Now is.
The b a q wa the b a q a.
I always forget the rhythm b A b a A the b a b q Oh maybe the seconds, sir, the b a q a. Okay, the b a q a anything.
I'm basically likes apprentice right now.
So we are here for b a q a, which means which means you, as Brianna Bische listener, you get ta ask your questions and Mandy and I get.
To answer it.
Not in an expertise type of way, in a girlfriend, hey girl, Hey ask somebody else additionally, who you are paying for their advice kind of way.
Take it with a grain of salt, don't sue us kind of way.
Like say, soomtie, who is listening to your phone conversation on the train and giving you unsolicited advice kind of way.
Yes, But like at the end of the day, you got to be grown and you know, seek out professional advice.
All right, So I'm a bad advice one.
Okay. So Hi, my name is C, and I want to thank you for all the great advice that you give. C's question is what Tod be wise to withdraw from my four one K to pay off my credit cards? I was laid off over a year ago and finally started working again in March twenty twenty one. Because I was laid off, I racked up about eleven thousand dollars in credit card debt.
I'm forty six and I'm.
Really trying to be debt free by fifty minus the mortgage. My four one K is currently at two hundred and fifty K one thousand dollars for my last employer, A great job. I haven't rolled it over to my new employer yet, and I'm contributing to my new employers awesome. I'm trying not to depend on credit cards cash only, but last year stuck it did.
See.
Any advice will gladly be appreciated, and I know I'll have to pay a bunch of taxes.
Thanks love y'all. Well, look as he already knows something what we was gonna say.
Yeah, see, okay, what I was gonna say? Yeah, ah, you were I was because she has so much.
In her four to one K already.
I just feel like she's in a really good spot. But I also think eleven thousand dollars in the grand scheme of things, isn't a ton. And here's what I was gonna say, though, a withdrawal is different than what I was thinking. I was going to ask if you're eligible for a four to one K loan, because with a four to one K loan you do get the lump sum. And I have done this before for about
the same amount of money. When we are doing a part of our renovation, we basically rain out of money toward the end of our initial renovation, rain out of cash money. And I did end up taking a ten
thousand dollars four one K loan. And what I liked about that was my employer allowed me to do that, and I did pay some interest, but you pay it back to yourself and then I would just have my payments taken out of my paycheck starting from whenever you take out alone, and then it's not considered Yeah, and then it's not really a withdrawal where you have to pay the early withdrawal penalty plus taxes because it'll be considered a distribution with the traditional for one K. And
my second thought was, is it a wroth because if.
You have a row, like it, but explain the difference.
Yeah, if you have a wroth, because with the wroth for a one K or a roth. I array you're putting in money after taxes are taken out, you can actually withdraw your contributions any old time. I believe you with just the contribution, not the growth though, but the contributions, not the gains. And I honestly think to have been unemployed for over a year, I don't think, you know, having just kind of left a place where I was getting paid steadily and you know, standing up my business,
but then really living off of my emergency savings. I can see how quickly that could run out, especially over a year. And that was what was so devastating with the pandemic was you know, you say three to six months living expenses, saving your emergency fund, and then a pandemic is like, we're going to take away life for two years, and it's just too it's just too much.
So I see how this happened. And I think the fact that you've you know, gotten new employment shows that you know, you are relatively stable professionally, so maybe you'll be working for a while. The one little caveat with a four to one k loan even is if you were to leave your job or they were to let you go, you could owe that money back. Pretty soon. I forget exactly the time window, but within a few months typically, So that's just something to consider as well.
Now here's the thing. So I agree with me at first, I because say, Manny, we don't agree, but I just missed it up.
For a while.
I was like what because one, this is how she almost had me tricked. Because one, you know, especially at forty six, you know, overtirement's not that far off.
So actually making a withdrawal is not something that I.
Would want for you, because we want to make sure I like to call my old lady self, Wanda. We want to make sure that your retired self is being looked after. And you know, it's like I said, it's not around the corner, around the corner, but it's not too.
Far down the road.
