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My Husband Wants To, But I Don’t · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:07
  Suze: February 12, 2026. Welcome everybody to what KT to what?
• 0:13
  KT: The Women in Money podcast and everyone's smart enough to listen.
• 0:17
  Suze: And what are we doing today? It's the Ask what?
• 0:19
  KT: Ask KT to ask Suze anything.
• 0:23
  Suze: So here we go, everybody. Here's what you need to
• 0:26
  Suze: know if you have a question.
• 0:28
  Suze: Just send it in to ask Suze podcast@gmail.com. And if
• 0:34
  Suze: KT chooses it, oh, we will ask and answer it
• 0:39
  Suze: on the podcast. However, as many of you know, I
• 0:43
  Suze: do go through those emails, and if I feel like
• 0:47
  Suze: it because it strikes a chord in my heart, I
• 0:51
  Suze: will answer it.
• 0:53
  KT: Wait, you gotta tell everybody about Super Bowl. For those
• 0:56
  KT: of you that missed Super Bowl Sunday podcast, go back
• 1:01
  KT: and listen to it. It was one of the very
• 1:04
  KT: best and one of my favorite that Suze's ever done.
• 1:07
  Suze: Why did you like it?
• 1:08
  KT: It was really, really educational. It was informative.
• 1:12
  KT: You were calm. You were great.
• 1:15
  Suze: You were great.
• 1:16
  Suze: Wait, are you saying that I'm not calm?
• 1:18
  KT: It was Super Bowl Sunday, and I was worried that
• 1:20
  KT: she was gonna give all of you like this really
• 1:23
  KT: big ra ra ra podcast, but it was unbelievably wonderful.
• 1:29
  KT: I listened to it twice.
• 1:31
  Suze: Come on...
• 1:32
  KT: I did. I did. You did. I did, and so
• 1:35
  KT: did my sister. We really loved it. It was one
• 1:38
  KT: of your best.
• 1:38
  Suze: But I have to tell you.
• 1:40
  Suze: I love the thing about patience versus impatience.
• 1:43
  KT: Don't, don't give it away. Those of you that didn't listen,
• 1:46
  KT: go listen.
• 1:49
  Suze: I can give anything away. I want to give away.
• 1:51
  KT: Let's tell him that I won.
• 1:55
  KT: KT was for Seahawks, baby, and they did a great job.
• 2:00
  Suze: I have to tell you.
• 2:01
  Suze: I couldn't have been more disappointed.
• 2:03
  KT: I know Suze was a little depressed with her Patriots.
• 2:06
  Suze: I wasn't depressed.
• 2:08
  Suze: It was, I have a strange feeling that the quarterback
• 2:12
  Suze: who had had an injured shoulder still did, but anyway,
• 2:18
  Suze: the Seahawks so deserved to win. So congratulations, KT. Tell
• 2:24
  Suze: everybody what a party animal I've turned into.
• 2:27
  KT: Oh my God, ever since we, ever since we left
• 2:31
  KT: the island.
• 2:32
  KT: Suze has looked at me, she said, I'm making up
• 2:35
  KT: for lost time. I said, we were not stranded for
• 2:38
  KT: 14 years. It's not like, you know, we were on
• 2:42
  KT: an island without being able to leave. I said we
• 2:46
  KT: chose to be there, but she came back to Florida
• 2:50
  KT: and she has booked every theatrical event, every concert.
• 2:56
  KT: Every performance, all kinds of live. She hasn't gone to
• 3:00
  KT: live events in years, so we have a calendar that
• 3:04
  KT: is just like a social animal. Unbelievable, especially she's not
• 3:09
  KT: a butterfly. She's a social animal.
• 3:11
  Suze: Especially from somebody who very seldom even left the house, right?
• 3:15
  Suze: KT for all those years.
• 3:17
  KT: If I had a house like that, I wouldn't leave.
• 3:20
  Suze: You used to, you don't know, but you wanna know
• 3:23
  Suze: what's great, everybody, we went from a seriously sprawling estate
• 3:28
  Suze: that we had built in.
• 3:30
  Suze: In the Bahamas to really a tiny condo...
• 3:34
  KT: We have a little, little, little condo here on the beach,
• 3:37
  KT: which is great.
• 3:38
  Suze: But tell everybody how much we're loving it.
• 3:40
  KT: We love it. We've, we've told them this before. Suze
• 3:43
  KT: has such joy knowing where I am all the time
• 3:46
  KT: and in this little condo, but she can hear me,
• 3:50
  KT: she can see me, she can say KT, she doesn't
• 3:53
  KT: have to call me or ring bells.
• 3:55
  Suze: But, more than finding KT.
• 3:57
  Suze: Egotistical woman over there, no, but seriously, more than finding her,
• 4:02
  Suze: I just want to tell all of you who maybe
• 4:05
  Suze: are afraid to downsize, you're used to all the space
• 4:10
  Suze: around you, and you like that you get used and
• 4:14
  Suze: start to love what you do have around you, and
• 4:19
  Suze: we couldn't be happier really if we tried.
• 4:22
  KT: You know what also really did it for me is that.
• 4:26
  KT: We obviously sold our state um turnkey so we left
• 4:31
  KT: everything but we did take personal belongings, photographs, art, anything
• 4:36
  KT: that was special for us as soon as I brought
• 4:40
  KT: those back into this little space.
