Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / Don’t Wait, For It Could Be Too Late
Transcript
- 0:08KT: November 20th, 2025.
- 0:11Suze: Welcome everybody to the Women in Money podcast, and everyone's
- 0:14Suze: smart enough to listen.
- 0:15KT: You know why she's laughing? This is like take seven.
- 0:18KT: She didn't like any of the openings, so she keeps
- 0:21KT: doing it over and over and over again, and I
- 0:23KT: need another cup of coffee.
- 0:26Suze: Anyway, this is the Ask KT and Suze Anything edition.
- 0:32Suze: And what's today, KT?
- 0:34KT: It's November 20th, which means it's seven days out till Thanksgiving.
- 0:39Suze: And that is one of our favorite holidays. And this
- 0:42Suze: year we will be spending it in Florida, and most
- 0:47Suze: of our relatives are flying in, and Lynn, KT's sister,
- 0:51Suze: will be hosting it. So we're kind of
- 0:54Suze: excited because we're just going to be guests.
- 0:55KT: We don't have to do anything.
- 1:00Suze: And even Colo's wife Annie is going to be flying
- 1:05Suze: in and they're going to his brother's house, but they
- 1:09Suze: are coming to our condo for the tradition, which is
- 1:13Suze: making stuffing. So Colo and I will still be making
- 1:16Suze: the stuffing for the family. Now, two things before we begin.
- 1:23Suze: Number one, as you know, last Sunday, and I hope
- 1:26Suze: you enjoyed it, was another Suze School with Mr. Fitz Fitzy,
- 1:31Suze: Keith Fitz-Gerald. By the way, if you want to see that,
- 1:35Suze: you can also go to youtube.com/Suze Orman, and that particular
- 1:40Suze: episode we videoed so you can even watch us in action.
- 1:45Suze: A lot of you have questions, especially about one section
- 1:49Suze: called the free trade, and I'll explain that more on Sunday.
- 1:54Suze: But on Sunday I'm going to be addressing your questions
- 1:58Suze: that you have written into the Women and Money Community app,
- 2:02Suze: that by the way, all of you can download for
- 2:05Suze: free by going to Google Play or Apple Apps. Also
- 2:09Suze: on Sunday's Suze School, I will be going over the
- 2:13Suze: new limits for retirement accounts, the qualifications to get a
- 2:18Suze: Roth IRA, all of that, so don't miss it. However,
- 2:23Suze: we have one other thing that we want to talk
- 2:26Suze: about right now before we start the questions, and that's
- 2:28Suze: what we call warning, warning, warning.
- 2:31Suze: Warning and tell them why KT.
- 2:32KT: This concerned me and as soon as I read this,
- 2:36KT: I knew Suze had to give you all a big warning.
- 2:41KT: So let me read this. This is from Amy. She said,
- 2:43KT: Hi Suze. I'm verifying that you replied to me on
- 2:47KT: your wall and sent me a link to download WhatsApp
- 2:52KT: app to go over my financials and make my portfolio
- 2:56KT: more liquid and to buy Bitcoin.
- 3:00KT: In this day and age, I need to verify with
- 3:03KT: all the fraud going on, and then she said, I
- 3:06KT: had a feeling in my stomach and asked, is this real?
- 3:10KT: And it is not.
- 3:11Suze: It is not. So I want all of you to
- 3:13Suze: listen and listen very closely.
- 3:16Suze: I am never ever ever going to answer you on
- 3:20Suze: a wall or in a public place. Maybe I will
- 3:24Suze: reply if you say something in the Women and Money
- 3:27Suze: Community app. I may say I don't think so, or
- 3:29Suze: it's a good idea or just very few things, but
- 3:32Suze: I will never direct you
- 3:34Suze: to go somewhere to download something, to then take your
- 3:39Suze: money and say, I'm going to go over it. I
- 3:41Suze: am not going to go over it and buy Bitcoin,
- 3:45Suze: do that, none of that will ever, ever happen. Now,
- 3:48Suze: will I give you a URL address like must-have docs,
- 3:53Suze: where I would want you to go to get the
- 3:55Suze: must-have documents, but you'll know that that's me because you're
- 3:58Suze: gonna see me there.