So I wouldn't want you to make a withdrawal because you wouldn't really be withdrawing eleven thousand dollars. You have to withdraw more than that to really cover you know what you what your what your credit card debt is.
Plus on top of that, you.
Would miss out on the potential gains at that money that you're pulling out. You know, that would would be earning and it's a critical time right now for you to have those earnings. But to Mandy's point, taking out a loan from your four one k actually sounds better now. The only thing is this is the part that's a little trick ad that it's not my expertise, But her money is technically still with her old employer, So it's like,
how do you take a loan? Because she's at a new employer now, so you would want to look into what does that look like? Are you rolling over to an external account or are you rolling over to your current employer's you know, like account. So that's where so I agree with Manny that yes, you know, taking on a loan is your better bet. But because you're kind of like in between, you'd have to ask you know, like HR or you'd have to ask your benefits department.
What does that look like if I'm taking that a loan against this money? You know, do I take out a loan and keep it where it is?
Do I roll it over? Then take that a loan?
That would be like the only kind of like component that you want to get some additional information on. But honestly, you're rocking out two hundred and fifty thousand dollars set aside for your old lady's self.
Great cee, you.
Know, eleven thousand dollars in credit card debt after all of those shenanigans. Honestly, I ain't even mad at you, and I love the fact that you were cognizant that, like I know, I'm going to have to pay a bunch of taxes, you're not because we don't look at it loan.
Okay.
See, I'm so glad that you made that point, because you're right, I overlook that part, the fact that she's in between. So definitely I agree with you, Tiffany, look into the fine print whether you want to roll it over into a I don't know if if you roll it over into a brokerage account of your own, do they offer loans. I don't know exactly, and to look into that, but yeah, I love a question that makes
me think really hard. Well, let's play pretend for a minute and pretend like she doesn't have a loan option. She only has the withdrawal option. So let's go back to the idea of it is a regular withdrawal, she would have to pay early withdrawal taxes and a penalty. Your point about having to take out more than eleven thousand dollars is really important because let's say your tax rate is twenty five percent, you almost need to add twenty five percent to that eleven thousand to know.
That you're going to end up the penalty. What is the penalty?
It's ten percent?
Ten percent, yep, I believe. So yeah, so.
About a third, you know, you could be looking at like fourteen or fifteen thousand dollars, yes, yeah, which is a lot from your future, Wanda, from your future, ce your future, see yourself.
Because it's not really just a let's just say fifteen thousand to really cover the eleven. It's not just fifteen. It's fifteen thousand dollars that is no longer growing. So it's the missing out of the fifteen to get rid of eleven and the fifteen that might have made you an additional five, six, ten thousand dollars down the line that you're not going to have access to as a result of it being gone.
So it's a lot of money.
It's almost like you ever hear old people say, don't go bad after good or good after bad, you know what I mean. So it's like, you know, some one of those things. Basically, it's like, is it good to pay for your credit card debt? Absolutely, but you might end up losing out, Like to pay off eleven thousand, you might lose twenty, So it's like that's not you know, is there another favorite options?
Yes? Like, for example, are there options like?
Credit unions are our favorite place for people to borrow money from because many credit unions are nonprofit based, meaning that their interest rates are much more favorable for people who are wanting to borrow.
So do you do?
I don't know how this credit card is. Is it set up a series of credit cards or whatever? Can you do a consolidation loan with a credit union or just borrow from more credit union at a lower interest rate than what you currently own?
Is that a possibility? Yeah? Absolutely?
Or get a zero percent if your credit is still good, if you've been making your payments on time, it should be relatively good. And mean, I don't know, it's hard to answer without all your information, but let's say you have a really you have above seven hundred credit score, could you qualify for a zero percent balance transfer credit card which would help you take that balance transfer to
zero percent? And then since you're now employed, you could be making contributions and paying that debt down within the next year. You know, could you avoid could you afford to make about a thousand dollars payments a month or a little bit less depending on the terms to pay
that off. It's yeah, there's all these different options. There's I think you mentioned the credit you know, getting a loan from a credit a credit union, which you know, a debt consolidation loan where you could just pay that off and then you pay.