• 4:43
  KT: I felt, I felt surrounded by my love and comfort
• 4:48
  KT: buttons and, and it made it all very easy to
• 4:51
  KT: make the transition. So think about that, it makes it,
• 4:55
  KT: you can make it really easy if you just do
• 4:59
  KT: what feels natural.
• 5:00
  Suze: And what do I enjoy more than anything.
• 5:03
  Suze: Not having to pay all that money to live on
• 5:05
  Suze: a private island anyway, that's besides the point. But tell
• 5:09
  Suze: everybody where you're going tonight.
• 5:12
  KT: Oh, the social calendar. OK, we're doing something that I'm really
• 5:16
  KT: very excited about.
• 5:18
  KT: I love this is so...
• 5:19
  Suze: This is her early Valentine's Day, everybody.
• 5:21
  KT: We both love Andrea Bocelli, especially since I'm an Italian
• 5:25
  KT: girl and he's one of my most favorite Italian artists.
• 5:31
  KT: I can't wait to hear him sing, and Suze got
• 5:34
  KT: us great seats right up front, and I'm very, very,
• 5:38
  KT: I'm looking forward to it. I said he can't see me,
• 5:41
  KT: but he'll feel me. He'll feel me, Suze.
• 5:46
  Suze: Right, I love that. Let's begin now. We're gonna start
• 5:50
  Suze: with an email that I'm asking KT to read, and
• 5:55
  Suze: this is a very serious problem if you ask me
• 5:59
  Suze: that is happening with Treasury Direct. So I want you
• 6:04
  Suze: to listen to this email closely.
• 6:08
  Suze: Because don't think it can't happen to you. Go on.
• 6:13
  KT: Are we ready? I did not edit this, people, so listen up.
• 6:16
  KT: This is from a woman by the name of Cheryl,
• 6:19
  KT: and Cheryl said, Suze, I purchased a US savings bond
• 6:22
  KT: from Treasury Direct in 2022. In July of 2025, my
• 6:30
  KT: account was fraudulently accessed.
• 6:33
  KT: My bank information was changed and my money liquidated all
• 6:38
  KT: without my authorization. They did not notify me until October
• 6:43
  KT: when they reported fraudulent activity on my account. The money
• 6:48
  KT: was long gone. I immediately called and they refused to
• 6:52
  KT: connect me with a fraud investigator. They have refused to
• 6:56
  KT: provide any information, blaming me for not protecting my information.
• 7:02
  KT: So, this is, she's talking about Treasury direct to everyone. So,
• 7:06
  KT: Cheryl said, however, my loss of funds was not unique.
• 7:09
  KT: I've discovered 16 other people who lost their money in
• 7:13
  KT: the same manner and almost at the same time frame.
• 7:18
  KT: When we attempted to access our accounts, we received hundreds
• 7:22
  KT: of spam emails. Had our bank information changed. Our accounts
• 7:27
  KT: were liquidated without any authorization. Our accounts were locked, preventing
• 7:32
  KT: us from seeing what happened. When we were finally allowed
• 7:36
  KT: access to our accounts months later, our money was long gone.
• 7:40
  KT: All accounts had their money transferred to Pathward NA into
• 7:45
  KT: an account named checking.
• 7:48
  KT: What's Pathward, Suze?
• 7:49
  Suze: It's a financial...
• 7:51
  KT: Another, another company, OK.
• 7:53
  Suze: ...that people are using to do this.
• 7:55
  KT: OK. The money was then transferred to Broxel and a
• 7:58
  KT: prepaid Visa card. All money is lost.
• 8:03
  KT: We have received no help whatsoever from Treasury Direct and Pathward.
• 8:08
  KT: We have asked our Congress people, the OIG, the FBI,
• 8:13
  KT: the CFPB, and others for assistance. Thus far, Treasury Direct
• 8:19
  KT: is stonewalling everyone. We have also filed complaints with the
• 8:24
  KT: SD Department of Consumer Affairs seeking redress from Pathward, all
• 8:31
  KT: to no avail.
• 8:33
  KT: And to add salt to an open wound, listen up everybody,
• 8:36
  KT: you won't believe it. Treasury Direct mailed us a 1099
• 8:40
  KT: form requiring us to pay taxes on the money that
• 8:44
  KT: was lost. When I called TD, they told me to
• 8:49
  KT: call the IRS. The IRS told me to call TD.
• 8:53
  KT: You can't make this stuff up.
• 8:56
  Suze: So, everybody listen up. The reason that I wanted KT
• 8:59
  Suze: to read that is I have been going back and
• 9:02
  Suze: forth with Cheryl about this, giving her exact things, do this,
• 9:07
  Suze: do that, do this, do that, and it breaks my
• 9:10
  Suze: heart that Cheryl and others that she knows of now,
• 9:15
  Suze: they're having to go through this, but there's something I
• 9:19
  Suze: need you all to understand.
• 9:22
  Suze: Treasury Direct is run by the government. It is not
• 9:26
  Suze: a commercial bank or a credit union with 24/7 fraud
• 9:31
  Suze: teams and instant reversals. So if ACH instructions are changed
• 9:37
  Suze: and the money is moved, I'm telling you investigations can
• 9:41
  Suze: take time.
