Some advise please

Beatle_Ray

Hello,

I'm starting to struggle ever so slightly and hoping that the budgeting forum is the right place. In short I have previously had a huge amount of debt but with a lot of hard work and going without plus a small bit left to me by my mother managed to pay the remainder off. I started my own business about a year ago and been going OK but December is always a bad month in my industry and not having much income is now starting to bite, I didn't want to do it but I had no alternative but to take some money out of my pension, there is sufficient funds there for the time being but I took out £5K, now given that my income is expected to low for a couple of months does it make sense to pay for some DD that are monthly off in one go, for example community charge, car insurance and road tax, my other concern is that the business continues to falter despite my best efforts and I need to take more funds out, i'm just a little nervous right now and starting to get a little anxious about the future, the opportunity to earn more is limited for both me and the DW, advice greatly welcome

eskbanker

There are typically only three things that can improve financial situation - apart from earning more (which you've effectively ruled out), that leaves spending less or restructuring finances.

Restructuring finances would typically be for those in the red, in terms of getting interest-bearing debt onto 0%, for example, but in your case you might consider taking on debt again, via a loan or credit card, to ease cashflow problems, although I can imagine this option lacks appeal in the context of your background story. Any prospect of improving payment terms within your business?

So that just leaves spending less - it's often recommended that posters complete and share a statement of affairs to allow others to review it and contribute suggestions for areas to improve. Could you manage with a cheaper car or go without perhaps?

Raiding pensions early while still working would generally not be a good idea but obviously if you're desperate then you presumably don't have many better options - what's your projected retirement plan, in terms of the type and value of your pensions and how long until you intend to start living off them?