Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
Transcript
- 0:08Suze: June 28th, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women in Money
- 0:12Suze: podcast and everybody's smart enough to listen. Suze O here and...
- 0:18KT: KT...
- 0:20Suze: Is in the house. And you may be wondering, but it's Suze School,
- 0:23Suze: why is KT here
- 0:27Suze: on a Sunday, which is when Suze School normally drops?
- 0:31Suze: So here's the lesson for today. Ready for it? Tell them, KT.
- 0:36KT: OK. Last Thursday we told you we had an announcement. Well,
- 0:40KT: here it is, everyone. Starting today, on Sunday, Suze and
- 0:46KT: I will do our podcast together. This is our new
- 0:49KT: schedule for summer. It's called Summer School with KT and Suze.
- 0:55Suze: And really it's a combination of Thursdays and Sundays that
- 1:01Suze: we will do today. We will not be doing new
- 1:04Suze: drops on Thursday anymore.
- 1:07Suze: Right, because why?
- 1:09KT: It's summer.
- 1:10Suze: It's summer. That's the only reason it's summer, and, and
- 1:14Suze: we don't wanna be at a schedule anymore.
- 1:16KT: No, it's our best reason. However, Suze did say, KT, if
- 1:20KT: something comes up in the middle of the week or whatever,
- 1:23KT: she absolutely will use this time to focus on a
- 1:28KT: Sunday school if needed, if needed, but this will be fun.
- 1:31KT: We're gonna have a lighter and fun summer schedule.
- 1:36Suze: So, every Sunday now is when we will drop a
- 1:40Suze: new podcast. Don't look for it on Thursdays because it
- 1:44Suze: won't be there anymore. Robert, what are we gonna do
- 1:47Suze: for those people who aren't listening to this? You're gonna
- 1:50Suze: have to maybe on Thursday, I'm now talking to Robert,
- 1:53Suze: the producer, right? You're gonna have to put something...
- 1:55KT: Make a little announcement.
- 1:56Suze: Announcement on it when they go on Thursday.
- 1:58KT: The girls have gone fishing. Tune in on Sunday.
- 2:03Suze: But anyway, I hope you understand. I hope you are
- 2:06Suze: happy for us. We're so happy. So KT, what do
- 2:10Suze: you got for me today?
- 2:11KT: Well, the first one, this is something I wanna share
- 2:13KT: with everyone. It's a thank you, a thank you to Suze.
- 2:17KT: She said, I'm writing to simply say thank you. About
- 2:21KT: 14 years ago, I followed your advice and invested in
- 2:26KT: a low-cost index fund.
- 2:28KT: Contributing to it every month at the time I was
- 2:33KT: far behind in my retirement savings and worried I would
- 2:37KT: never catch up and would end up very poor in retirement.
- 2:41KT: I wasn't a financial genius. I just had the good
- 2:45KT: fortune to hear your advice on one of your TV
- 2:48KT: shows and the intelligence to follow it.
- 2:52KT: That one decision made all the difference, Suze. Today at
- 2:57KT: age 65, I have accumulated more retirement savings than the
- 3:03KT: average person my age.
- 3:05KT: Something I never imagined would be possible back then. Following
- 3:10KT: your advice to invest consistently in a low cost index
- 3:14KT: fund was the single best financial decision I ever made.
- 3:20KT: I can't thank you enough for the positive impact you
- 3:24KT: have had on my life. With immense gratitude, Susan. Thank you, Susan.
- 3:30KT: That's sweet.
- 3:31KT: It's really true, everyone. I mean, listen, 14 years ago,
- 3:36KT: so time is our best ingredient.
- 3:39Suze: Time is the most important ingredient in any financial freedom recipe. Consistency,
- 3:46Suze: month in and month out. If you really don't know
- 3:49Suze: what to do, I'll still stick by if you don't
- 3:52Suze: know what to do, just do a
- 3:54Suze: index ETF just that simple. Could you make more money
- 3:59Suze: if you did other things? Yes. But if you just
- 4:02Suze: want simplicity, you don't want to think about it, and
- 4:05Suze: you just want to do it, great. And you might
- 4:07Suze: want to listen to last Sunday's podcast, because I gave
- 4:12Suze: you some great ideas there.
- 4:14Suze: All right. All right, go on.
- 4:16KT: OK, this is from Sharon.
- 4:19KT: Sharon said hello there KT and Suze. See, Sharon, I
- 4:22KT: picked you because it's our Sunday summer schedule. KT, I hope...