• 9:42
  Suze: Right, KT has a look on her face like what
• 9:45
  Suze: is an ACH instruction? ACH stands for automated clearing house,
• 9:51
  Suze: and it's electronic network that moves money, that's it, between
• 9:56
  Suze: bank accounts in the US and that's how money usually moves,
• 10:00
  Suze: all right?
• 10:01
  Suze: That's bureaucracy, everybody, not conspiracy, but here's what matters to you.
• 10:09
  Suze: If you have a Treasury Direct account.
• 10:13
  Suze: I want you to use a password you use nowhere else, nowhere.
• 10:19
  Suze: You are to never click a treasury link from an email.
• 10:23
  Suze: That's how this happens. You get an email, and you
• 10:26
  Suze: think it's from the treasury, and you click on the link, gone.
• 10:31
  Suze: You need to type the website directly into your browser,
• 10:36
  Suze: so when you are going to contact Treasury Direct, do
• 10:40
  Suze: it directly into your browser.
• 10:43
  Suze: I want you, I know it's a pain, but I
• 10:46
  Suze: want you to secure your email with two-factor authentication.
• 10:51
  Suze: And you just gotta do this. You gotta check your
• 10:54
  Suze: linked bank account settings regularly. If you don't, something can
• 10:59
  Suze: happen and you don't even know that it's happened. And
• 11:03
  Suze: you have to get that cybercrime today is so sophisticated,
• 11:07
  Suze: and if someone gets into your email they can reset everything,
• 11:13
  Suze: so I need you to listen to me. Your financial
• 11:17
  Suze: security is not, didn't I just sound like Kristen Wiig there?
• 11:20
  Suze: Listen to me. Anyway, I want you to listen to me.
• 11:24
  Suze: Your financial security is not just about where your money is.
• 11:29
  Suze: It's about how well you protect access to it. We
• 11:34
  Suze: can't control everything, but we can control our digital discipline.
• 11:40
  Suze: I need you to be smart, be proactive, be powerful,
• 11:44
  Suze: because nobody
• 11:45
  Suze: should lose $11,000 or any amount of money due to
• 11:51
  Suze: a preventable cyber crime.
• 11:55
  Suze: All right, KT, next question.
• 11:57
  KT: So this is from Fred and Dorothy. I, I like
• 11:59
  KT: this because it sounds like a dance team, like Fred,
• 12:02
  KT: Fred Astaire. So dear Suze,
• 12:05
  Suze: You know, everybody that KT has said, why don't we
• 12:08
  Suze: go take dance lessons?
• 12:09
  KT: I've been wanting to dance with Suze all my life.
• 12:12
  KT: We're not good together dancing. She's a little taller.
• 12:16
  Suze: Guess what we did the other day?
• 12:18
  Suze: Don't tell them.
• 12:20
  Suze: I'm gonna tell them. So, so..
• 12:21
  KT: Oh my God...
• 12:23
  Suze: So, I'm about 5'4, 5'4.5. OK, that's how tall I've been.
• 12:27
  Suze: That's how tall I am.
• 12:29
  Suze: In case you didn't know, KT was 5'2.
• 12:34
  KT: Wait, the, the key word "was."
• 12:36
  Suze: Right. And so the other day we were at the
• 12:39
  Suze: doctor's and for a checkup, and they...
• 12:43
  KT: You know those scales they have that, that have the
• 12:45
  KT: little thing on the top you put on top of
• 12:46
  KT: your head measures your height. Suze said step on that KT.
• 12:52
  Suze: So KT is barely 5 feet right now.
• 12:54
  KT: No, that's not true. I'm, I'm a 5'1".
• 12:58
  Suze: KT, don't you dare lie. It's like her weight. She's
• 13:01
  Suze: always lying by one or two or three pounds. She's
• 13:03
  Suze: barely 5 ft right now, yeah.
• 13:08
  Suze: A little bundle of love. But wait, what's so great
• 13:12
  Suze: about that is her sister Lynn, who's her twin, said, Suze,
• 13:15
  Suze: do you know I'm not even 5 feet anymore? So
• 13:17
  Suze: I told KT that and she said, she's that short,
• 13:21
  Suze: and I said, You're that short. That's how it all
• 13:24
  Suze: started anyway, go on.
• 13:27
  KT: Dorothy wrote, Dear Suze, when you say not to invest
• 13:30
  KT: in the stock market with money you will need in
• 13:32
  KT: five years, do you mean from the time you start
• 13:36
  KT: investing or until the time you feel you might actually
• 13:40
  KT: need it? Such a cute question.
• 13:43
  KT: And then she said there's about $750,000 in retirement accounts
• 13:50
  KT: plus $200,000 in CDs. Our house is paid off and
• 13:54
  KT: we have no debt. Our Social Security combined will be
• 13:58
  KT: over $6,000 per month and currently we spend about $5,000
• 14:03
  KT: per month. Thank you for clarifying.
• 14:06
  Suze: Dear Fred and Dorothy, here's the very simple answer to
• 14:11
  Suze: your question.
