency fund to equal at least three and preferably six months’ worth of expenses. You may not be able to accomplish that before your second child arrives, though, so consider opening a home equity line of credit as a proxy for a larger emergency fund. Leave the line of credit open and unused, however, because racking up a balance would defeat the purpose.

Saving for college is a worthy goal, although it shouldn’t take priority over retirement, paying off toxic debt or having an emergency fund. You may not be able to save enough to pay the whole bill, but you can shoot for saving one-third or half the expected cost, and your child can use federal student loans for the rest. SavingForCollege.com has a calculator to help fine-tune your plan. Even if you can’t save as much as you’d like, you should save something. Even $25 a month over time will help reduce the amount your child needs to borrow.

Home improvements should be last on your list of priorities, and you should try to pay for those with cash. They are not an investment in your home — although they may improve the value somewhat, you’ll typically get back less than 70% of what you spend.