- 4:26Suze: Wait. What did one have to do with the other?
- 4:29KT: Because she said, KT, I hope my question is relevant
- 4:33KT: enough for others for Suze to answer this. So there
- 4:37KT: you go. She's being very thoughtful.
- 4:40KT: Suze, based on my data shared here, I'm 68. In
- 4:44KT: your opinion, do I really need a revocable trust? And
- 4:49KT: then she said, I listened to you insisting that everyone
- 4:52KT: must have a revocable trust in case they become incapacitated.
- 4:58KT: I understand that concern. Since I don't own real estate,
- 5:02KT: I get the sense this may not be necessary for me.
- 5:07Suze: Wait, are you saying...
- 5:09KT: I'm not done.
- 5:09Suze: Wait, are, are you saying there, did I just hear
- 5:12Suze: that right, because she doesn't own real estate, she thinks
- 5:16Suze: she can never be incapacitated.
- 5:18KT: Well, she said she doesn't think this is necessary for
- 5:21KT: her to have...
- 5:21Suze: But right before that KT, she said, I say that
- 5:25Suze: everybody should have one just... incapacity, right?
- 5:28KT: But wait, listen to this. Here's her thought. My 36
- 5:32KT: year old daughter is my sole beneficiary on all financial
- 5:36KT: accounts and is a joint account holder on a couple
- 5:40KT: of savings accounts and my checking. She is a small
- 5:44KT: business owner and may need to borrow money for her
- 5:47KT: business in the future.
- 5:49KT: The last part concerns me.
- 5:52Suze: Why are you looking at me like that?
- 5:54KT: Well, because she thinks because she has a 36 year
- 5:57KT: old daughter who said, Don't worry, Mom, I'll take care
- 5:59KT: of you, that she doesn't need an incapacity clause in
- 6:05KT: a trust.
- 6:06Suze: What is this woman's name?
- 6:07KT: This is from Sharon.
- 6:09Suze: Sharon, please, please, please, and everybody else out there.
- 6:15Suze: Why do I keep telling you over and over and
- 6:20Suze: over again? Why did the very first book I ever write,
- 6:25Suze: You've Earned It, Don't Lose It, in 1995, why did
- 6:29Suze: I make it such a big chapter as to why
- 6:32Suze: you all need a living revocable trust.
- 6:37Suze: Why? Because over all these years I have seen firsthand
- 6:44Suze: what happens to people,
- 6:47Suze: when they don't have a trust, not just with probate fees, fine,
- 6:51Suze: you want your kids to pay probate or whoever, I
- 6:54Suze: don't personally care about that.
- 6:56Suze: I care about that you get sick, you become incapacitated,
- 7:01Suze: you think you have everything under control. You think that
- 7:05Suze: you've named your 36 year old daughter to take care
- 7:09Suze: of everything, and you think nothing can happen to her.
- 7:13Suze: You think that she doesn't need a living revocable trust
- 7:17Suze: with an incapacity clause in it, Mamma, in case she
- 7:21Suze: gets hit by a car. Now she's incapacitated and you
- 7:25Suze: need to take care of her, but you can't make
- 7:28Suze: any decisions with her because she doesn't have a durable
- 7:31Suze: power of attorney for healthcare, and she now is over
- 7:34Suze: 18 years of age, so you can't make decisions for her.
- 7:38Suze: So this isn't about age. This is about the reality
- 7:42Suze: of life, everybody, and what can go wrong. So all
- 7:47Suze: I'm asking you to do is prepare for the worst
- 7:51Suze: and hope for the best.
- 7:53Suze: A will does not help you in case of an incapacity.
- 7:58Suze: In many cases, a power of attorney for finances will
- 8:03Suze: not help you. Why? Because banks might not take them.
- 8:07Suze: We've talked about that. We talked about that on last
- 8:10Suze: Thursday's podcast. Things go wrong and when they go wrong,
- 8:15Suze: guess who you all come to? You come to me.
- 8:18Suze: So how do we solve that before it goes wrong?
- 8:22Suze: I tell you what you need. You might not want it,
- 8:25Suze: but every single one of you needs it, which is
- 8:29Suze: why the must-have documents, seriously, were created over 25 years ago,
- 8:36Suze: which is why they were made for you
- 8:39Suze: to be able to share them for free with your
- 8:41Suze: loved ones, which is why we allowed updates absolutely free
- 8:46Suze: for you in case there was an update. That's why
- 8:49Suze: we allowed you to make as many changes as you wanted,
- 8:53Suze: absolutely free. Why?