- 4:00Suze: And obviously I don't really want anything from you. So
- 4:03Suze: there are times that I may say go to my
- 4:05Suze: alliant.com to get a 4.10% certificate one year. In fact,
- 4:11Suze: you might want to do that.
- 4:13KT: That's a good. That's a good idea. That's a good one, everybody.
- 4:15Suze: And other things that we may be working on.
- 4:18Suze: But never ever will I ask you to go to
- 4:23Suze: an app, especially a WhatsApp app. I don't use really WhatsApp,
- 4:27Suze: and go over your financials and make your portfolio more liquid,
- 4:31Suze: and to buy Bitcoin. Don't do it, don't do it.
- 4:35Suze: I don't care if they have my
- 4:36Suze: picture, I don't care whatever it is. Don't fall for that.
- 4:40Suze: If some article is using my picture, chances are it's
- 4:44Suze: not with my permission. OK KT, should we start?
- 4:48KT: My first question is from Madeleine. I'm devoting this question
- 4:52KT: to Colo.
- 4:55KT: Why?
- 4:56KT: I'll tell you why. Ready, she said, Good evening, dear Mrs. Orman.
- 5:00KT: I hope this will reach you...
- 5:02Suze: Wait, wait, stop. Mrs. Orman?
- 5:02KT: Mrs. Orman.
- 5:03Suze: Wait, KT, should I have been Mrs. Travis?
- 5:06KT: No, Mrs. Orman, it sounds pretty nice, just like I'm not...
- 5:10Suze: Why aren't you?
- 5:11KT: Mrs. Travis?
- 5:12Suze: No, Mrs. Orman. No, I like KT because then I
- 5:15Suze: couldn't call her KT. All right, go, go on.
- 5:17KT: Good evening, dear Mrs. Orman. I hope this will reach you.
- 5:21KT: My name is Madeline, and my husband and I worked.
- 5:24KT: Incredibly hard in our pizzeria for over 100 hours a
- 5:31KT: week with no vacations.
- 5:33KT: And why is it dedicated to Colo?
- 5:34KT: Because Colo loves pizza more than life itself, and I
- 5:37KT: think it's important for him to hear how difficult it
- 5:40KT: is to run pizzerias.
- 5:43Suze: That's why?
- 5:43KT: Yes. We did raise 3 great kids, and we are
- 5:46KT: grateful for them. Hubby is now 69 and I am 56.
- 5:52KT: We're waiting till he turns 70 to get most of
- 5:55KT: our Social Security. Due to so much competition here in
- 5:59KT: New Jersey and expensive rents, it will be hard for
- 6:03KT: us to retire. We don't need much. Only renting and
- 6:07KT: basic will be enough for us. Suze, what would you
- 6:11KT: advise us as to where we could invest about $10,000
- 6:16KT: that could help us out in retirement?
- 6:19KT: I'm from the Netherlands and after 30 years of hard
- 6:23KT: work I don't know who to trust or what to
- 6:26KT: do anymore. If you could give us any advice, Mrs. Orman,
- 6:30KT: we would be forever grateful. Is that the sweetest? I
- 6:35KT: thought Madeleine was very sweet and I could just see
- 6:38KT: her making pizza.
- 6:40Suze: Oh boy.
- 6:41KT: OK, so what can they do?
- 6:43Suze: First of all, Madeleine, you know, sometimes in life you
- 6:48Suze: just have to stand in your truth.
- 6:51Suze: And your truth happens to be that you are 56
- 6:55Suze: years of age. That's almost...
- 6:59Suze: right, 20 years younger than me. I want you to
- 7:02Suze: think about that. At 56, especially when all you may
- 7:07Suze: have is $10,000 to your name right now.
- 7:11Suze: That is not when you should be thinking about retiring.
- 7:15Suze: Maybe your husband is older. Maybe he's waiting for his
- 7:18Suze: Social Security, but even at 70, 70 and 56 is
- 7:25Suze: still young.
- 7:27Suze: So the mere fact that you have no money, but
- 7:30Suze: yet you're still thinking about retiring, doesn't go together. That
- 7:36Suze: is not the truth of your situation. The truth of
- 7:39Suze: your situation is, number one, you are young.
- 7:42Suze: Number two, you had the ability to work 100 hours
- 7:46Suze: a week with no vacations, and guess what? You still
- 7:49Suze: have that ability to do so. So it is going
- 7:53Suze: to be your desire to make this work and get
- 7:56Suze: your husband's Social Security.
