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maryann_al

credits/deductions for 2004 & Financial Advice

MaryAnn_AL
20 years ago

I enjoy reading everyoneÂs posts and advice. I hope some of you can help me with mine.

I need some advice on what we should do this year that will help us at tax time next year. My only child will be finishing college in a couple months. Next year we wonÂt be able to claim the education credit or even claim her as a dependent because more than likely she will move out soon. IÂm afraid we will be paying dearly at tax time. I have started having a little more money taken out of my paycheck for taxes but not nearly enough. We donÂt have an IRA and seems like that would be one way to get a tax credit, but to be honest we really canÂt afford it. We have tightened our belts so much now, we can hardly breathe. Is there anything I might be overlooking.

Also, do you think there is a way we can generate more available cash. Our home will be paid for in 5 yrs. I really donÂt wonÂt to refinance since it is so close to being paid for. (But then again, we will lose that interest deduction when it is paid for.) We probably have $80,000 in equity. We owe about $18,000 on the house, about $8,000 on the car and about $5500 dollars of CC debt. Seems like the rest of our money goes to insurances (cars, health, life) When my child finishes school, hopefully she will find a full time job and some of the insurance money will be freed up. In the meantime, my husband is wanting to build a garage estimated at $2,500 and borrow the money at either 8% or 11% interest. They wonÂt give him a secured loan on his truck because it is too old.

Could he use a HELOC for such a small amount? What about consolidating the CC debt? IÂve heard pros and cons about using HELOC to pay off CC debt. And no, IÂm not very disciplined but IÂm learning and much better than I once was!

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