- 8:56Suze: Because I don't want you to see all your hard
- 8:59Suze: work to attain financial freedom to possibly go down the
- 9:04Suze: drain just because you haven't taken time to do what?
- 9:09Suze: create what we call the must-have documents again. You should
- 9:14Suze: check them out at musthavedocs.com.
- 9:19KT: Great. Yeah, I, I mean 36 year old daughter, right,
- 9:23KT: that's still very young,
- 9:26Suze: But you know what's interesting about that email, the very
- 9:29Suze: last line.
- 9:31Suze: She's going into business. She may need to borrow money.
- 9:35KT: Yes, and Mommy was worried about that... concerned
- 9:37Suze: Yeah, because KT, we've seen it all. Everybody, Mama here
- 9:42Suze: already has a gut feeling about it, so maybe the
- 9:45Suze: daughter isn't the right one to make as your successor beneficiary.
- 9:50Suze: Just saying, all right, KT, go on.
- 9:52KT: OK. This is from Sherry. She said, Hello, Suze. I
- 9:56KT: went to a luncheon targeting seniors.
- 9:59Suze: I hate those luncheons. You go for... oof I have them.
- 10:04KT: Stop, stop, stop. Let me tell you what this is about.
- 10:07KT: It is for MASA Emergency Shield plus membership to cover
- 10:13KT: medical transportation.
- 10:16KT: Suae, to get the special price, I had to buy
- 10:19KT: it that day. Have you heard of it? Is it legitimate?
- 10:23KT: Is MASA easy to work with? And then Sherry, who
- 10:27KT: was very smart, she said, I thought to myself, before
- 10:30KT: I buy, I have to ask Suze.
- 10:34KT: She said it's about $6,000 for a lifetime for her
- 10:39KT: and her husband.
- 10:40Suze: And did they say they had to buy it that day?
- 10:42KT: Yes.
- 10:43KT: I knew it.
- 10:43KT: At the lunch and before dessert, probably.
- 10:45Suze: You all listen to me and listen to me closely
- 10:49Suze: so that I don't get indigestion, just because you went
- 10:52Suze: to get a free meal to be sold something.
- 10:56Suze: There's no such thing as a free lunch, seriously, and
- 11:00Suze: when people have to entice you, and as seniors, I
- 11:04Suze: get it.
- 11:05Suze: 'Cause maybe you don't have the money to go out
- 11:07Suze: and buy yourself meals. Maybe you wanna be with other people,
- 11:12Suze: but when somebody is offering you a free meal, it
- 11:16Suze: is a chance to sell you a trust, to sell
- 11:20Suze: you investments, to sell you this MASA thing. So, let
- 11:25Suze: me just answer this for all of you. MASA is
- 11:28Suze: a real company.
- 11:30Suze: All right, it's just that simple, and it's an emergency
- 11:34Suze: shield plus plan that targets, seriously targets seniors at luncheons,
- 11:41Suze: and it is a red flag, and you do not
- 11:44Suze: need to buy it on the spot number one. The
- 11:48Suze: value of this product depends heavily, KT on your existing
- 11:53Suze: Medicare
- 11:54Suze: and supplemental coverage, your travel habits and your risk tolerance.
- 12:00Suze: So number one, legitimate company, but they have seriously mixed reviews.
- 12:06Suze: Now some people love them. If you go to Trustpilot,
- 12:10Suze: you'll see that many customers kind of praise them and
- 12:13Suze: things like that. However...
- 12:16Suze: It also has many cons against it. Some people report
- 12:22Suze: that they're pushy, they're pressured to sell, they didn't receive
- 12:26Suze: the contract details, and on and on and on. Now,
- 12:29Suze: what's important for all of you to understand is this
- 12:33Suze: the pricing that this person just named in the email
- 12:37Suze: that she sent KT is exactly the same pricing that's
- 12:41Suze: on the MASA website. There is no deal there.
- 12:45Suze: So, if you really want it, you can go and
- 12:48Suze: look at it, but chances are for like $6,400 or
- 12:53Suze: whatever it is, I just, I just, I don't know.
- 12:58Suze: I think twice, but here's the thing you really got
- 13:00Suze: to think about, you'd never buy anything on the spot,
- 13:03Suze: you research it, go and see what others are saying
- 13:07Suze: about it. Some people like it, and some people do not.
- 13:11Suze: And maybe you don't need it at all. All right, KT.
