bankrucpty meeting coming up and its cold

I’ve got quite a bit going on next week:

1. consult with a bankruptcy attorney with my father coming to the meeting as well
2. finishing up sales on my current project at work
3. need to sell other major ticket items in the house

Bankruptcy Attorney

I’m not really looking forward to this. Yes, it could be a good option for me. But I don’t think so. Here’s why:

1. A huge portion of my bad debt is under my business (of which I am not a 100% owner), this complicates things greatly (at least as far as I know it does. Perhaps the lawyer will have a simple solution here I can’t see)
2. I don’t want to file for bankruptcy. Yes, I am young, yes I have my whole life in front of me. I understand that. I also know there are legitimately good reasons to file a BK. I still don’t want to consider it until all my other options are exhausted
3. I have not exhausted all other options yet.

Alternatives to Bankruptcy

I’ve already consolidated a good chunk of my personal debt into a 3 year debt management plan. I have a handful of smaller credit accounts that have now gone to collections. I can deal with these. My biggest issue right now is the 50K in business loans. If I could somehow settle those, or arrange some sort of concessions (both banks WAMU and Wells have refused to budge on anything) for a period of time, I could make it. If business picks up.

Lots of “ifs” in my life right now.

Here’s the scenario’s I see playing out the next 3-4 months:

Scenario Number 1

My two new business projects are both successes, and I have enough cash to easily make payments and repayments on all my outstanding debts. Business income is over 20K a month.

Scenario Number 2

My two projects flounder, and I continue to skate by on the skin of my teeth. I move into my office once my house situation is resolved. Eventually the IRS wants their due and I am screwed.

Scenario Number 3

I file for business and personal bankruptcy. I don’t know what happens to my business then, but I’m assuming our client base and 7K+ monthly cash flow is worth something here…

Ideal Scenario I’m working my butt off for

Both my new projects are highly successful and produce enough cash flow to both repay my massive debts and continue to expand the business beyond the small shop we currently are. I buy a modest condo after living in the office for a few months, get married and have 3 kids.

OK, I’m joking about the 3 kids and getting married thing. I really want 5 (kids)!
OK, It’s getting late and I’m getting silly.

Basically I just want a break. Maybe I don’t deserve one, and maybe I’m getting my just dues here. But I have all these ideas in my head that I just don’t have the capital to work on right now.
Since I stopped trading my business has done dramatically better. I’m ten times more productive (having a more normal sleep schedule has definitely helped), and feel tons better about the business and myself. I just hope its not too little too late.

Cold

It is cold in my house now. The city shut off my gas last week. I’ve been expecting this, and its summer and I’ve got blankets, so no complaints. I’m not sure what happens now with the bill, but I’m sure I will be hearing from them shortly. We’ll just deal with that when it comes.