• 14:12
  Suze: It's five years from when you think you might actually
• 14:16
  Suze: need it, not from when you start investing, but from
• 14:19
  Suze: when you think you will actually need it. Just that simple.
• 14:23
  Suze: All right, KT,
• 14:24
  KT: OK, this next email is from Victoria. She said, My
• 14:28
  KT: husband wants to buy shares of stock in his employer's company.
• 14:33
  KT: It's a fintech company that is not publicly traded. Now.
• 14:38
  KT: The company's been around for six years.
• 14:41
  KT: We have already loaned his company $50,000 at 8% interest,
• 14:47
  KT: which I am told is now being converted to stock.
• 14:52
  KT: He wants to invest $100,000 more. The company is still
• 14:57
  KT: in the red. Victoria said, Suze, I think this is
• 15:01
  KT: a bad idea, but I don't know anything about this
• 15:05
  KT: sort of thing. Please help.
• 15:07
  KT: This is a tough one.
• 15:09
  Suze: No, it is not a tough one. What makes it a tough
• 15:12
  Suze: one for you?
• 15:13
  KT: Well, because she thinks it's a bad idea, he really
• 15:17
  KT: wants to support and believes in his company.
• 15:20
  Suze: KT, now let me ask you something, and you be honest.
• 15:25
  Suze: How many times have I come to you and I said, oh,
• 15:29
  Suze: let's do this and you said
• 15:32
  KT: No. And I don't say I don't I say no.
• 15:34
  Suze: And the times that I haven't listened to you, what happened?
• 15:39
  Suze: We've lost the money. We've lost the money.
• 15:43
  KT: But the times that we both said yes...
• 15:45
  Suze: We made, we made a lot of money. So here's
• 15:50
  Suze: what I've learned.
• 15:51
  KT: That's a great rule.
• 15:52
  Suze: So here's what I've learned. First of all, this is
• 15:55
  Suze: what you should understand, my dear.
• 15:58
  Suze: Most fintech companies in general, right, operate at a loss
• 16:04
  Suze: for years and years and years.
• 16:08
  Suze: Many never go public. Many raise repeated funding rounds, and
• 16:15
  Suze: when they do what you and your husband need to understand,
• 16:19
  Suze: it dilutes the, the equity of the shareholders. So actually
• 16:26
  Suze: it's worth less as time goes on. Employees often overestimate KT,
• 16:32
  Suze: the value of their stock. There's also an ego thing involved.
• 16:38
  Suze: Which is, oh look, I invested in the company that
• 16:41
  Suze: I work at, and things like that. The company is
• 16:45
  Suze: six years old, she said. It's in the red. They
• 16:48
  Suze: already did a $50,000 loan at 8%, but now, and
• 16:53
  Suze: you and I have just experienced this again with another
• 16:56
  Suze: company that we both decided to go invest in.
• 17:00
  Suze: That we had lent them money at 8%, but then
• 17:06
  Suze: the time came, should we or should we not take
• 17:09
  Suze: our money out plus 8% or convert it to stock,
• 17:13
  Suze: and we decided to convert it to stock because they
• 17:16
  Suze: are profitable now. They are making money. They are distributed everywhere,
• 17:23
  Suze: so in another year or two they'll be fine. They
• 17:26
  Suze: don't need to raise any more money.
• 17:30
  Suze: And they had the money to pay us back. So
• 17:34
  Suze: the problem is now that they have converted it into stock,
• 17:39
  Suze: there's a risk here, and I want everybody to understand this,
• 17:43
  Suze: and it's called double concentration risk. Have you ever heard
• 17:48
  Suze: about that, KT?
• 17:49
  KT: I never heard that term.
• 17:50
  Suze: So here's where the risk comes. Her husband,
• 17:55
  Suze: has a salary from this company. His career is in
• 17:58
  Suze: this company. Their health insurance is from this company. His bonus.
• 18:04
  Suze: And now if he puts an extra $100,000 into it,
• 18:09
  Suze: there will be $150,000 of their capital at risk. Now
• 18:15
  Suze: $50,000 of their capital is at risk because it converted
• 18:19
  Suze: to stock.
• 18:20
  Suze: So it would be all tied up in the same company.
• 18:25
  Suze: If this company goes under, they have lost it all.
• 18:30
  Suze: He loses his job, his stock, everything, and that's how
• 18:34
  Suze: families get absolutely obliterated. Now, I could go on and
• 18:39
  Suze: on and on and on, but here's what I would
• 18:42
  Suze: tell you, I wouldn't do this if I were you.
• 18:44
  Suze: Trust me on that one. All right, KT.
• 18:46
  KT: This is from Stacy.
• 18:49
  KT: Hi Suze and KT. Quick update and a big thank you.
• 18:54
  KT: After purchasing the must-have docs on January 15, 2021, finally
• 18:59
  KT: printing them out only a few months ago, everybody, we
• 19:03
  KT: finally did the thing we should have done a long
• 19:06
  KT: time ago.
• 19:08
  KT: Now she's giving me all these big dates. Suze, on
• 19:11
  KT: January twenty-eighth, we gathered our witnesses, went to the bank,
• 19:15
  KT: had everything notarized. It is done. Look how long it
• 19:20
  KT: took her to do this.
• 19:21
  Suze: I don't know why it takes people so long.