- 13:15KT: A lot of those seniors are pressured into being embarrassed
- 13:19KT: if they don't buy because they just got a free lunch,
- 13:22KT: and that's the sad thing. You should always say thank
- 13:25KT: you so much for my lunch. Let me think about it.
- 13:27KT: I'll get back to you.
- 13:29Suze: You know what I've always wanted us to do in
- 13:30Suze: Florida because they're rampant here in Florida.
- 13:33KT: We get these invites...
- 13:35Suze: All the time, and I'm like,
- 13:36KT: Once a week at least
- 13:36Suze: KT, let's go. Let's go get a free lunch and
- 13:39Suze: let's see what happens when the people giving it see
- 13:42Suze: Suze Orman and KT walk in and sit down.
- 13:45Suze: I've often wanted to do that. Should we do that?
- 13:48KT: No.
- 13:49Suze: Why not?
- 13:50KT: It's sad.
- 13:51Suze: I wanna do that.
- 13:52KT: It's sad for the, for the person standing behind the podium
- 13:57KT: trying to sell. And no, no, no, we're not. We're not...
- 14:00Suze: Wait, wait, wait, wait. You feel sorry for the person
- 14:03Suze: that's trying to sell people something that they probably don't need.
- 14:06Suze: If it's something legitimate, they should love that Suze Orman
- 14:10Suze: has walked in to say she'll verify what I'm saying
- 14:14Suze: is true.
- 14:15Suze: If all of a sudden they get embarrassed and they
- 14:17Suze: freaked out, that is a sign that everybody should get
- 14:20Suze: up and leave after dessert, including us. Next question, Miss. Travis.
- 14:25KT: This is from Marie. She said, Hi, Suze and KT.
- 14:29KT: I just met with my Fidelity representative.
- 14:33Suze: Of course. Oh, wait, wait, want me to tell you
- 14:35Suze: what the Fidelity rep wants to...
- 14:37KT: No, no, no.
- 14:39KT: He kept trying to get me to move my money
- 14:42KT: into fixed rate contract annuities telling me that they are
- 14:47KT: good annuities and that they are the same as CDs.
- 14:51KT: I went through your prior annuity podcast, and I'm still
- 14:55KT: not sure if this is a good idea.
- 14:57KT: The word annuities makes me nervous because there are so
- 15:02KT: many bad ones out there. Are these OK to invest in,
- 15:06KT: or is this a scam?
- 15:07Suze: Vote number one, it's not a scam. So Marie, just
- 15:11Suze: know that. But why did I know that that was
- 15:14Suze: gonna happen? It's because every email I'm not joshing right now, KT,
- 15:20Suze: that we get who meets with a Fidelity advisor all says:
- 15:26Suze: Annuity, annuity, annuity. I have not gotten one where the
- 15:31Suze: email says, oh, this index fund, do this, do that.
- 15:36Suze: Obviously the adviser on some level is being compensated for that.
- 15:42Suze: I don't think they're being compensated by the normal 5, 7, 8% commission,
- 15:46Suze: but there's something going on.
- 15:49Suze: And so if you meet with a Fidelity adviser and
- 15:52Suze: they suggest any type of annuity, can you just ask
- 15:56Suze: them how much do they pay you? Do you get
- 15:58Suze: more if you suggest an annuity to me versus an
- 16:02Suze: index fund? Can you just ask them that question? But
- 16:06Suze: what is not OK,
- 16:09Suze: is that an annuity is not like a certificate of
- 16:14Suze: deposit on any level. A certificate of deposit comes with
- 16:19Suze: a guarantee from the federal government, FDIC, if it's from
- 16:24Suze: a bank, up to 250,000. An annuity
- 16:28Suze: is a whole different guarantee, and it's subject to the
- 16:33Suze: claims paying ability of the issuing company, meaning that if
- 16:37Suze: the insurer gets in trouble, KT, your guarantee is only
- 16:41Suze: as good as their balance sheet.
- 16:43Suze: And it's with a state guarantee association offering some backdrop,
- 16:48Suze: but it's not FDIC level protection. So shame on that
- 16:52Suze: adviser for saying to this person that it was just
- 16:56Suze: like a certificate of deposit. That's number one. She didn't
- 17:01Suze: say how old she is, but with an annuity.
