Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / How To Stabilize Your Financial Situation

Transcript

How To Stabilize Your Financial Situation · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:07
  Suze: January 25th, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
• 0:13
  Suze: as well as everybody smart enough to listen. And today
• 0:17
  Suze: is Suze School, so get out your Suze notebooks cause
• 0:22
  Suze: you're gonna want to take notes again on this one.
• 0:26
  Suze: So, as I told all of you, and I've told
• 0:29
  Suze: all of you over all these years, that if you
• 0:32
  Suze: have a question or a comment, you can write in
• 0:34
  Suze: to ask Suze Podcast, that's S U Z E podcast
• 0:39
  Suze: at gmail.com. And I read many of the emails, as
• 0:43
  Suze: I've told you, if your question is chosen by KT
• 0:46
  Suze: it's answered on the podcast, but I read a lot
• 0:50
  Suze: of them. And recently, I got an email from a
• 0:55
  Suze: woman by the name of Maria, and she's from Texas.
• 0:59
  Suze: I hope she's not freezing right now, but anyway, she's
• 1:01
  Suze: from Texas and she said the following: Suze.
• 1:05
  Suze: All the headlines say unemployment is low and the stock
• 1:08
  Suze: market is at all-time highs, but my husband's hours were cut.
• 1:14
  Suze: Our rent is up $300 a month, and we had
• 1:16
  Suze: to put together money for groceries, and we then had
• 1:19
  Suze: to put him on a credit card. Are we doing
• 1:22
  Suze: something wrong? And I wrote her back and I said, No, Maria,
• 1:28
  Suze: you are living
• 1:30
  Suze: in what I call the lower arm of the "K" recovery,
• 1:36
  Suze: so the key is not to blame yourself, Maria. It's
• 1:39
  Suze: to understand the forces that are working against you and
• 1:42
  Suze: then take back the power that you do have. And
• 1:46
  Suze: if you remember a few weeks ago I said to KT,
• 1:50
  Suze: she said, Well, what are you gonna do on Sunday?
• 1:51
  Suze: I said, Oh, I'm gonna teach everybody about the difference
• 1:55
  Suze: between a "V" and a "U" and a "K-shaped" recovery.
• 1:59
  Suze: And she just looked at me and then we ended
• 2:01
  Suze: the Ask KT and Suze Anything podcast. And then something
• 2:06
  Suze: came up and I decided to do a different podcast
• 2:08
  Suze: and a different podcast, and then after I got this
• 2:12
  Suze: email the other day, I decided, all right, this Suze
• 2:16
  Suze: School is going to be on a "V-shaped" recovery, a "U-shaped" recovery,
• 2:21
  Suze: and a "K-shaped" recovery, and why you need to know
• 2:25
  Suze: what those mean.
• 2:27
  Suze: Now, before I go into that, I just want to
• 2:31
  Suze: say something here. Many of you have been lucky enough, truthfully,
• 2:36
  Suze: to be with me for the past 30 or 40 years,
• 2:39
  Suze: and now, you are older, you have a whole lot
• 2:43
  Suze: of money. A lot of these things aren't affecting you
• 2:47
  Suze: the same way as maybe they are affecting your children
• 2:50
  Suze: or your grandchildren, and therefore, you're having to even help
• 2:53
  Suze: them out. That's a whole another podcast on itself.
• 2:57
  Suze: However, I want you to listen to this podcast.
• 3:02
  Suze: Because what would be really great is if you could
• 3:05
  Suze: start educating your children who are now getting their information
• 3:10
  Suze: from TikTok and all these crazy things that people are
• 3:13
  Suze: saying so that you can help pass down this knowledge
• 3:18
  Suze: that you have,
• 3:19
  Suze: to your children, to your grandchildren, to get them to
• 3:23
  Suze: listen to this podcast, because many of the things on
• 3:26
  Suze: this podcast are still relevant to them, but they don't
• 3:30
  Suze: think they need to know any of this stuff, and
• 3:32
  Suze: they could not be more wrong if they tried. So,
• 3:37
  Suze: let's start with a quick Suze School on recoveries. A "V-shaped" recovery. Now,
• 3:45
  Suze: can you just draw a V,
• 3:47
  Suze: in front of you right now in your Suze notebooks?