- 7:58Suze: He can still go to work. You have 14 years
- 8:00Suze: or whatever it may be. You have 10 or 11
- 8:02Suze: years till you'll collect your Social Security or half of his,
- 8:07Suze: but you have time. What you need to do is
- 8:10Suze: not look at your money to save you, because that
- 8:14Suze: $10,000 will help you out in retirement if in fact what?
- 8:19Suze: You get in trouble. You need some money, so that
- 8:22Suze: goes in a money market account or into a high
- 8:25Suze: yield savings account or whatever it may be. You have
- 8:28Suze: to keep that money safe and sound. But what you
- 8:32Suze: have to do is you have to continue to work
- 8:35Suze: hard for your money because your money can't quite work
- 8:38Suze: hard for you because there's not quite enough of it yet.
- 8:41Suze: But $100 here, $200 there, whatever it may be, will help.
- 8:47Suze: So you say you don't know who to trust anymore.
- 8:50Suze: I'll tell you who to trust. You have to trust
- 8:53Suze: yourself that you have what it takes to do this.
- 8:57Suze: You have to have faith in yourself and have enough
- 9:00Suze: strength in knowing within yourself that you and you alone
- 9:06Suze: can save yourself.
- 9:08Suze: You said what could help you out in retirement. You
- 9:11Suze: know what the answer to that is you.
- 9:15KT: I was gonna say get a job. Yeah, get another job.
- 9:20Suze: But you know it's important all of you understand, please
- 9:24Suze: understand that life expectancy now is a lot longer. Nowhere
- 9:30Suze: in this email did she say that she was sick
- 9:33Suze: or she couldn't work or anything like that. But you
- 9:35Suze: know what she did say, KT? She did say that
- 9:39Suze: she raised three great kids and we are grateful for them.
- 9:43Suze: Madeline, you make sure that you talk with your great
- 9:47Suze: kids about this, because when you can't afford to carry
- 9:51Suze: yourself financially, they are the ones who need to and
- 9:55Suze: will want to carry you just like I did with
- 9:58Suze: my mom and KT did with hers. Next question, KT.
- 10:03KT: OK, this is from Leslie. Ready, Suze? She said teachers
- 10:06KT: in New York here.
- 10:09KT: We, I guess Leslie knows that we love teachers. Both
- 10:12KT: of us love, love teachers and nurses. My friend and
- 10:16KT: I are in our late thirties and super into finance
- 10:20KT: and saving for the future. I know that a Roth
- 10:23KT: IRA is the way to go, and I have one.
- 10:26KT: We have 403Bs and would like to convert them to Roth's.
- 10:30KT: What's the best way to do this? Directly or transfer
- 10:34KT: to a traditional IRA first, all at once or do
- 10:38KT: it slowly?
- 10:40KT: And that's from Mrs. P. She's a teacher, so they
- 10:44KT: call her Mrs. P.
- 10:45Suze: Mrs. P, as a teacher, you need to know the
- 10:49Suze: financial lesson of the day, and the financial lesson of
- 10:52Suze: the day is when you are working and you have
- 10:56Suze: a 403b, you cannot just take money out of the
- 11:00Suze: 403b and do what with it? Convert it to an
- 11:04Suze: IRA or a Roth IRA. It has got to stay
- 11:07Suze: in the 403B system.
- 11:10Suze: So the question is, does your school district have a
- 11:14Suze: Roth 403b that you could either transfer little by little
- 11:19Suze: some of the money into the Roth 403b, but all
- 11:23Suze: new contributions should be going to the Roth 403b. Number one,
- 11:30Suze: you say you already have a Roth IRA great. That
- 11:33Suze: means you've started the five year time clock, so you
- 11:36Suze: have nothing to worry about, but,
- 11:39Suze: that doesn't mean that you can't continue to contribute to it.
- 11:43Suze: So what do you do? You check with your school district,
- 11:46Suze: find out, do they have a Roth 403b. All new
- 11:49Suze: contributions go to the Roth 403b. Depending on how much
- 11:53Suze: you have in your 403b, if you're allowed to transfer
- 11:57Suze: it to the Roth 403B.