- 17:06Suze: If you take out your money before the age of
- 17:09Suze: 59 and a half, not only do you pay ordinary
- 17:14Suze: income tax on it, KT, but there's a 10% penalty
- 17:18Suze: as well. Now, most annuity companies do allow you to
- 17:24Suze: take out 10%
- 17:25Suze: a year without any of the 10% penalty, but you
- 17:30Suze: still will pay ordinary income tax on it. Also, there
- 17:34Suze: is a surrender charge with most of these annuities. Fidelity
- 17:40Suze: sells what's called multi-year guaranteed annuities, so it's for three years,
- 17:45Suze: and the interest rate is guaranteed for that 5 years that.
- 17:48Suze: But there's a surrender charge, and the surrender charge with
- 17:52Suze: the one that's three years.
- 17:54Suze: It is 7% a year for all three years. So
- 17:58Suze: if something happens and she needs to come out seriously,
- 18:02Suze: it's 7%.
- 18:04Suze: Now the 7% can never go into her original principal,
- 18:09Suze: but it can sure go into her interest that she's
- 18:12Suze: earned if it's a 5 year annuity, it goes 7-7-7-6-5.
- 18:19Suze: So for every one of those years,
- 18:22Suze: there is a surrender charge, so there are so many
- 18:27Suze: things that you need to think about. Obviously a certificate
- 18:31Suze: of deposit, when you get your interest, it's taxed yearly.
- 18:36Suze: With an annuity. You don't pay taxes on it until
- 18:40Suze: you withdraw it or you withdraw the interest. However, with
- 18:44Suze: all of that said,
- 18:46Suze: with certain annuities in certain situations when they are fixed
- 18:55Suze: and you know you're not going to need the money
- 18:58Suze: and you want your interest rate to compound and at
- 19:02Suze: the end of the three years or the 5 years
- 19:05Suze: you just want to draw it out little by little.
- 19:09Suze: OK, I don't necessarily have a problem with it, but
- 19:13Suze: there are many, many things that you need to really
- 19:17Suze: think about before you do this. Not so bad, Marie,
- 19:22Suze: but shame on the adviser for saying that they were
- 19:25Suze: just like a CD.
- 19:29Suze: Go on, KT.
- 19:30KT: Suze, our next question is from Justin...
- 19:33Suze: This is kind of like a mini Susie school.
- 19:35KT: Well, listen to Justin's first line. We're gonna have to...
- 19:38KT: maybe I'll send him a little something. He said, Hi,
- 19:41KT: Susze and KT.
- 19:43KT: I am one of the men smart enough to listen
- 19:46KT: and so enjoy starting my Sundays and Thursdays with you.
- 19:52KT: Uh oh, Justin, you only get us on Sunday this summer.
- 19:55Suze: Well, unless Robert wants to play best of on Thursday.
- 19:58Suze: Maybe he could always do that. All right, so that's
- 20:01Suze: an idea.
- 20:01KT: That's a good idea. I am working on my revocable trust,
- 20:05KT: and I have a question about our home. My wife
- 20:08KT: and I have about 10 years left on our mortgage.
- 20:11KT: Should we contact the mortgage company and get approval to
- 20:17KT: transfer the title of our home to the trust.
- 20:21KT: Or is it OK to utilize a transfer on death
- 20:25KT: deed which would transfer the title of the house upon
- 20:29KT: our deaths to the trust?
- 20:32Suze: I wouldn't do it that way, and the main reason
- 20:35Suze: is why.
- 20:38Suze: What for? First of all, you do not need approval
- 20:43Suze: to have your home transferred into the name of the
- 20:47Suze: trust as long as it's still your primary residency and
- 20:51Suze: you continue to occupy it and all of that, all right?
- 20:55Suze: You don't need to, you're actually protected by law.
- 21:00Suze: There is a law, an act, and I think it's
- 21:04Suze: called the G A R N Street Germaine Act. Did
- 21:09Suze: you know that?
- 21:11KT: No.
- 21:11Suze: Right, where it says, (Suze starts laughing)
- 21:22KT: Suze, it's like me asking you, do you know how
- 21:24KT: to make a zucchini wrap?
- 21:26Suze: I do now.
- 21:28Suze: Anyway, where a lender cannot enforce a due on sale
- 21:34Suze: clause when you transfer your primary residency into a revocable
- 21:38Suze: living trust again, as long as you remain a beneficiary
- 21:42Suze: of the trust and you continue to occupy the home
- 21:46Suze: as your primary residency now if it's a co-op,
- 21:51Suze: in New York, for instance, they may have a problem
- 21:54Suze: with it, so they may not let you do it.