• 3:51
  Suze: That's when the economy falls fast, but it bounces back
• 3:57
  Suze: just as fast. So look at the V that you
• 4:00
  Suze: have in front of you straight down, straight up, and
• 4:04
  Suze: most people when we're in a "V-shaped" recovery, it affects
• 4:09
  Suze: them all the same. They lose ground together. It doesn't
• 4:13
  Suze: matter whether you have money, you don't have money, you
• 4:15
  Suze: all lose ground together.
• 4:17
  Suze: But then you all recover together. Now, draw a U
• 4:24
  Suze: on the paper in front of you or picture it
• 4:26
  Suze: if you're not willing to draw it.
• 4:29
  Suze: And a "U-shaped" recovery is slower. You go down, you
• 4:35
  Suze: sit at the bottom for quite a while, and then
• 4:39
  Suze: you slowly climb back up, so the pain lasts longer.
• 4:45
  Suze: But again, what's interesting is that it's really spread across
• 4:51
  Suze: the entire economy, so everybody is affected the same way.
• 4:59
  Suze: Now draw a K.
• 5:02
  Suze: A "K-shaped" recovery is very different.
• 5:07
  Suze: It's not mainly about time. It's about who. Who the lines,
• 5:14
  Suze: as you look at your K, they split one group
• 5:18
  Suze: versus another. Part of the K that's going up is
• 5:22
  Suze: one group of people. The part of the K that
• 5:25
  Suze: is going down is another group of people. So the
• 5:31
  Suze: line that's going up,
• 5:34
  Suze: their income goes up. The jobs are stable. Their portfolios
• 5:39
  Suze: go up. That's who makes up that top arm. The
• 5:43
  Suze: one that goes down, their income stalls or falls. Their
• 5:50
  Suze: debt grows, their savings disappear. The credit card debt increases.
• 5:56
  Suze: Those are the people that make up the bottom half
• 6:01
  Suze: of that. Do you see that?
• 6:04
  Suze: That's why Maria feels like nothing is going right for her,
• 6:10
  Suze: but yet all the news is how positive the stock
• 6:13
  Suze: market is going up. Sure it goes down, but it
• 6:15
  Suze: goes back up again, and the economy is doing great,
• 6:18
  Suze: lots of jobs. That's why there is such a difference.
• 6:23
  Suze: So we need to understand, number one, why we are
• 6:28
  Suze: in a "K" recovery and what we can do about it.
• 6:34
  Suze: This is all about education now, 'cause, you know, I
• 6:38
  Suze: think it's important that you understand, well, how did we
• 6:41
  Suze: even get in the "K" recovery to really understand what
• 6:46
  Suze: to do about it, depending which part of the K
• 6:49
  Suze: you happen to be in.
• 6:52
  Suze: We ended up here truthfully, and it started after the
• 6:56
  Suze: 2020 recession.
• 6:59
  Suze: So remember the pandemic did not hit every job the same.
• 7:05
  Suze: If you could work from home, you could Zoom, remember that?
• 7:08
  Suze: That's when I wanted you to all buy Zoom. You
• 7:10
  Suze: could do emails, laptops. Chances are truthfully you kept your
• 7:15
  Suze: paycheck and those jobs were more likely to be with
• 7:19
  Suze: higher income, more education, professional or tech fields and if
• 7:25
  Suze: your job required you to show up in person.
• 7:29
  Suze: You were a server, you were a hotel worker. You
• 7:33
  Suze: were gig workers. Many retail workers, your job either disappeared
• 7:39
  Suze: altogether or your hours were slashed during the lockdowns, and
• 7:44
  Suze: that's strike one for the lower arm of the K.
• 7:49
  Suze: Makes sense? And actually, if you think about it, those
• 7:54
  Suze: professionals who were still going to their jobs from home
• 7:57
  Suze: or whatever.
• 7:58
  Suze: They actually made more money than less, because why? They
• 8:03
  Suze: didn't have to pay to go into the office. They
• 8:05
  Suze: didn't have to get clothing to go into the office,
• 8:08
  Suze: they didn't have to buy food during the day. They actually,
• 8:12
  Suze: bottom line, made more money than less, while others made
• 8:17
  Suze: no money at all. Second...