It in stall.
As a house, if you have a house, you might be able to get a home reline of credit to equity.
That's not my favor. I'm not gonna lie.
Well, it puts you it's what they call it a second mortgage. It's it's another lean on your home. So if you were unable to pay it back, then you could lose your home potentially. You know the most about your financial your professional picture, and how secure this job is, I mean a job is you know, I don't know
what kind of industry or anything like that. But if you feel super secure in your job and having that source of income moving forward, you know, you may take an option where you're able to pay the debt off with a lower interest or is no interest option like a personal loan or a zero percent balance transfer credit card, and then know that you'll be able to pay off those payments in the future while hopefully rebuilding your emergency fund.
I'm assuming that you blew through your cash and that's why you came up with that eleven thousand dollars in credit card debt, which is completely understandable given the time that you're out of work.
So also in the bad situations, it is a juicy one. So we've given you some great things to think about.
C Yeah, she's like, damn it. I wanted one option. I wanted got it.
Hopefullies are helpful to you. We have, we had a lot of good questions. We have to really shake up the bag, shake it, shake it. So this one's a little different, man, do you want to read that one?
I would love to this says hello.
I would like to remain anonymous, and I have a question about tapping into professional development funds at work. I recently was selected to participate in a one week fellowship to enhance my career. I would need to use my personal vacation time and pay for my travel It's been suggested that I ask my employer to cover both. The issue is I've been exploring other jobs, and I feel confident that I'll have another job offer very soon, potentially
before I attend this fellowship. My question is, if I know that I'm potentially leaving within the next thirty to sixty days, is it in bad form to also take advantage of professional development funding? For a reference, my industry is a small world.
Content my baby town. As an employee, myself diet the whole foot in. If someone did this to me, I'd be pissed there.
I'd be like, hey, you know you, you know you, I'm paying for you to go. I'm just like, like, I imagine they're like, oh, hey, my Coeo sending her to Coo school and she's you know, and then thirty days later, before she's even finished with her professional donment, she's like, I'm out while I'm still.
Paying on the training.
Especially because sometimes I'm not gonna lie. Some of these employers out here be trash or you just trash them right back. But especially if it's a small industry where it's like I'm gonna.
See you since in these streets I.
Must see you in this employment streets, you want to be mindful. Like one of my sisters works in the pharmaceutical industry, and she said she literally was interviewed. So she had an internship in New Jersey at janj And then years later when she her husband is as a doctor and he got placed or whatever in Chicago, she was interviewing at a place in Chicago, and one of the women that were interviewing her, it was one of somebody she had an internship with when she was in New Jersey.
She's like, oh my gosh.
So they got along famously. I think she got the job. But she was like, wow, it's such a small world in pharma, especially black pharma, and so just keeping that in mind that like you want to be mindful because one, you know, like unless your employer was trash and even still you wouldn't be mindful, then you won't you know, I don't know that i'd want to do that. But too, if it's a small world, it's going to get out and you don't know who knows who and who was like,
she's headed your way, yeah, the thief, she's coming. So and I think you kind of know that because you're like, keep me anonymous.
I think you know the answer to this question absolutely. And you know what if your job is smart, what they're going to do if they if they agree to cover your expenses, what they're going to do is they're going to make you feel out a form that says you agree to stay with them or repay them if.
You leave within a certain amount of time.
That is very common, from everything from student loan reimbursement to tuition reimbursement to even my maternity leave my last company, I had to sign a waiver that if I accepted maternity leave, I would have to stay with them for at least a year. And I remember when I actually left my company. I was at the eleventh month mark from when I actually took maternity leave. I think my life fast day was February, well maybe like eleven and
some change. I wasn't quite there, and I was like, how petty are they going to be?
They won't that petty. What I also realized being.