- 21:56Suze: But the truth of the matter is you normally can
- 22:01Suze: do it, so you don't have to inform your lender
- 22:04Suze: that you are going to be doing that, in my opinion.
- 22:07Suze: All right, KT.
- 22:09KT: OK, that was a funny question.
- 22:12Suze: KT, What was the name of that act?
- 22:15KT: Um, shrimp. I...
- 22:18Suze: Come on, KT, I just said it two minutes ago.
- 22:22KT: It's Garn
- 22:24Suze: Garn, Garn, what gar garn, right? Saint...
- 22:29KT: It's Germaine.
- 22:31KT: Saint Germain. I know Saint Germain. I lived in Paris.
- 22:34Suze: Thats' why I am asking you...
- 22:35KT: Saint Germain, Saint Germain.
- 22:38Suze: Act now. You'll never forget it. And what's it good for?
- 22:42KT: I don't know, but
- 22:45Suze: You do. It protects people from having to pay off
- 22:50Suze: their mortgage when they put it in trust.
- 22:52Suze: Oh, there's my girl. OK, now we just have to
- 22:56Suze: figure something out like that with Roth. What would be
- 22:59Suze: very Parisian with a Roth?
- 23:01KT: Hmm.
- 23:05Suze: All right, never mind. Go on to the next question.
- 23:08KT: Here's my next question. This is from Tristan. He wrote, Hi,
- 23:12KT: Auntie Suze and Auntie KT. All right, Tristan, here we go.
- 23:18KT: Tristan over here, a millennial man smart enough to listen.
- 23:22KT: Hope you ladies are staying out of trouble so far
- 23:25KT: this summer. I think he knows us. Right now, my
- 23:29KT: entire social circle is wrapped up in FOMO over these
- 23:35KT: massive summer IPOs. Do you know what FOMO is, Suze?
- 23:40Suze: Are you kidding me.
- 23:41KT: Fear of missing out. As you know, SpaceX just made
- 23:46KT: its public debut, and all my friends...
- 23:49Suze: I have a question. Did you have to look up
- 23:51Suze: what FOMO meant?
- 23:52KT: Yes, because I didn't know what a FOMO was.
- 24:00KT: All right, let me keep going. It gets better. It
- 24:03KT: gets really better. Ready for this because I, I added something.
- 24:07KT: All my friends are bragging about the share allocations they
- 24:10KT: managed to get as real investors. That's from SpaceX. I
- 24:15KT: sat the SpaceX IPO out with OpenAI and Anthropic's IPO
- 24:21KT: on the horizon within a few weeks and a month apart.
- 24:24KT: Should I consider participating,
- 24:27KT: in the upcoming IPO share allocation even with the 15
- 24:32KT: to 30 day lockup period. The financials seem to be
- 24:36KT: in better shape than SpaceX. I try to practice discipline
- 24:41KT: as you always said in your podcast, but resisting the
- 24:45KT: FOMO is tough when these IPOs are the only thing
- 24:50KT: people talk about at your social functions and work right now.
- 24:54KT: I value your judgment more than the hype machine. Thank
- 24:58KT: you as always. And then Tristan also gave us a
- 25:02KT: bonus question. World Cup, Suze, who do you think's gonna win?
- 25:07Suze: It's not, who do I think is gonna win.
- 25:09KT: Who do you know is gonna win?
- 25:10Suze: It's not who I know is gonna.
- 25:11KT: Who do you want to win?
- 25:13Suze: USA baby. USA baby. What?
- 25:17Suze: Not me.
- 25:21Suze: What gotten into you?
- 25:21KT: I want Colombia.
- 25:23Suze: Oh, because of Colo.
- 25:25KT: Yes, I want Colombia. Don't tell anyone, but...
- 25:29Suze: You just told everybody,
- 25:30KT: ... if they don't get it, I want USA to win.
- 25:33KT: USA is doing a great job, but Colombia's in the,
- 25:38KT: in there.
- 25:39Suze: Right, so...
- 25:39KT: So, so wait, I, I also wanna tell Tristan what
- 25:42KT: you want to maybe do, Tristan, and discuss this with
- 25:46KT: your friends. Tell them you're part of a growing counter
- 25:49KT: concept called JOMO.
- 25:52KT: Do you know what Jomo is, Suze?
- 25:55KT: It's true. It's a, it's a, it's a real deal.
- 25:59Suze: You have just asked me a question that I don't
- 26:02Suze: have a clue what the answer is. Wait, what do
- 26:05Suze: you think about that?
- 26:06KT: I think that's great. Here, listen to what it is.
