I am getting some money after the house sells. I plan on hopefully retiring in 3 years. Should I put the money towards paying off my mortgage or into my 401c?
Oh, good question. Answers will go both ways on this one. You may want to check with a financial adviser on this one- do you have one with your bank or work?
I personally am with the paying down debt camp, and I would do that.
How much do you expect to net from the sale of the home? Is your mom deceased? Will there be a taxable gain on the sale? How much do you owe on your home? How much is your current home worth? What is your current income? How much debt do you have other than your home? How much do you have in retirement savings at this point? Lot’s of moving parts to be able to answer the question appropriately.
I went through this recently. I set aside 20% for potential tax implications because I wasn’t sure until I could get with my tax accountant to do my taxes. There are a lot of twists and turns as to if you will owe any capital gains tax on the sale of your Mom’s home. I used approximately 15% to pay off outstanding debit (credit card, Mom’s med bills). I used approximately 50% to repair/update my home and the rest I put in my retirement account. Now I ended up not needing the 20% I set aside for taxes so i put that in my retirement account as well.
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Thank you, I did not even think about the taxes!!!
I am not an accountant, and this is not tax advice:
One thing of importance is who is the owner of the home. If your mother is deceased and you inherited the home recently, you will probably not owe any taxes. If your mother is still living, and it is in her name, and she owned it for a number of years, there could be capital gains taxes on a large portion. It can be worth checking with your CPA BEFORE selling the home to make sure there isn’t something you can do to mitigate the tax liability.
Example: Mother bought the home for $90k, and is selling today for $300k. Capital gains would most likely be about $30k.
My mom is deceased. The house was left to 4 of us. She had no mortgage as it was paid off. I meet with my lawyer Wednesday. Hopefully he can help. Thank you!
