I will be eligible to retire in 5 yrs with a pension from New York state. Presently, I owe about $61,000 on my home with another $38,000 home equity loan. The home was appraised for about $175,000 six years ago. We also have loans of $4,500 for a tract

ANSWER

The BIDaWIZ Team's Answer:

I suggest that you use the $20K to pay down the home loan.

Later in the year, I suggest that you refinance the home loan,

and withdraw enough equity to pay off all of the other debts.

In this way, you will be debt free; other than the home loan,

and you will have reduced your interest expense, and you will

have available, a tax deduction for all of the home mortgage interest

expense; whereas, presently the credit card interest expense, etc.

is not tax deductibility. As, for the $20K investment, this investment only

makes sense, if the investment will be recouped, by the energy savings,

over around seven years. If the recovery period is greatly in excess

of 7 years,  the investment is not a good use of your capital.