• 8:20
  Suze: The government and the Federal Reserve stepped in, remember this?
• 8:25
  Suze: With massive, massive support. They gave you stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment,
• 8:31
  Suze: PPP loans, and truthfully near zero interest rates. You didn't
• 8:37
  Suze: have to pay insurance or your student loans or any
• 8:40
  Suze: of that, and that absolutely truthfully helped avoid a depression
• 8:45
  Suze: and it kept markets, as you know, and big companies afloat.
• 8:50
  Suze: It did not help many of the small mom and
• 8:54
  Suze: pop companies. They all closed. But who, I want you
• 8:58
  Suze: to think about this now, who benefits the most when
• 9:03
  Suze: stock markets and real estate take off because money is cheap?
• 9:08
  Suze: Why do I say money is cheap?
• 9:11
  Suze: Money was cheap during them because if you remember interest
• 9:14
  Suze: rates went all the way down. You could get a
• 9:16
  Suze: mortgage for 2 or 3%. Interest rates were just cheap
• 9:20
  Suze: to do anything, whatever you wanted to do, money was cheap.
• 9:25
  Suze: The people who also though got damaged during that time
• 9:29
  Suze: were people in retirement when interest rates went down to 0%.
• 9:34
  Suze: And all of you were dependent on the interest rate
• 9:37
  Suze: on your money market accounts or your CDs or your treasuries,
• 9:40
  Suze: whatever they may be. So do you see how there
• 9:44
  Suze: was a difference? Interest rates were low. Some people prospered
• 9:48
  Suze: from that. Other people that were older and needed income
• 9:53
  Suze: at that time, they were the ones that were hurt.
• 9:56
  Suze: Are you starting to understand the "K" recovery? And next
• 10:01
  Suze: came inflation.
• 10:04
  Suze: And that's because supply chains were a mess. Do you
• 10:07
  Suze: remember trucks being lined up waiting for the ships to
• 10:10
  Suze: unload and nobody could unload them and da da da da.
• 10:13
  Suze: So demands for goods and housing exploded.
• 10:18
  Suze: And prices jumped and lower income households were hit the
• 10:24
  Suze: hardest because more of their money was going to essentials
• 10:28
  Suze: like food, rent, and gas. Higher income households, everybody, had
• 10:33
  Suze: more cushion, obviously they had more fixed rate mortgages and
• 10:38
  Suze: more assets that were also at the same time going
• 10:41
  Suze: up in value.
• 10:44
  Suze: So let's put it all together for you right now. Bigger,
• 10:49
  Suze: more digital, better capitalized companies and their shareholders, they recovered
• 10:55
  Suze: fast and then surged. Their money was surging. They all
• 11:00
  Suze: had it in the Magnificent Seven. The companies, the earnings,
• 11:03
  Suze: they were surging.
• 11:05
  Suze: But smaller, more in-person, lower margin businesses like restaurants and
• 11:13
  Suze: everything and their employees suffered longer and deeper, and truthfully,
• 11:19
  Suze: many of you are still rebuilding. That is the "K".
• 11:26
  Suze: Do you all understand how our population now is made
• 11:31
  Suze: up of many people that are going up and many
• 11:35
  Suze: people are going down. But listen, I am not here
• 11:38
  Suze: to give you an economic lecture. You know I hate that, really,
• 11:42
  Suze: but you need to know my job is to make
• 11:46
  Suze: you strong, secure, and powerful with your money. So what
• 11:50
  Suze: do you do if the recovery
• 11:53
  Suze: is "K-shaped"? First you have to know which arm you're on.
• 12:00
  Suze: You have to be really honest with yourself. And are
• 12:03
  Suze: you on the upper arm or the lower arm? How
• 12:07
  Suze: do you know? All right, I want you to ask
• 12:09
  Suze: yourself questions. Has your income grown? Has it stayed flat?
• 12:14
  Suze: Has it fallen since 2020? Has it, everybody? Are your
• 12:20
  Suze: debts going down every year, or are they going up?