- 26:09Suze: Wait, aren't you impressed?
- 26:09KT: Tristan and Suze, you might wanna be part of the
- 26:14KT: growing counter concept called JOMO.
- 26:17Suze: What is that?
- 26:18KT: Joy of missing out.
- 26:20Suze: Is that true?
- 26:21KT: Yes, it is. It's real.
- 26:24KT: Because I didn't know what FOMO was, so I did
- 26:27KT: have to look it up, and they said you may
- 26:29KT: want to be part of the growing counter concept or
- 26:32KT: counterculture called JOMO, the joy of missing out.
- 26:38KT: There you go.
- 26:40Suze: Do you not want me to answer his question, or
- 26:42Suze: do you feel like that was it?
- 26:44KT: Oh, I forgot. Oh yeah, answer Tristan's question. He wants
- 26:49KT: to know if he should join the...
- 26:51Suze: Yeah, listen to me.
- 26:55Suze: You know, you have to really understand that an IPO
- 27:01Suze: is not like a celebration.
- 27:03Suze: It's like this exit strategy. It is the moment, now
- 27:07Suze: listen to me closely, when angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity, founders,
- 27:17Suze: and early employees finally get to turn paper wealth into
- 27:22Suze: real money.
- 27:25Suze: And that's what it is all about. They are selling,
- 27:29Suze: you are buying, you got that? And that alone should
- 27:34Suze: tell you everything. I can tell you, because a lot
- 27:38Suze: of our money is invested in private equity.
- 27:43Suze: And when you invest in private equity, you don't know
- 27:46Suze: if you're gonna get any money back, you don't know
- 27:49Suze: how long it's gonna be tied up for, and if
- 27:51Suze: it happens to IPO such as a SpaceX, then you
- 27:56Suze: are waiting for your lockup period to come up where
- 28:00Suze: you can sell in most cases, and make a lot
- 28:04Suze: of money.
- 28:05Suze: So, again, I want you to think about that. Now,
- 28:09Suze: why are IPOs high priced? Why do they price them
- 28:14Suze: so high? Think about this, Tristan.
- 28:17Suze: And it is because the sellers want the highest possible valuation,
- 28:23Suze: because the banks want the highest possible fees, because the
- 28:29Suze: media wants the highest possible excitement, so you are not
- 28:34Suze: invited to a party, my friend. You are being invited
- 28:38Suze: to provide liquidity. That's what you are doing.
- 28:42Suze: So why do retail investors get the worst terms? Because
- 28:47Suze: you are the least informed participant. You don't see... and
- 28:52Suze: all your friends, they have not seen the secondary market transactions,
- 28:56Suze: the private valuations, the liquidation preferences, the inside lockup schedules,
- 29:02Suze: the debt covenants, the dilution waterfalls. You see the marketing.
- 29:08Suze: So how do you resist the FOMO when everyone around
- 29:11Suze: you is bragging.
- 29:13Suze: You already know the answer. FOMO is not a financial strategy,
- 29:19Suze: and here's the mind shift that I want for you.
- 29:23Suze: Your friends are chasing excitement. You are building wealth. They
- 29:28Suze: are not the same sport, and the people who brag
- 29:31Suze: the loudest at parties are almost never the ones who
- 29:34Suze: retire early. Just saying.
- 29:38Suze: OK, I could have given a talk on stage with
- 29:41Suze: that one. Do you see how these are kind of
- 29:44Suze: like mini Suze Schools?
- 29:45KT: That was a good one. OK, next question says in
- 29:48KT: the subject retirement, baby.
- 29:52KT: Hi Suze and KT, my husband and I love your podcast.
- 29:56KT: We have learned so much over the years. Thank you.
- 29:59KT: We are retiring early in 2027. We plan to sell
- 30:04KT: our home in Pennsylvania and downsize in North Carolina. The
- 30:09KT: list price of $635,000 for our home, which we own
- 30:14KT: outright and have no debt, will be the basis for
- 30:18KT: the budget on the investment in our next home.
- 30:22KT: We are moving in with my father to conduct our
- 30:25KT: home search and anticipate being there two to six months.
- 30:30KT: What should we do with the money during this time?
- 30:33KT: We plan to pay cash for a home when we
- 30:36KT: figure out where we wish to settle.
- 30:39KT: I will also get paid out for any unused accrued
- 30:43KT: vacation and sick time when I retire. At this moment
- 30:47KT: I anticipate that to be about $9,000. Is this considered
- 30:53KT: earned income? I'd like to maximize my Roth contribution in
- 30:58KT: 2027 despite retiring.