• 19:23
  KT: I know, it's not a big deal. So she said,
• 19:26
  KT: Better late than never. I'm honestly so relieved and proud.
• 19:30
  KT: I love that she's proud to have it handled.
• 19:34
  KT: Now, she said, Suze, you've made a real difference for
• 19:37
  KT: our family. Also, thank you for turning me on to
• 19:40
  KT: Keith Fitz-Gerald Fitzy, as you call him.
• 19:44
  KT: So there you go. Tell everyone they're gonna hear him
• 19:47
  KT: this Sunday.
• 19:47
  Suze: So here's what I need all of you to do
• 19:50
  Suze: today because we may have to record it on tomorrow,
• 19:53
  Suze: on Friday, right, rather than Sunday because of his schedule.
• 19:58
  Suze: But anyway, if you have a question that you want
• 20:02
  Suze: me to ask him, you better post it or send
• 20:05
  Suze: it in. As Suze podcast at gmail.com right away, right away,
• 20:10
  Suze: and I'll look at it and see. All right.
• 20:12
  KT: I love Fitzy, everyone.
• 20:14
  KT: Susie and and Keith talk almost every day. They've become
• 20:18
  KT: really good pals, but they all talk about money, and
• 20:21
  KT: I love to listen because it's fascinating.
• 20:24
  Suze: And we're gonna meet him and Noriko for the very
• 20:27
  Suze: first time in May, in Japan, where Noriko is obviously from.
• 20:33
  Suze: So we're so excited. We've never met personally. We FaceTime
• 20:37
  Suze: almost every day.
• 20:38
  KT: They, they're like brother and sister, so much fun.
• 20:41
  KT: OK, first we want to congratulate you on getting those
• 20:44
  KT: must-have docs done, but it took you 5 years.
• 20:48
  Suze: Just do it, everybody. It's so easy. An hour, maybe
• 20:51
  Suze: an hour, two hours at the most of your time.
• 20:54
  Suze: And so for those of you who don't know, the
• 20:57
  Suze: must-have docs happen to be documents that you need, so
• 21:02
  Suze: you must have them just that simple, and they are.
• 21:06
  Suze: A living revocable trust, a will, an advanced directive, a
• 21:10
  Suze: durable power of attorney for health care, and a financial
• 21:13
  Suze: power of attorney. And the reason that they were created
• 21:17
  Suze: over 20 some odd years ago was that all of
• 21:21
  Suze: you needed those documents, but you couldn't find a way
• 21:25
  Suze: to get them for a price that you could afford
• 21:28
  Suze: because lawyers are gonna charge you $5,000 10,000 dollars, whatever
• 21:32
  Suze: it may be.
• 21:34
  Suze: So it was decided, let's give everybody a way to
• 21:38
  Suze: get state of the art documents in all 50 states
• 21:41
  Suze: for a price that they can afford.
• 21:44
  Suze: And currently they are $99 for over $2,500 worth of
• 21:49
  Suze: state of the art documents that you can share with
• 21:52
  Suze: as many family members as you want, and you share
• 21:56
  Suze: it by simply giving them the activation code, cause you
• 22:00
  Suze: all have your own private passwords that you yourselves create.
• 22:05
  Suze: Next question, KT. Oh, by the way, you get them
• 22:08
  Suze: by going to musthave docs.com. All right.
• 22:12
  KT: And, and in keeping with that, this is from Joy.
• 22:15
  KT: Joyce said, Hi Miss Suze. I'm 48 years old with
• 22:18
  KT: cerebral palsy, and I lost my dad in June. He
• 22:22
  KT: was good to me in every way, and I never
• 22:25
  KT: worried about finances because he supplemented my income all the time.
• 22:31
  KT: I never pressured him to do it, and he always
• 22:34
  KT: said that is why he did because I never asked,
• 22:39
  KT: and he wouldn't let me say no. Now he is
• 22:42
  KT: gone and I realize how I didn't prepare.
• 22:45
  KT: I am not where I need to be in retirement,
• 22:48
  KT: but thanks to you, I am now maxing out on
• 22:51
  KT: my employer match. I need your help though, convincing my
• 22:55
  KT: mom how important it is to have a trust and
• 22:59
  KT: a will. She thinks it's not necessary because she has
• 23:04
  KT: my name on all of her accounts. Mom is 75.
• 23:08
  KT: We're caring, ready for this for my 97-year-old grandmother.
• 23:13
  KT: Help me to get her to understand the importance of
• 23:16
  KT: a will and trust. So there you go, um, and
• 23:20
  KT: then she wrote in brackets at the end of this.
• 23:23
  KT: She said, My mom, trust what you say, Suze. Please
• 23:26
  KT: help me to get her to do a will and
• 23:29
  KT: a trust. So tell Mama Hall, Joy's mom, to just
• 23:34
  KT: do it, Suze. It's really easy.
• 23:37
  Suze: So Joy, here is the truth. If all Mommy has
• 23:42
  Suze: is bank accounts, no real estate, just bank accounts and
• 23:47
  Suze: things like that, and it's held in both of your names,
• 23:53
  Suze: your name and her name, not you as a beneficiary,
• 23:57
  Suze: but you where you actually own the account with her.