• 12:25
  Suze: Are you regularly investing every single month into your Roth
• 12:32
  Suze: retirement accounts? If you're able, are you maxing out your
• 12:36
  Suze: Roth IRA and your Roth 401k? Or have you stopped
• 12:41
  Suze: putting money into your Roth IRA because you don't have
• 12:45
  Suze: the money to do it anymore?
• 12:48
  Suze: Are you? And maybe you work for a company that
• 12:51
  Suze: doesn't offer 401k or you're working for someplace that doesn't
• 12:55
  Suze: even have any type of retirement account.
• 12:58
  Suze: So you're no longer able to put money into a
• 13:00
  Suze: Roth IRA. Where are you? 'Cause if your income is
• 13:07
  Suze: stable or rising, you have an 8 to 12 month
• 13:11
  Suze: emergency fund.
• 13:13
  Suze: Your debt is under control. You are investing regularly. You
• 13:19
  Suze: are likely on or close to the upper arm of
• 13:22
  Suze: the "K", my friends. Maybe you still have work to do,
• 13:26
  Suze: but the wind, so to speak, is at your back.
• 13:29
  Suze: It's pushing you right now. However,
• 13:33
  Suze: after you've answered those questions, if your income is unstable,
• 13:37
  Suze: your savings are thin or non-existent, your credit card balances
• 13:42
  Suze: are growing, and you're not investing, well, guess what? You
• 13:46
  Suze: are on the lower arm. Now, that is not a
• 13:51
  Suze: characteristic flaw.
• 13:52
  Suze: Do not feel like Maria who wrote in the other
• 13:55
  Suze: day and said, What am I doing wrong, da da
• 13:58
  Suze: da because her email went on and on, that it
• 14:00
  Suze: was her fault. What was she doing wrong? You're not
• 14:04
  Suze: doing anything wrong. You just happen to be part of
• 14:09
  Suze: the lower end of the "K".
• 14:11
  Suze: And so, it's important that in a "K-shaped" situation,
• 14:18
  Suze: protection comes first. So these are things that are non-negotiable
• 14:26
  Suze: in my opinion for you to protect yourself if you
• 14:31
  Suze: are on the line of the "K" that is going down.
• 14:36
  Suze: All right, are you ready, everybody? You need a bare
• 14:40
  Suze: bones spending program that is based on reality, not hope.
• 14:47
  Suze: Every single dollar has to have a job. It has
• 14:51
  Suze: to go for your needs first and maybe your wants
• 14:56
  Suze: months or years from now. So you are on a
• 15:00
  Suze: needs only basis at this point in time.
• 15:05
  Suze: It is essential and I am telling you it is
• 15:09
  Suze: essential and I know that you're like, "but Suze, I
• 15:12
  Suze: don't even have enough money to pay my bills." Listen
• 15:15
  Suze: to me. If you don't have enough money to pay
• 15:17
  Suze: your bills while you have a paycheck coming in, how
• 15:20
  Suze: are you going to pay those exact same bills when
• 15:22
  Suze: you no longer have a paycheck coming in? So I
• 15:26
  Suze: am asking you to have at least eight months, preferably 12,
• 15:31
  Suze: but all right, eight months of
• 15:35
  Suze: must pay expenses in a true emergency fund that is safe, liquid,
• 15:41
  Suze: and not invested in stocks. Now you know that I
• 15:47
  Suze: love Alliant Credit Union, and at the beginning of every
• 15:51
  Suze: one of these podcasts, the only thing currently you have
• 15:54
  Suze: heard me talk about was the Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account.
• 16:00
  Suze: If you have not started a savings account yet.
• 16:04
  Suze: I am asking you to go to my alliant.com. I
• 16:08
  Suze: do not make a penny if you do this, not
• 16:11
  Suze: a penny. They sponsor the podcast and that is it.
• 16:15
  Suze: And truthfully, everybody, how many podcasts do you listen to,
• 16:20
  Suze: in the middle of the podcast, have a break and
• 16:22
  Suze: say this is brought to you by such and such sponsor.
• 16:25
  Suze: You should go here and buy this, buy that. I
• 16:28
  Suze: can't do a podcast that has advertisement that wants to
• 16:33
  Suze: sell you something. My job is to make sure that
• 16:36
  Suze: you don't spend but that you save.