- 12:00Suze: Check with your CPA and find out how much can
- 12:03Suze: you transfer this year to not affect your tax bracket
- 12:08Suze: and how about next year. So divide it between two
- 12:10Suze: years since we're almost at the end of the year.
- 12:14Suze: There you go.
- 12:15KT: So Suze, I was a little confused. You need permission,
- 12:18KT: to do the transfer?
- 12:19Suze: Well, it's not that you need permission, KT, but not
- 12:22Suze: all districts have a Roth 403b number one. And even
- 12:28Suze: if they do, not all of them allow a transfer
- 12:33Suze: from the pre-tax 403b to a Roth with money. So
- 12:38Suze: her new contributions could probably go into a Roth 403b
- 12:41Suze: if they have one. No problem.
- 12:43Suze: But she might not be able to transfer the contribution
- 12:46Suze: she made to her traditional 403b. I get it. OK.
- 12:50KT: All right. My next question is from Jess.
- 12:53KT: And Jess is someone that you might have met. I
- 12:57KT: think you probably did meet her, and I'll tell you
- 13:00KT: where she said, Hi, Suze. I've been a fan since
- 13:03KT: one of the CCWC conferences, and I listen to your
- 13:08KT: podcast all the time. OK, we have to tell everyone CCWC.
- 13:13KT: This is probably our most favorite conference that Suze is
- 13:18KT: often invited to speak to. It's called the Corporate Council
- 13:22KT: Women of Color. These are all lawyers. Oh yeah, Laurie Robinson,
- 13:28KT: we love you.
- 13:29KT: She actually is the founder of the CCWC conferences. They
- 13:34KT: are so much fun, so lively, and so smart. Love them.
- 13:41KT: Here's her question. Jess asks, my question is related to
- 13:44KT: how to invest.
- 13:46KT: I come from a risk averse family, and I have
- 13:49KT: a risk averse career, so I try to have as
- 13:53KT: much liquid cash as possible for the fear of the unknown.
- 13:57KT: I owe $100,000 in student loans, and we have four children.
- 14:02KT: I make a little less than 500,000 a year. Now remember, everyone,
- 14:06KT: she's a lawyer, and again, that's why she has high
- 14:10KT: student loans, I'm sure, she said. My husband has no
- 14:13KT: debt outside of our mortgage.
- 14:15KT: I'd really like to invest so that my money can
- 14:18KT: make money to help me pay off my debt faster,
- 14:22KT: but we still have bills to pay and I still
- 14:25KT: want to have cash at the ready.
- 14:27KT: And then she goes on to say, Suze, I see
- 14:30KT: people getting into the stock market with just a couple
- 14:32KT: hundred dollars and somehow they multiply it exponentially, but it's not
- 14:38KT: clicking for me. I assume the key is patience, but
- 14:42KT: I see some with almost instant success, and I just
- 14:46KT: can't seem to figure out that algorithm.
- 14:49KT: So she, she must be talking to people that maybe
- 14:53KT: are day traders or are high risk investors.
- 14:57Suze: I don't know you think? Jess, let's talk. All right,
- 15:01Suze: let's just talk, girlfriend. You make a little less than
- 15:05Suze: half a million dollars a year.
- 15:09Suze: Now I don't know where you live. Do you live
- 15:11Suze: in New York, whatever, so I don't know how much
- 15:14Suze: of that you have left after taxes and all of
- 15:18Suze: your expenses. However, there's got to be some amount of
- 15:23Suze: money in there that you are willing to put into
- 15:28Suze: the stock market. Now, the stock market doesn't necessarily have
- 15:32Suze: to mean individual stocks.
- 15:35Suze: You could absolutely, let's just say you're gonna put 5,000
- 15:39Suze: a month, just 5,000 a month, every single month.
- 15:44Suze: It's not that much given that you're making 500,000 a year,
- 15:48Suze: 5,000 a month into the ETF, Standard and Poor's 500
- 15:54Suze: ETF with the symbol VOO, total diversification there, and just
- 16:01Suze: do that every single month and slowly but surely you'll
- 16:07Suze: be very happy that you did so.
- 16:10Suze: You say that you are in a risk averse career,
- 16:15Suze: but you're really not, because every time you go to court,
- 16:18Suze: every time you take a case, there is tremendous risk.