• 24:01
  Suze: All right, if she didn't have a will or a trust, truthfully,
• 24:05
  Suze: no big deal. I know you're not expecting me to
• 24:07
  Suze: say that, but it's true.
• 24:09
  Suze: 'Cause as long as you can sign for her, as
• 24:13
  Suze: long as you can write the checks, pay the bills,
• 24:15
  Suze: and do all of that, OK. However, if mom happens
• 24:20
  Suze: to have real estate, anything like that.
• 24:24
  Suze: And then all of a sudden, the two of you
• 24:27
  Suze: own it in both of your names. Listen to me
• 24:30
  Suze: closely now.
• 24:31
  Suze: And now she becomes incapacitated. You need to sell the
• 24:36
  Suze: house for whatever reason.
• 24:39
  Suze: And she thinks it's fine because it's in both of
• 24:41
  Suze: your names. Now you have trouble cause if you go
• 24:45
  Suze: to sell a piece of real estate that is held
• 24:48
  Suze: in both of your names as joint tenancy with right
• 24:50
  Suze: of survivorship and she becomes incapacitated, she can't sign and
• 24:57
  Suze: it takes both of your signatures to sign to sell something.
• 25:04
  Suze: Even to take out a home equity line of credit
• 25:06
  Suze: or whatever it may be, then you're going to have
• 25:10
  Suze: to have her declared incompetent depending on the state that
• 25:14
  Suze: you live in. Let's say it's California, that'll cost you
• 25:16
  Suze: $5,000 and get a conservatorship assigned to her. It will
• 25:21
  Suze: be a serious mess, and you could avoid all that
• 25:26
  Suze: simply by having.
• 25:28
  Suze: A revocable living trust that has an incapacity clause in it.
• 25:34
  Suze: Something happens to mamma, you can immediately sign for her.
• 25:37
  Suze: Mamma could sign for you, and all that trouble could
• 25:41
  Suze: be avoided. Also, I'm just going to say this it's
• 25:46
  Suze: very dangerous in many situations to have a child's name
• 25:52
  Suze: on the property, because if you are in a car
• 25:56
  Suze: accident and you seriously hurt somebody and it is your problem.
• 26:02
  Suze: There are people who could come after that house then
• 26:06
  Suze: known as lawyers, and there goes Mommy's house. All kinds
• 26:11
  Suze: of things can happen. And last but not least, and
• 26:15
  Suze: I know I'm going on about this, KT, but it's important,
• 26:19
  Suze: and this happened to somebody. I read this email before
• 26:22
  Suze: about an aunt who signed everything over to her niece,
• 26:26
  Suze: and the niece died before the aunt.
• 26:29
  Suze: And the niece left everything to the boyfriend and now
• 26:32
  Suze: the aunt, remember this. So what happens, Joy, if all
• 26:37
  Suze: of a sudden you die before mommy? And now here's
• 26:42
  Suze: mommy with nobody to take care of anything, and she
• 26:46
  Suze: hasn't thought about that, so.
• 26:49
  Suze: It's not a lot of money. It's $99 as I
• 26:52
  Suze: said just a little bit ago, and there's nothing wrong
• 26:57
  Suze: with having double protection, nothing. So mom, if you trust
• 27:04
  Suze: what I say, then get a trust. There was obviously
• 27:09
  Suze: a reason that 20 years ago I put so much
• 27:13
  Suze: energy into making sure all of you had one.
• 27:16
  Suze: And you need to protect yourself because it's not just
• 27:19
  Suze: about the trust. Do you have an advanced directive? Do
• 27:23
  Suze: you have a durable power of attorney for health care?
• 27:26
  Suze: Do you have all of those things? So those things
• 27:30
  Suze: are very, very important. So just why not do it?
• 27:34
  Suze: All right, KT.
• 27:36
  KT: So Susie, this is a question that came in from
• 27:39
  KT: one of our Alliant customers. She said, I've been a
• 27:42
  KT: client of Alliant for years now, and I love them.
• 27:46
  KT: My monthly expenses are $10,000 a month, so I keep
• 27:51
  KT: about $120,000 in an emergency fund in the ultimate opportunity
• 27:57
  KT: savings account.
• 27:58
  KT: Can I change that to the jumbo savings? That's the
• 28:02
  KT: new jumbo savings we just told everyone.
• 28:05
  Suze: So wait, let me answer that. So first of all,
• 28:08
  Suze: what's great about the jumbo savings account that Alliant is
• 28:13
  Suze: currently offering is number one, it's a savings account. Therefore,
• 28:16
  Suze: it is liquid. You can get at it at any time. Also,
• 28:21
  Suze: it's giving you a 3.35% APY. Great.
• 28:27
  Suze: You keep it for at least 1one year, 12 months,
• 28:30
  Suze: an average daily balance of $100,000. At the end of
• 28:34
  Suze: that time you get a $250 bonus which comes out
• 28:39
  Suze: to be about a 3.6% return if in fact they
• 28:43
  Suze: keep the 3.35% APY which they probably will for the
• 28:48
  Suze: entire year. Time will tell, so.
• 28:52
  Suze: Can you do that if you already are a customer
• 28:56
  Suze: of Alliant Credit Union and you want to transfer from
• 29:00
  Suze: the ultimate opportunity savings account that's only making 3.01%, which
• 29:06
  Suze: is an incredible rate for any amount of money, by
• 29:09
  Suze: the way.
