How do I make a really good travel magazine?

Should he take the tax deferred savings out and make a financial move or leave it for another 23 years or so?

• Here is a situation: "my friend" has 8900 dollars in a tax deferred savings acct for teachers called STRS, it earns a few hundred dollars per year interest (that is 4 or 5 percent i guess). It is a retirement account but he will not get any benefits whatsoever unless he works as a teacher for another 2 years in California. Teachers did not make Money magazine's list of top 50 jobs. Except college profs. So right now it is just a savings account. He would take a hit on taxes if he pulls it out (about 30 percent on the amt deposited, plus capital gains on the interest...I think) He also has about 13,000 in credit card debt from world travel and school - not high interest but higher than 4 or 5 percent. Oh, and student loans of about the same amount. He has an entrepreneurial mindset and knows that cash (even a small amount like this) can be good in times like this. So here are the options. 1. leave the money in the account to earn 4-5 percent for another 25 years or so. 2. Get a job as a teacher again and leave the money in the account for at least two years, he will then have a very small retirement benefit (he is 32 now)..benefit equal to twice what is deposited (total at 55 would be 30,000 roughly plus or minus interest depending on the economy) 3. Pull the money out and pay off a credit card. 4. Pull the money out put into a savings account until he can finalize a business/investment plan that will catapult him out of teaching (or bury him under debt) He has switched careers several times and has 1-3 yrs experience in several fields relating to science research and education. Also, he tends to get really into drastic lifestyle ideas - like "The 4 Hour Work Week". Financial advisers? Life coaches? Small Biz owners? Yoga Teachers? Help him out, please!!!

• Answer:

  pay off the credit card debt. The debt will accumulate faster than any investment will grow. There is a book I recommend that "your friend" read. It's called "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker. Your friend's career switches are evidence of something in his mindset (and not the circumstances) that says he shouldn't be making a lot of money. Something buried deep in his psychology. The book teaches you how to identify and get rid of those mindsets, and reset yourself to make money. I read the book, and it has really changed the way I think.