- 16:22Suze: Is your client going to win or are they going
- 16:25Suze: to lose? And if they come to you, Jess, they
- 16:28Suze: are taking a risk on you that you are going
- 16:32Suze: to be able to win their case or at least
- 16:36Suze: help them out.
- 16:38Suze: So you have to change how you are thinking, number one,
- 16:41Suze: and number two, you have got to stop comparing what
- 16:46Suze: you're doing and others are doing. People only love to
- 16:50Suze: talk about how much they're up, how much they've won.
- 16:53Suze: They're very seldom going to say to you, can you
- 16:56Suze: believe it? I lost $100,000 the other day on this.
- 17:00Suze: I mean, you don't even wanna know at times when
- 17:03Suze: I have to look at KT and I have to go,
- 17:06Suze: oh well, but remember,
- 17:07Suze: You never really lose or you never really gain unless
- 17:11Suze: you've sold. So, but you can see things go up
- 17:14Suze: or down. So when people say to you, oh, it's
- 17:17Suze: multiplying exponentially, that doesn't mean they made that money yet.
- 17:23Suze: So number one, stop comparing yourself. Number two, dollar cost averaging
- 17:28Suze: into a Standard Employer's ETF every single month is not
- 17:33Suze: a risk. And number three.
- 17:35Suze: You have to face your money and not be afraid
- 17:39Suze: of it. And if you're afraid of it, you have
- 17:42Suze: to figure out why, really, and then figure out what
- 17:46Suze: are you going to do to silence that fear. All right.
- 17:49KT: This next question, Suze is from Angela, and I picked this
- 17:52KT: one because I don't ever think people should feel this way.
- 17:56Suze: All right.
- 17:57KT: So Angela said, Suze, where do I start saving or
- 18:00KT: investing if I do not have a Roth 401k plan
- 18:05KT: and no investments? I used all I had for my
- 18:09KT: children's education and was not working. I am 60 years
- 18:13KT: old and feel ashamed at times where I am at
- 18:17KT: in my life.
- 18:18Suze: You look like you're going to cry.
- 18:20KT: It's very sad. She's 60.
- 18:22KT: And she feels ashamed. I think that's so sad. Don't
- 18:27KT: be ashamed.
- 18:27Suze: Well, first of all, Angela, you have to look at
- 18:31Suze: the choices that you made.
- 18:33Suze: You put your children's education in front of your retirement,
- 18:40Suze: especially at a time when you say that you were
- 18:45Suze: not working.
- 18:47Suze: So you put them in front of you. Now, I
- 18:49Suze: just want to put a pin in that for a second.
- 18:52Suze: A lot of times you hear us when we sign off,
- 18:54Suze: people first, then money.
- 18:57Suze: And really that came about because I wanted women in particular.
- 19:03Suze: To know that they have to put themselves first.
- 19:07Suze: Before their children, before their employees, before their whatever, you
- 19:13Suze: have to take care of yourself first. Then you have
- 19:18Suze: the ability to take care of your children. Since you
- 19:21Suze: did not do that, your children now, in my opinion,
- 19:26Suze: have the responsibility of taking care of you.
- 19:31Suze: So the question to you is this, do you have
- 19:34Suze: what it takes to ask them to listen to this podcast?
- 19:40Suze: When you've heard it and see if you can all
- 19:44Suze: sit down and figure out what can they do now
- 19:48Suze: to help you. Can they give you X percent of their
- 19:53Suze: income every single month? I remember when I was younger
- 19:57Suze: I had to do that with my mamma when my
- 19:58Suze: daddy died, right? She got $1,000 a month. Then she
- 20:04Suze: got something from my brothers, so she got money so
- 20:07Suze: she could live on.
- 20:09Suze: And we took care of her that way. You have
- 20:13Suze: to do the same with your children and not be
- 20:16Suze: ashamed to do that. That's number one. You say that
- 20:21Suze: you are 60 years old and feel ashamed at times.
- 20:26Suze: Angela, what is it possible that you could feel ashamed about?
- 20:33Suze: Because you didn't do anything wrong, you simply followed your heart.
- 20:40Suze: But here you are again at 60, and you already
- 20:44Suze: think it's too late. May I remind all of you
- 20:49Suze: that I wrote my very first book at 45.