A senior manager is how much those little quid pro quos and caveats you really have to piss people off for them to actually enforce us. So be nice is again the most important career advice I can ever get but anyway, so that's something to think about too, is what strings will be attached to the money if you
do ask for it. But honestly, if this is really important to your overall career and it's something that you want to do and you're going to leave your employer, then I think it's the responsible and ethical thing to do is for you to bankroll it yourself or negotiate a little bit of a sign on bonus from your future employer and say, you know, I'm going to use this or will you cover my expenses for this upcoming fellowship and maybe the timing will work out and you
can get both from your new employer.
Yeah, you want to keep it keeped.
Yes, it can be anonymous, but show you the shady thing.
Your questions are always amazing. We had a lot of questions this time. Keep them coming so you can ask those questions personal finance questions.
What other kind of questions mandra.
Career relationship, business questions, business entrepreneurship, Yes, texas with the lowercase T. Yeah, friendship with good friendship questions. I'll never forget the person who asked it's hard for me to make friends in my forties how do you do that? Oh yeah, uh yeah, and don't forget that we have an upcoming special coming. You may get to actually be here live in our virtual studio audience, which means keep
an eye on our socials, especially ig. We may be asking you to submit questions and potentially giving you an opportunity to be here in our virtual studio. So if your eyes peeled, I would love to take some question. We'd love to take for questions live on an upcoming episode.
Yeah, and in the meantime, we might even you know, there might be some swag opportunities to win some swaggy things. You never know, waiting a little little swaggy from time to time. Yes, but if you have questions, certainly email us to go to Brown Andbision podcast dot com and email us at Brownibision Podcasts at gmail dot com.
Yes, you know what else?
Do you see?
How I don't know you know what it is?
You know what it is with my brain is that if I if I'm making a thing like Tiffany, like it's like back there just simmering, and if I just say just say it, just let it flow. But if I'm like, wait, what's it?
What is it?
What is it?
What is it? Bitanic?
It's like, for example, I can't remember the IG and I'm like if I was just like, you know, if I just said it, but right now, because I'm panicking, my brain is like it's.
Gone, Tiffany, just let it flow.
So share this podcast in your group, chat with at least two to three other people. Literally, if there's an episode you love, grab the link and be like, y'all need to listen to this, or hey, sissy pooh, remember that time you asked me that question about the thing I didn't know about? They answered it on the on the b of the a, you know, and so the t NBM answered it. So share and yeah, we just love I know, we have a lot more new listeners
and we're loving it. So stay cute and close with us because you know we love y'all.
Can I do a quick correction before we close out? Last week on a show, I shouted out listener Bridget who does not exist. What I meant to say was Shakira, listener Shakira who turned her friend onto the show, and he was like in my DMS the day that the episode dropped and was like, I know you said, Bridget, but you meant Shakira, I believe it you and he
was so nice about it. I was like, what does it not even in the same country of like the same universe of names that my hips don't lie and and thank Shakira.
But I hope I got that right. Yo, that is a lot.
I know he's gonna be like one more game if you don't. Oh yes, I hope you got that right too. Oh manor I love you girl.
You're so crazy.
I love you too, all right, miss saying well, I'm gonna go to Tarja.
Gotta go real quick.
No reason, no reason at all.
Just do not get cars, do not getting cards. We're not doing a cart challenge. That challenge is crazy. To get back out what I tell you.
Getting out was like I think I live here now, I live in this car. Getting it wasn't so hard. The gudding out I was like, wow, Tiffany, these knees they don't have.
I was like, oh my god, what am I gonna do?
But I managed because you know, you know, I had shoulder surgery. This arm was like I'm no good to you. You're gonna have to work with this one. I was like, I can't just do what r it was. It was a lot, but it was worth it. Yes, so yes, if you ever know what we're talking about, I'm going to be in Target by the time you listen to this. And I posted this really fun video of me inside Target card on my ig So go get your giggle.
On and then sense of the episode that dropped Wednesday and get the full story.
The full story, Yes, the full story. All right.
To have a good rest of your week y'all, enjoy your weekend.
Happy d a q A Friday,