• 16:39
  Suze: So, my podcast for the past four or five years
• 16:42
  Suze: now has been Alliant Credit Union, who gives you the
• 16:46
  Suze: opportunity to save and pay you to save, and this
• 16:50
  Suze: year we'll be coming out with other programs for you
• 16:54
  Suze: that will make your money make more money. However, go
• 16:59
  Suze: to MyAliant.com, that's A L L I A N T.com.
• 17:04
  Suze: And if you already don't have a savings account,
• 17:08
  Suze: start one there by becoming a member at Alliant Credit Union,
• 17:13
  Suze: and here's how it works. If you open it and
• 17:16
  Suze: within the month that you've opened it, you deposit at
• 17:20
  Suze: least $100 and you do so every single month for
• 17:24
  Suze: 12 consecutive months. At the end of those 12 months,
• 17:28
  Suze: they will give you an extra $100. In the meantime,
• 17:34
  Suze: you are going to get 3.10% APR on your money,
• 17:39
  Suze: which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that given that
• 17:43
  Suze: interest rates have started to come down. So maybe you
• 17:45
  Suze: have money in a savings account or a checking account
• 17:49
  Suze: somewhere and you're not making any interest at all, but
• 17:52
  Suze: if you add that extra $100 into it, it makes
• 17:56
  Suze: your return like 16 or 18% on your money.
• 18:00
  Suze: You can stop at any time you want, take the
• 18:03
  Suze: money out, up to you, and still make your 3.10% APR.
• 18:07
  Suze: But can you just go there?
• 18:11
  Suze: So, you need to get a plan, by the way,
• 18:15
  Suze: to get rid of your high interest credit card debt.
• 18:19
  Suze: I don't care how good your credit score is, if
• 18:23
  Suze: you are paying 22% interest on debt, are you crazy?
• 18:29
  Suze: So, if you're just being lazy, and you're absolutely just
• 18:34
  Suze: not even looking at what interest you're paying and you're
• 18:37
  Suze: carrying debt to get yourself by, like Maria had to
• 18:40
  Suze: put her food on credit cards, can you just look
• 18:44
  Suze: at what your FICO score is? Can you just look
• 18:47
  Suze: at the interest rates on your card and make a
• 18:50
  Suze: plan to get out?
• 18:53
  Suze: So, it is really important that you do that also,
• 18:57
  Suze: for those of you who have no life insurance whatsoever,
• 19:01
  Suze: and people are dependent upon you if something were to
• 19:04
  Suze: happen to you like you died, that can happen, people.
• 19:09
  Suze: You need to get term life insurance. You need to
• 19:12
  Suze: stay as far away from whole life, universal life, variable
• 19:17
  Suze: life insurance as possible, and I don't care if you
• 19:21
  Suze: are getting communications from Alliant about whole life. They promised
• 19:26
  Suze: me that it was going to stop, and because it
• 19:29
  Suze: was from a company they had contracted with that was
• 19:32
  Suze: supposed to stop and they just haven't.
• 19:35
  Suze: So just know Alliant does not support that either, just
• 19:39
  Suze: don't do it. Both of us do not believe in it,
• 19:43
  Suze: just so you know. However, now, who says that?
• 19:47
  Suze: Who says that to you? From a sponsor? What do
• 19:49
  Suze: you think about that? Anyway, that's besides the point. You
• 19:53
  Suze: need term life insurance, and even though you don't have
• 19:57
  Suze: much money, believe me, all of you can afford somehow
• 20:01
  Suze: $25 or $30 or $40 a month to get term life,
• 20:06
  Suze: especially if you are healthy. So, if you are on
• 20:12
  Suze: the lower arm of the "K".
• 20:15
  Suze: Your first goal is stability. It is stability, and you
• 20:20
  Suze: are the ones that can provide that stability to you.
• 20:25
  Suze: Just a quick story. I have a friend by the
• 20:28
  Suze: name of Ayana. Maybe you've heard me talk about her,
• 20:31
  Suze: and she is a woman who survived domestic abuse, financial, psychological,
• 20:39
  Suze: you name it, and I've worked with her forever.