- 20:54Suze: That true wealth, true success didn't come until I was
- 21:00Suze: in my really my mid-50s, really big success. KT is
- 21:05Suze: smiling over there because that's...
- 21:07KT: When she turned 50.
- 21:08Suze: That's when I met her, right?
- 21:11KT: Biggest success.
- 21:12Suze: But that's when really not so many years before where
- 21:16Suze: you are at 60, still fabulous working years for us.
- 21:23Suze: So I need you to be a warrior and not
- 21:26Suze: turn your back on the battlefield, and the battlefield I'm
- 21:29Suze: talking about is the battlefield of your own mind where
- 21:34Suze: you are limiting yourself, feeling you are condemned to never
- 21:38Suze: have anything in your life simply because you helped your kids.
- 21:43Suze: So let's make finances a family affair. Let's bring them in.
- 21:47Suze: Let's look at something that you can do. Do something.
- 21:51Suze: There's always something you can do, and remember there is
- 21:55Suze: no excuse big enough to keep you from being who
- 21:58Suze: you are meant to be, KT.
- 22:02KT: Very nice. Never too late. Never ever too late.
- 22:06Suze: You know, KT, I have to tell you I don't
- 22:08Suze: agree with that.
- 22:10KT: Why?
- 22:10Suze: You know, I used to stand on a stage and
- 22:13Suze: I used to say it's never too soon to begin
- 22:17Suze: and it's never too late to start. However,
- 22:21Suze: over the years some people would write me and they
- 22:24Suze: were 90, 95. The spouse had just died. They had
- 22:30Suze: absolutely no money to their name. They lost one Social
- 22:33Suze: Security check. They had nothing.
- 22:37Suze: And I was always like, I don't know what to
- 22:39Suze: tell them, KT, I honest to God, don't. They didn't
- 22:43Suze: have children. They had nobody they could go to. So
- 22:46Suze: what was I supposed to do? Say, oh yeah, start
- 22:49Suze: saving $100 a month and you'll have, what do you say?
- 22:53Suze: So everybody, there does come a time when even the
- 22:57Suze: great Suze Orman seriously had no idea what to tell
- 23:03Suze: you to do to help yourself, honestly.
- 23:06Suze: I mean, obviously you could go to churches and ask
- 23:09Suze: for help and things like that, but financially it was
- 23:13Suze: too late, so that can happen just so you know,
- 23:18Suze: but everybody, I tell you that story.
- 23:21Suze: Not to discourage you, but to inspire you, to inspire
- 23:25Suze: you to start now. You're 60, start now. You're 70,
- 23:32Suze: start now, even 80, start now.
- 23:36Suze: You know, just start now.
- 23:40KT: Now we can say don't wait because it could be
- 23:43KT: too late.
- 23:46Suze: She's so she's so proud of herself. Was that a
- 23:50Suze: little rhyme?
- 23:51KT: Yeah, don't wait because it could be too late. OK,
- 23:55KT: my next question is from Damien. I love my man questions.
- 23:58KT: He said, Hey, KT and Suze, my partner and I
- 24:01KT: are two guys smart enough to listen, and I'd like
- 24:05KT: you to settle something for us.
- 24:06KT: And Suze, I'm totally OK saying the six most powerful
- 24:11KT: words in the English language.
- 24:13Suze: Do you know what those words are?
- 24:13KT: Yes, I do, Suze, I admit that I was wrong.
- 24:17Suze: Yes, I have her say that all the time.
- 24:19KT: But Damien said, But Suze, I'd like to hear from
- 24:22KT: you before I concede. All right, ready? He said, we're
- 24:25KT: both incredible
- 24:27KT: savers, we have no balance on our credit cards or
- 24:29KT: any debt. However, he believes I'm throwing money away by
- 24:34KT: only using a debit card for my purchases, whereas he
- 24:38KT: uses his credit card to pay for everything and gets
- 24:42KT: 1 to 5% back with points. I feel more secure
- 24:47KT: nnowing that I can never spend more money than I have,
- 24:51KT: even if it means that I don't earn cash back
- 24:54KT: along the way, I'd rather not carry any debt, even
- 24:58KT: if I had the means to pay it off every month.
- 25:01KT: You just never know. We would love your thoughts and
- 25:04KT: thank you, Suze, for all you do.
- 25:07Suze: Great. Now, should that be your quizzy?
