If you’re 55 years or older and you’re struggling financially, there are some things you need to think about. I talk about that in this video.
Hello, this is Darrell Castle. I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and on this video I want to talk to you about something that should be of great concern to you if you’re 55 years or older and that is financial problems – having financial difficulties later in life.
Perhaps your home is in foreclosure or at least threatened with foreclosure and you’re very concerned about that as you should be. What are some things to think about? What are some things to ask yourself?
Well, the first thing to think about is that you have less time. Less time to recover from a financial mistake or a financial problem that you had when you were younger. When you were younger, you had many more options. You could get a better job, you could make more money, or you could just struggle from years without any concern, but when you’re older, you can’t really do that because your income in the future is going to be less, not more. That means it’s going to be a fixed income like Social Security or something like that.
Perhaps right now you’re in a situation where you’re on social security, or you’ve lost your job, you have a small business that’s struggling – something like that. Ask yourself another question – what about your home? Is it in foreclosure yet? Is it threatened with foreclosure? And if so, do you want to keep it? That’s the first question. Do you want to keep your home?
If the answer to that is “no” because the home is under water and you want to get out of it, well there’s a solution to that. If your answer is “yes, you want to keep it,” then you have to ask yourself another question. Can you afford it in another words? Can you make the payment? If you were not behind on the payments at all – you were current – could you make the payments? If the answer to that question is “yes, you could,” then there are ways you can keep it.
All of those things can be done through bankruptcy. You can make your financial life – the rest of your life – better through bankruptcy.
What if you have a requirement account? Should you use that retirement account to solve your financial problems, in other words, to pay your bills? Well, that is something to think about as well. I ask you – would it solve your problems? Would you be okay if you did that? Because, if you have an IRA, 401K – anything that is tax deductible – then that retirement account is completely exempt in bankruptcy. You can keep it. You can keep your retirement account and be free of your financial obligations. That is an amazing thing, but nevertheless it’s true.
What are some other things to think about?
Well one thing you should always think about is that begging will not help you – will not solve your financial problems. Going and begging to your creditors, collectors, the bank that owns your home – that will not solve your problems. Asking them to lower your payment will not solve your problems.
It’s unrealistic to expect a creditor, a collector or a bank, a mortgage company, etc to act in any way other than their own best interest. That is business.
So why don’t you act in your own best interest? Do something that is going to help you financially for the rest of your life. And what would that be? Well, consider bankruptcy. Consider that as an option.
Don’t look at bankruptcy as failure. Look at it as a solution to failure. You can keep your home or you can wipe out other debt and start a new financial life. That’s my advice to you, folks.