• 20:42
  Suze: And she wrote me yesterday and she said, Suze, please,
• 20:45
  Suze: my daughter's turning 15 years old. I need $100. Please
• 20:50
  Suze: just lend me $100 so I can do something special
• 20:54
  Suze: for her and I wrote her back. I said, absolutely
• 20:58
  Suze: I will not.
• 20:59
  Suze: Money is not what's going to make your daughter feel stable.
• 21:04
  Suze: What's gonna make her feel stable is your love and
• 21:08
  Suze: your ability to say, I wish I had $100. I
• 21:11
  Suze: wish I had something that we could go out and celebrate,
• 21:15
  Suze: but I want to celebrate my love and the ability
• 21:18
  Suze: that we have to create stability by not spending money
• 21:22
  Suze: and making money the goal to simply spend it.
• 21:27
  Suze: So you know how hard that was for me to
• 21:29
  Suze: say no to her?
• 21:31
  Suze: But you also understand that helping her there would have
• 21:34
  Suze: been hurting her. Do you understand that? So your first
• 21:41
  Suze: goal is stability and needs only. Now, if you are
• 21:47
  Suze: on the upper arm, what you have to understand is
• 21:51
  Suze: your first responsibility is to not get cocky.
• 21:57
  Suze: Because this can turn on you if you spend like
• 21:59
  Suze: the boom is gonna last forever, and many of you are,
• 22:04
  Suze: you know, yesterday I went out to lunch. I know
• 22:08
  Suze: how unusual for me, but when you're invited, especially from
• 22:12
  Suze: friends you haven't seen for a while, you go and
• 22:15
  Suze: we got there early and as KT and I were
• 22:18
  Suze: sitting there and it was a restaurant that was relatively expensive.
• 22:23
  Suze: And I looked around and my heart was breaking.
• 22:27
  Suze: Because I can tell when somebody can afford to be
• 22:32
  Suze: in a restaurant and when somebody cannot.
• 22:35
  Suze: I can see it. I can feel it, and I
• 22:38
  Suze: got so sad just sitting there watching how many people
• 22:43
  Suze: were treating themselves by going out, and how many people
• 22:47
  Suze: were enjoying themselves, 'cause it really wasn't a treat. It
• 22:50
  Suze: was something that they did almost every single day. You
• 22:54
  Suze: could just see it.
• 22:57
  Suze: So you have to remember that when you are on
• 23:00
  Suze: the upper end of that "K".
• 23:03
  Suze: Right, that you cannot pretend that this is going to
• 23:07
  Suze: last forever. Because many people who are on the upper
• 23:11
  Suze: end of that when they have an 8 to 12
• 23:14
  Suze: month emergency fund, they are putting money in their retirement accounts,
• 23:19
  Suze: they have that low mortgage rate on their home, they're
• 23:23
  Suze: sending their kids to college, they're doing all these things.
• 23:28
  Suze: But they're still working for income that provides them this lifestyle.
• 23:37
  Suze: KT and I really aren't working anymore for income. That
• 23:43
  Suze: doesn't mean we don't make money, but we're not working
• 23:45
  Suze: for income. We own assets that provide us with income
• 23:51
  Suze: if nobody else ever wants to pay us. So that's
• 23:56
  Suze: why everybody,
• 23:58
  Suze: I keep pushing you to max out your Roth 401k plans,
• 24:02
  Suze: and your employer better have one, and to own your
• 24:06
  Suze: home outright and to own, you know, broad diversified ETFs
• 24:11
  Suze: or stocks or different areas over the long run, and
• 24:14
  Suze: to avoid speculation really that you don't understand.
• 24:19
  Suze: Because I want all of you to eventually be in
• 24:23
  Suze: the position that KT and I are in, and that
• 24:27
  Suze: many of the people that are listening to the Women
• 24:32
  Suze: and Money podcast are also in after following this advice
• 24:38
  Suze: for years.
• 24:40
  Suze: So, the "K-shaped" recovery shows you that you cannot rely
• 24:46
  Suze: on a job alone, and that you must own a
• 24:50
  Suze: piece of the engine that benefits when markets recover. Does
• 24:56
  Suze: that make sense for you?