- 25:09KT: I can tell, yeah, make it a quizzy because I,
- 25:12KT: there's a keyword in there. Make it a quizzy. Make
- 25:15KT: it a quizzy.
- 25:16Suze: Ok Miss know it all. What is, what's the answer
- 25:19Suze: to that?
- 25:19KT: Secure, he said he, Damian feels secure by using a
- 25:26KT: debit card and knowing he can never spend more than
- 25:29KT: what he's got.
- 25:30Suze: You're positive about that answer.
- 25:32KT: Yeah, I think that it's more important that he, how
- 25:35KT: he feels than making 1 or 5% back like his part.
- 25:40Suze: You're positive?
- 25:41KT: Yeah.
- 25:42Suze: (Suze makes the wrong answer sound)
- 25:42KT: Oh, come on, Suze.
- 25:44Suze: Let me tell you why.
- 25:45KT: OK, tell me why. So Damien, get ready for I
- 25:49KT: admit that I was wrong. I'll say it along with you.
- 25:52KT: We admit that we were wrong, Damien.
- 25:55Suze: And here's the reason, Damien, I would never use a
- 25:57Suze: debit card if I were you. So you say you
- 26:00Suze: feel secure.
- 26:02Suze: But you feel secure using, in my opinion, the most
- 26:06Suze: insecure type of card that there is because it links
- 26:12Suze: directly to all the money that's in your account. KT,
- 26:16Suze: to this day, have you ever seen me use a
- 26:19Suze: debit card?
- 26:20KT: Never.
- 26:21Suze: Have you ever seen a debit card, even in our cards?
- 26:25Suze: We don't even ask them to issue one.
- 26:28KT: We don't, we don't need it.
- 26:29Suze: No, it's not that we don't need it. We don't
- 26:31Suze: even want it. All right. So therefore that's number one.
- 26:36Suze: Number two:
- 26:37Suze: Here's what I don't like.
- 26:40Suze: Why do you feel that your money is in control
- 26:45Suze: of you versus you are in control of your money?
- 26:50Suze: When you say you feel more secure knowing that I
- 26:53Suze: can never spend more than I have, that means you
- 26:56Suze: are not in control of your money. Therefore, that is
- 27:02Suze: what has to change, and to pass up free money,
- 27:06Suze: are you out of your mind? Do you have any
- 27:09Suze: idea the extent that KT and I go to to
- 27:12Suze: get cash back?
- 27:14Suze: You know, sometimes I go on to this thing where
- 27:16Suze: if you sign up you get 6% on anything you
- 27:18Suze: buy on Macy's, and then I use a cashback card
- 27:21Suze: at Macy's if I'm gonna buy something, so I get
- 27:23Suze: maybe 10% back, and I can't wait to get that
- 27:26Suze: $50 check or whatever it is. Are you kidding me, Damien? Therefore,
- 27:31Suze: you best admit that you were wrong, because in fact
- 27:34Suze: you are. Last question, KT.
- 27:37KT: OK, Suze, final question.
- 27:39KT: This is from Stacia or Stacia. I'm not sure how
- 27:43KT: to pronounce her name, Stacia, I'll say because I like that.
- 27:47KT: I've made a total mess of my finances because I
- 27:51KT: didn't know a lot of things about money. I'm behind
- 27:55KT: on my bills and rent and I'm about $30,000 in
- 28:00KT: debt and I'm overwhelmed to the point I don't sleep
- 28:03KT: well at night, OK.
- 28:06KT: All right, Stacia, she said, Suze, I'm now 51 and
- 28:10KT: looking at retirement in about seven to eight years. I
- 28:14KT: don't know where to start on how to get my
- 28:17KT: finances back on track.
- 28:19Suze: Can you help me? You know, what's funny about all
- 28:22Suze: these that you picked, and you did it, I think, purposely,
- 28:26Suze: is that the theme has been 50-year-olds, 60-year-olds, all needing
- 28:32Suze: more money.
- 28:33Suze: But yet all talking about retirement, all talking about they
- 28:37Suze: already retired and how can I help them, right? Have
- 28:41Suze: you noticed the theme you did here?
- 28:42KT: It's like they're running out of time.
- 28:44Suze: So did you do that on purpose?
- 28:45KT: Absolutely.
- 28:46Suze: How come?