• 29:10
  Suze: To this new one you absolutely can. So this is
• 29:14
  Suze: not just for new money. You can transfer it. Just
• 29:18
  Suze: know you have to do it before March 31st of
• 29:22
  Suze: this year.
• 29:23
  KT: But Suze, wait, tell them how to get the jumbo savings account.
• 29:27
  Suze: How do you think you get the jumbo savings account?
• 29:29
  KT: MyAlliant.com
• 29:32
  Suze: So that's M Y A L L I A N
• 29:34
  Suze: T dot com.
• 29:36
  Suze: By the way, the $250 bonus is only available to
• 29:41
  Suze: those of you who come in through the Suze URL with...
• 29:46
  KT: Suze fans, all the Suze listeners and fans, this is just for you.
• 29:47
  Suze: So that's why you have to go to my MY.
• 29:54
  Suze: A L L I A N T dot com. If
• 29:57
  Suze: you forget that, just go to Suze Orman.com, my website,
• 30:03
  Suze: and you'll see a banner right there. Just click on
• 30:05
  Suze: it and go for it.
• 30:07
  KT: OK, so this is, no, it's the same, um, same
• 30:10
  KT: person from Alliant, she said, or same customer.
• 30:13
  KT: I also have gotten part of my inheritance of $45,000.
• 30:18
  KT: Do you think I should put that in the jumbo
• 30:21
  KT: savings as well? I will need it for a down
• 30:24
  KT: payment in about seven months.
• 30:27
  Suze: Now, in this particular situation, if I were you, I
• 30:32
  Suze: would put the $120,000 in the jumbo savings account.
• 30:38
  Suze: The $45,000 given that you'll need it in about seven months,
• 30:44
  Suze: then take advantage of the 3.9%.
• 30:50
  Suze: APY for what the 6 month certificate that Alliant happens
• 30:55
  Suze: to be offering. So then that gives you the money
• 30:59
  Suze: that you'll need in seven months, but it also gives
• 31:02
  Suze: you a higher interest rate. Do you see? So that's
• 31:06
  Suze: what I would be doing in this particular situation. So 3.6%, 3.9%.
• 31:13
  Suze: Maybe if you don't need it and they offer that
• 31:15
  Suze: again then you'll average about a 3.75% return possibly so
• 31:21
  Suze: we'll see what happens there but that's what I would
• 31:23
  Suze: be doing if I were you. OK. Also, one other thing,
• 31:27
  Suze: KT people have been asking, and this was asked on
• 31:31
  Suze: The Women and Money community app wall, which I've been
• 31:35
  Suze: hesitant to answer because of the scamming that's going on
• 31:40
  Suze: with my name, my pictures, and everything like that.
• 31:45
  Suze: So, the interest rate of 3.01%. Somebody asked, did I
• 31:49
  Suze: think it was going to stay at that rate? I
• 31:52
  Suze: absolutely do. I would not be worried about them lowering it. OK,
• 31:56
  Suze: go on.
• 31:57
  KT: So Suze, my last question is a long one, but
• 32:01
  KT: I think a very valuable one.
• 32:03
  KT: Suze, this is from Mary. Thank you for your wonderful
• 32:06
  KT: podcast and newsletter which we receive via email. I have
• 32:11
  KT: one question for you.
• 32:12
  Suze: By the way, all of you can sign up for
• 32:14
  Suze: that if you go to Suze Orman.com. You can sign
• 32:17
  Suze: up for that every single week. Go on.
• 32:20
  KT: OK, so Mary has a question. Should we get a
• 32:23
  KT: financial advisor?
• 32:25
  KT: A year ago my husband Mike and I took a
• 32:28
  KT: seminar on retirement at the University of Saint Thomas where
• 32:32
  KT: we lived at the time. This is in Saint Paul,
• 32:35
  KT: by the way, everyone, um, it was fantastic even though
• 32:38
  KT: we had been retired since 2021. Mike has always been
• 32:43
  KT: a wizard with our finances and our portfolio grew over
• 32:46
  KT: the decades to nearly $2 million and she said it's
• 32:51
  KT: even still there after taking out $80,000 last summer.
• 32:55
  KT: And then this is very sweet. Mary said, I'm thrilled
• 32:59
  KT: that I married a man so savvy with money, not
• 33:02
  KT: to mention a kind, patient, and loving man. We live
• 33:06
  KT: on dividends and Social Security. We're not frivolous people, but
• 33:10
  KT: we've definitely been able to do things we love and
• 33:14
  KT: help out our children over the years. Now, this is
• 33:17
  KT: where this, the, the what the what if's come in, everybody.
• 33:20
  KT: Mary said,
• 33:22
  KT: Suze, last May, Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Since last June,
• 33:28
  KT: we now live in Las Vegas, which is where he's
• 33:31
  KT: getting treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.
• 33:34
  KT: I told Mike that we really should get a financial advisor.