• 24:59
  Suze: So what can you do,
• 25:02
  Suze: to secure your situation really if you are in the
• 25:06
  Suze: lower end of the "K" and maybe even in the
• 25:08
  Suze: possible upper end of the "K" but you don't have
• 25:12
  Suze: everything together? Because if you look at it in 2020,
• 25:18
  Suze: the safest jobs were the ones that could go remote
• 25:22
  Suze: and were in resilient sectors. So if you're in a
• 25:26
  Suze: fragile industry, I want you to think in terms
• 25:31
  Suze: of skill insurance. It's not just about life insurance, disability insurance,
• 25:37
  Suze: home insurance, car insurance. It's about, do you have skill insurance?
• 25:44
  Suze: Can you add one technical skill this year that increases
• 25:50
  Suze: your earning power?
• 25:53
  Suze: Can you move towards roles that can be done from
• 25:56
  Suze: anywhere that are harder to automate or shut down with
• 26:01
  Suze: artificial intelligence or whatever it may be? Can you turn
• 26:05
  Suze: possibly a side gig, because many of you write me
• 26:08
  Suze: and say, especially the young ones, Suze, I have a
• 26:10
  Suze: side gig, da da da da. Can you turn that
• 26:13
  Suze: side gig into a real sustainable income stream, not just
• 26:18
  Suze: a few dollars here and there.
• 26:21
  Suze: Your skills, listen to me now. Your skills, your ability
• 26:27
  Suze: to adapt, that is, in my opinion, your ultimate insurance
• 26:32
  Suze: policy when we're in a "K-shaped" recovery. Here we are, everybody.
• 26:39
  Suze: So 2020 recession did not just come and go.
• 26:45
  Suze: It carved a permanent "K" into our economy in my opinion,
• 26:51
  Suze: one line going up and one line going down, but
• 26:54
  Suze: you can believe it or not, control which arm of
• 26:59
  Suze: that letter you live on.
• 27:02
  Suze: So this week, here's what I want you to do.
• 27:06
  Suze: Very last thing in your little Suze notebook, you took
• 27:10
  Suze: it out, right?
• 27:11
  Suze: On the top arm of the K, I want you
• 27:15
  Suze: to write down everything in your life that really is
• 27:19
  Suze: moving you up savings, investment, skills, and stable income.
• 27:26
  Suze: On the bottom arm, I want you to write down
• 27:30
  Suze: everything that is pulling you down: debts, unstable work, overspending,
• 27:37
  Suze: lack of emergency funds, whatever it may be. Then I
• 27:42
  Suze: want you to circle one item on the bottom arm there.
• 27:46
  Suze: And make a concrete plan, everybody to change in the
• 27:50
  Suze: next 30 days. Remember, haven't I always said this, you
• 27:54
  Suze: can't fix a financial problem with money alone. You fix
• 27:58
  Suze: it with truth, courage, and action. And if you're on
• 28:03
  Suze: the upper arm of that, "K", how do you make
• 28:07
  Suze: sure that you always stay there? What is it? What
• 28:10
  Suze: is one thing that you can do
• 28:13
  Suze: to make it even more stable?
• 28:17
  Suze: So until Thursday when Ms. Travis will join us for
• 28:21
  Suze: another Ask KT and Suze Anything, two things I want you
• 28:25
  Suze: to check out. Go to Suzeorman.com. We have a brand
• 28:29
  Suze: new website that Ms. Travis designed for all of you.
• 28:33
  Suze: Check it out.
• 28:33
  Suze: It's not like that stupid old dull one that we
• 28:36
  Suze: had for all those years. This one kind of is dynamic.
• 28:40
  Suze: KT you did such a great job on that. Also,
• 28:44
  Suze: one other thing, go to youtube.com/ Suze Orman, my personal
• 28:48
  Suze: YouTube site, and subscribe because you never know when you
• 28:54
  Suze: might just get a little ding ding ding, and when
• 28:57
  Suze: you look at it, it will be because KT and
• 29:00
  Suze: I went live, all right.
• 29:02
  Suze: So there's only one thing that I really want you
• 29:04
  Suze: to remember when it comes to your money, and it
• 29:06
  Suze: is this, people first, then money, then things. Now you
• 29:13
  Suze: stay safe. Bye-bye.