- 28:47KT: I just think that there's a big need out there.
- 28:50KT: People panicking, and that none of them are sleeping at night.
- 28:53Suze: All right.
- 28:53KT: So anyway, so what can she do?
- 28:56Suze: You're 51 years old now.
- 28:58Suze: And you're looking at retirement in about seven to eight years, which
- 29:02Suze: brings you to about 59, and you don't know where
- 29:06Suze: to start on how to get your finances back on track.
- 29:10Suze: Here's the thing.
- 29:12Suze: Why is it that you're behind on your bills? You're
- 29:16Suze: behind on rent. Forget about how are you going to
- 29:18Suze: get your finances back on track so you can retire
- 29:22Suze: in seven to eight years, when the chances are if you're behind
- 29:26Suze: on your bills and your rent, you're going to get
- 29:28Suze: kicked out of where you live.
- 29:30Suze: And because you've been behind on your bills and your rent,
- 29:33Suze: I hate to see what your FICO score is, because
- 29:37Suze: your FICO score probably is now down in the 500 area,
- 29:42Suze: which means if you lose your apartment now, good luck
- 29:45Suze: with another landlord renting to you. So Stacia, this isn't
- 29:50Suze: about your future.
- 29:51Suze: This is about you right now being in trouble. If
- 29:56Suze: you're $30,000 in debt and you're behind on not only
- 30:01Suze: your bills but your rent, now you really need to
- 30:05Suze: figure out what should you do. Forget about the future
- 30:08Suze: for now. Let's deal with the present. It may be
- 30:12Suze: very probable, believe it or not, that you need to
- 30:15Suze: claim bankruptcy.
- 30:17Suze: You may owe more than what you are making at
- 30:20Suze: this point in time, and there is a rule of
- 30:24Suze: finance that says when you owe more than what you make,
- 30:28Suze: you are essentially bankrupt.
- 30:32Suze: So I don't say that lightly, but I can tell
- 30:35Suze: you there is a serious red flag here. If I
- 30:39Suze: were you, I would contact NFCC.org. It's the National Foundation
- 30:46Suze: of Credit Counselors, and see them and first start to
- 30:50Suze: deal with what you do have, which is debt and
- 30:53Suze: you're behind in your rent.
- 30:55Suze: After you have taken care of that, then little by
- 31:00Suze: little you can start digging your way out, but that,
- 31:04Suze: my love, is what I would do if I were you,
- 31:08Suze: and that
- 31:10Suze: is standing in your truth. So how was that, KT?
- 31:13Suze: Did you agree with that answer?
- 31:15KT: I do.
- 31:16Suze: Oh, those answers are so hard for me.
- 31:18KT: I know. You know, you hate to give it, you hate.
- 31:21KT: I'm sorry that I picked all these questions, but there's
- 31:24KT: like this trend going on. People are lost. A lot
- 31:28KT: of people are lost.
- 31:29Suze: Not if they've been listening to the Women in Money
- 31:31Suze: podcast for all these years and the Suze Orman show, which,
- 31:37Suze: by the way
- 31:38Suze: is on YouTube. All you have to do is go
- 31:42Suze: to youtube.com/Suze Orman and please subscribe because eventually we may
- 31:48Suze: be always broadcasting these podcasts live starting next year. We'll see.
- 31:54KT: That will be fun. I'd like to go in front
- 31:56KT: of the camera.
- 31:57Suze: You hate the camera.
- 31:58KT: I hate it, but I think it might be fun.
- 32:00KT: Maybe not everyone, maybe once a month. Is that so? Yeah,
- 32:05KT: once a month, the beginning of the month.
- 32:08Suze: Oh, listen to her.
- 32:09KT: Flavor of the month.
- 32:09Suze: She's such a big talker, such a big talker. All right, everybody,
- 32:13Suze: so until Sunday when I will be here with Suze
- 32:17Suze: School answering questions that all of you have and updating
- 32:21Suze: you on the new retirement regulations.
- 32:25Suze: There's only one thing that we want you to remember
- 32:27Suze: when it comes to your money, and what is it,
- 32:29Suze: the love of my life?
- 32:30KT: It is people first, then money, then things, and you
- 32:35KT: stay safe.
- 32:37Suze: Secure and healthy. See you soon. Bye bye.