- 31:01KT: So she has two questions. What does she do with
- 31:04KT: the money from the income of her home?
- 31:07Suze: Well, here's what concerns me. She says the money we
- 31:11Suze: make from the sale of our home will be our
- 31:14Suze: budget for our next home. Just take into consideration here
- 31:19Suze: that if you have a home that you put on
- 31:21Suze: the market for 635, chances are you're the one who's
- 31:26Suze: gonna have to pay the 6% commission or
- 31:29Suze: so, to sell the house, which will be about $38,100
- 31:35Suze: so you're only going to have $596,900 for a new home.
- 31:42Suze: Just make sure that you have everything correct to know
- 31:47Suze: what you can really afford. You're going to do this
- 31:50Suze: in two to six months or so.
- 31:53Suze: You need to keep that money safe and sound, so
- 31:56Suze: put it in the highest yielding money market account, insured account, treasuries, liquid,
- 32:03Suze: everything liquid, so that when you find something, you can
- 32:06Suze: get it right away. You are not to invest this
- 32:09Suze: money in the stock market or anything else. Do you
- 32:12Suze: hear me? As far as you getting paid for any
- 32:16Suze: unused accrued vacation and sick time when you retire, guess what?
- 32:22Suze: That will count as earned income and because you are
- 32:26Suze: retiring in '27 early, as long as you have earned
- 32:31Suze: income in '27, and that's when you take it, you'll
- 32:35Suze: be fine. It will be counted as earned income. Give
- 32:38Suze: me one more, KT.
- 32:40KT: OK, this is another mortgage question, a good one.
- 32:43KT: My question, this is from Elaine. She said, Suze, my
- 32:46KT: question is I am 70 years old and I have
- 32:48KT: a mortgage of $97,000. If I pay it off now,
- 32:54KT: it will be a payoff of $55,000. I may move,
- 32:58KT: but it is not necessary. My monthly mortgage payment is $634.
- 33:05KT: If I use cash, I reduce my interest by $1,330
- 33:11KT: a year.
- 33:13KT: I just need a thought on this.
- 33:16Suze: Well, let me give you my thought. I wish I
- 33:18Suze: knew for sure that the $634 of your mortgage payment
- 33:22Suze: is simply for a mortgage payment and not including your
- 33:27Suze: property taxes and insurance, but I'm just going to assume
- 33:31Suze: that it is. If it were me, think about this
- 33:35Suze: right now.
- 33:36Suze: Now you're talking about $50,000 that generates for you $11,330
- 33:43Suze: a year in interest while that $50,000 in the mortgage
- 33:50Suze: makes you pay $634 a month for 12 months, which
- 33:54Suze: is approximately $7,582.
- 33:59Suze: Even if you took that $7,582 that you wouldn't be
- 34:03Suze: spending a year, you took away the $1,330 of interest
- 34:08Suze: that you make on that money, you are still looking
- 34:11Suze: at $6,252 more in your pocket or an additional $523
- 34:19Suze: per month. So if it were me.
- 34:22Suze: That's what I would do. So how was that, your Sunday?
- 34:27KT: I liked it. It's nice.
- 34:29Suze: Did you like it or love it?
- 34:30KT: I loved it. I love being with you on Sunday.
- 34:35KT: I feel like it's almost like a we're playing. It's nice.
- 34:38Suze: And it feels different than Thursday?
- 34:40KT: Totally different.
- 34:42Suze: Oh, that's great.
- 34:44KT: Really nice. I'm much more relaxed. I feel like it's
- 34:47KT: the weekend. I'm much more relaxed. I get very nervous
- 34:51KT: that we make Thursday perfect.
- 34:54KT: But Sunday, Sunday...
- 34:56Suze: Sunday, you don't care what we do on Sunday.
- 34:58KT: We can have, we can tell jokes. We can have
- 35:00KT: a little more fun.
- 35:01Suze: All right, everybody, I hope you are excited as us
- 35:05Suze: for our news. And so until next Sunday, there's only
- 35:09Suze: one thing that we want you to remember, and what
- 35:11Suze: is that, Miss. Travis?
- 35:13KT: Happy July 4th.
- 35:15Suze: Oh Jesus. All right, everybody, people first, then money, then things.
- 35:20Suze: Now you stay safe.
- 35:22KT: Happy birthday, America.
- 35:24Suze: Oh, she's so sweet, isn't she?