• 33:38
  KT: My thinking is that anything that we can hand off
• 33:41
  KT: to someone else we should so that we can focus
• 33:44
  KT: on doing what he needs to keep the Parkinson's at
• 33:48
  KT: bay for as long as possible. So Mary then goes
• 33:52
  KT: on to tell us that is it worth handing over
• 33:56
  KT: our money for 1% every year to a financial advisor.
• 34:01
  KT: Mike is only going to get worse, and I think
• 34:04
  KT: that we should move to a financial advisor while he
• 34:07
  KT: is still able to know what's going on.
• 34:10
  KT: So Mary is asking should she maybe contact the guy
• 34:16
  KT: that she and Mike took their course from back in
• 34:19
  KT: Saint Paul that they really liked and because it's likely
• 34:24
  KT: she'll be moving back to the Twin Cities in the future.
• 34:27
  Suze: What are their ages?
• 34:28
  KT: He's 69 and Mary's 73.
• 34:32
  Suze: So what would you do, KT?
• 34:34
  KT: I definitely, uh, hand the money over to the financial
• 34:37
  KT: advisor that Mike really liked. They both did, and, and
• 34:41
  KT: I would hope to trust him and for 1% because
• 34:45
  KT: what she's doing is she's preparing for the future. The
• 34:48
  KT: what ifs are already there.
• 34:50
  Suze: All right, so...
• 34:51
  KT: It's now what do I do.
• 34:52
  Suze: I hear you, KT, and I knew you were gonna
• 34:55
  Suze: answer that way, right? However,
• 34:59
  Suze: I would not answer that way. Mary, I want you
• 35:02
  Suze: to listen to me and listen to me closely.
• 35:05
  Suze: Your husband is still capable of doing this, and part
• 35:10
  Suze: of what will keep him going is to stay involved
• 35:15
  Suze: intellectually whether his brain is slower or whatever happens until
• 35:20
  Suze: he really can't, and you'll know when he can't, but
• 35:25
  Suze: don't take it away from him before he can't. The
• 35:30
  Suze: adviser will always be there.
• 35:33
  Suze: You can hand over the money to the advisor at
• 35:35
  Suze: any time.
• 35:37
  Suze: But don't do it yet because it's something that he loves,
• 35:42
  Suze: he's great at, and it's how he can continue to
• 35:45
  Suze: feel like he's the man that he became intellectually speaking,
• 35:49
  Suze: at least, OK, Number one. Number two, don't you dare
• 35:55
  Suze: think that you can't do this.
• 35:59
  Suze: You absolutely can. So rather than just saying you liked
• 36:03
  Suze: this guy, you did it, da da da da, why
• 36:06
  Suze: not like your money? And what do I mean by that?
• 36:10
  Suze: Sit down with your husband, have him teach you now,
• 36:15
  Suze: get involved with it now, because what happens if you
• 36:19
  Suze: turn it over to this one advisor, all of a
• 36:21
  Suze: sudden something happens to this one advisor or that advisor
• 36:24
  Suze: leaves or whatever. Are you kidding me? No.
• 36:28
  Suze: You have what it takes to at least get involved
• 36:31
  Suze: and learn about the stocks and the investments that you
• 36:34
  Suze: already have. Talk to your husband about something happens to you,
• 36:39
  Suze: which stocks do you think we should keep forever, because
• 36:42
  Suze: there are stocks you should keep forever. There are dividend
• 36:46
  Suze: players that you should probably keep forever, and maybe you
• 36:50
  Suze: don't have to give up 1%. 1% is a lot
• 36:54
  Suze: of money, girlfriend.
• 36:56
  Suze: Of $2 million just so you know it's at least
• 37:00
  Suze: $20,000 a year just to have somebody else manage the
• 37:03
  Suze: money that may or may not need to be managed
• 37:09
  Suze: and maybe not all of it needs to be managed
• 37:12
  Suze: maybe some of it stays where it happens to be.
• 37:16
  Suze: Maybe eventually when time comes you give a smaller amount
• 37:20
  Suze: to that financial advisor, but before you give anything to anybody,
• 37:25
  Suze: you give yourself the time, the credit, and the ability
• 37:30
  Suze: to know you have what it
• 37:32
  Suze: takes to take care of your own money so you
• 37:35
  Suze: use this time now to put a bet while you're
• 37:39
  Suze: in Las Vegas on yourself and be and be a
• 37:42
  Suze: true winner with your husband now.
• 37:46
  KT: I love that.
• 37:49
  Suze: I did OK?
• 37:49
  KT: That I like put a bet on yourself, bet on yourself.
• 37:53
  Suze: All right, OK, everybody, so until Sunday.
• 37:58
  Suze: And you know what Sunday is. Fitzy's going to be
• 38:00
  Suze: joining me, so send in your questions today, today, all right?
• 38:05
  Suze: And maybe I will ask Fitzy your question. But until Sunday,
• 38:11
  Suze: there's only one thing that we want you to remember.
• 38:14
  Suze: Can you sing it like Andrea Bocelli?
• 38:16
  KT: I was just gonna say I'm gonna sing it.
• 38:19
  KT: No, I'm not gonna sing.
• 38:20
  Suze: Come on, try KT.
• 38:22
  KT: People first, then money, then things. Now you stay safe.
• 38:25
  Suze: Oh, she just got so, she just got so shy.
• 38:28
  Suze: All right, see you Sunday. Bye-bye.