Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / How Do I Settle A Deceased Parent’s Credit Card Debt?

Transcript

How Do I Settle A Deceased Parent’s Credit Card Debt? · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  Robert: July 9th, 2026. Welcome to the Women and Money podcast
• 0:12
  Robert: as well as everyone smart enough to listen. Hi, everybody, Robert,
• 0:16
  Robert: the producer here. So, we are now into the Suze
• 0:20
  Robert: Summer schedule, and as Suze said on the July 5th podcast,
• 0:26
  Robert: new episodes will drop on Sundays, and these Thursday episodes
• 0:31
  Robert: will be a mix of highlights from previous Ask KT
• 0:34
  Robert: and Suze Anything shows or what we're going to call
• 0:37
  Robert: Classic Suze Schools. Now, since Suze is planning on doing
• 0:41
  Robert: a brand new Suze School for you this coming Sunday,
• 0:45
  Robert: July 12th, I am here to make sure that you
• 0:48
  Robert: get your KT fix this week.
• 0:51
  Robert: So here's a bit of an Ask KT and Suze
• 0:54
  Robert: Anything from the spring of 2025, and we're gonna jump
• 0:57
  Robert: right in with KT asking the first question.
• 1:04
  KT: OK, so we've got some great questions here, and the
• 1:08
  KT: first one is from Betsy. She said, You rock KT
• 1:11
  KT: and Suze. Love you and listen all the time. I'm
• 1:15
  KT: 76 years old and my hubby's 79. We both have
• 1:20
  KT: everything in place, including the must-have documents. You wanna tell
• 1:25
  KT: them if they don't have a must-have document, what to do?
• 1:28
  Suze: No.
• 1:28
  KT: OK.
• 1:29
  KT: So, I understand, I understand my spouse should be my
• 1:33
  KT: beneficiary of my retirement accounts. She has a Roth and
• 1:38
  KT: rollover IRA and vice versa, but if I want some
• 1:42
  KT: of that to go to other members in my family,
• 1:45
  KT: wouldn't my niece and nephew get taxed on it when
• 1:48
  KT: my husband gives it to them? She goes on to say,
• 1:53
  KT: I love you, your efforts are working for all of us,
• 1:55
  KT: and this is the best part of the email, everyone.
• 1:58
  KT: She said, I took over my hubby's 401k when he
• 2:02
  KT: retired and I have doubled it. So that's incredible. She said,
• 2:08
  KT: thank you for giving me an education along with confidence.
• 2:11
  Suze: Yeah, that's actually the goal of the Women and Money podcast,
• 2:15
  Suze: and everybody's smart enough to listen, is so that you
• 2:19
  Suze: can be your own best financial advisor. But Betsy, so
• 2:24
  Suze: I don't understand your question.
• 2:26
  Suze: I just don't, but I'm going to assume what you're
• 2:31
  Suze: asking me, which is obviously the reason that I want
• 2:35
  Suze: your husband
• 2:37
  Suze: to be the primary beneficiary of your retirement accounts more
• 2:42
  Suze: than the trust, because many of you when you have
• 2:45
  Suze: the must-have docs, which happens to be a living revocable trust,
• 2:50
  Suze: a will, an advanced directive, and durable power of attorney
• 2:53
  Suze: for health care, as well as a financial power, many
• 2:57
  Suze: of you have tended to make the primary beneficiary your trust.
• 3:02
  Suze: It's so much easier on your beneficiaries, especially if you
• 3:07
  Suze: are married, to make your spouse the primary beneficiary. Why?
• 3:13
  Suze: Because your spouse has all kinds of benefits that nobody
• 3:17
  Suze: else has, the main one being that he can take
• 3:21
  Suze: over your retirement account as if it was his own,
• 3:25
  Suze: and on and on. However,
• 3:28
  Suze: you can have contingent beneficiaries, cause what if something happens
• 3:33
  Suze: to you and your husband together, and that's where you
• 3:36
  Suze: leave maybe your other family members there, and that's how
• 3:40
  Suze: they get it, but...
• 3:42
  Suze: If everything is left to your husband, you die, and
• 3:48
  Suze: now he's taking out some of that money. He's the
• 3:52
  Suze: one who's going to have to pay income taxes on it,
• 3:55
  Suze: and he can turn around and just give it if
• 3:58
  Suze: he wants to your other family members. Remember, you now
• 4:03
  Suze: can give $19,000 a year
• 4:07
  Suze: to as many people as you want, they do not
• 4:10
  Suze: have to be relatives, anything, and they don't pay taxes
• 4:14
  Suze: on it. So therefore that's probably what should happen. What
• 4:19
  Suze: is that look for?
• 4:20
  KT: $19,000 total?
• 4:21
  Suze: No, 19,000 per person...total per person, but I could give
• 4:26
  Suze: Sophia 19,000, Travis 19,000.
• 4:30
  KT: As many as you want.
• 4:31
  Suze: I could go down the street.
• 4:34
  Suze: In fact, I had the weirdest thing this morning, KT,
• 4:36
  Suze: a dream, not a dream, but I was looking at something,
• 4:41
  Suze: these things that I have, right, and I had this
• 4:44
  Suze: hit of, I'm just gonna walk down the street and
• 4:46
  Suze: hand people these things that are worth a lot of money.
• 4:49
  KT: Oh, you mean objects.
• 4:51
  Suze: Objects like a watch...
• 4:52
  KT: A watch. Oh, I see things.
• 4:54
  Suze: Do you wanna know my favorite show growing up?
• 4:57
  KT: No, what?
• 4:57
  Suze: Yes, you do.
• 4:58
  KT: What is it?
• 4:59
  Suze: The Millionaire. I had this dream.
• 5:03
  Suze: Uh, not dream fantasy dream, but this desire when I
• 5:07
  Suze: got older.
• 5:08
  Suze: To be able to go down the street and just
• 5:11
  Suze: give somebody a check for a million dollars and walk away.
• 5:15
  Suze: I wanted to do those things.
• 5:18
  Suze: I kind of still do, and I do, but there
• 5:21
  Suze: is one story, KT that I just, it reminds me of,
• 5:25
  Suze: is that I did give a $10,000 check to a
• 5:29
  Suze: little boy who was supporting his mom.
• 5:32
  Suze: And he went and he wanted to put it into
• 5:34
  Suze: his bank account and the bank literally thought that he
• 5:39
  Suze: had stolen my checks. There's no way Suze Orman would
• 5:42
  Suze: have given him $10,000 and it was just so very,
• 5:45
  Suze: very sad. So sometimes it's interesting when you give somebody
• 5:50
  Suze: money what can happen from it. All right, next question, girlfriend.
• 5:53
  KT: OK, this is from Will. I really like this one.
• 5:57
  KT: Will said, um, he misses us. He said, I'm 35.
• 6:01
  KT: I work full time as the director of nursing at
• 6:04
  KT: a nursing home. I'm about to start back to college
• 6:08
  KT: to get my master's in nursing, which I think will
• 6:11
  KT: increase my future earning potential. Will said, I currently have
• 6:16
  KT: about 100,000 in retirement, another 130,000 in Fidelity IRAs, home equity, cash, etc.
• 6:24
  KT: He, he's only anticipating one purchase in the next one
• 6:28
  KT: to three years, which is a new car, but he
• 6:31
  KT: said the program he's looking into, Suze, will cost about
• 6:34
  KT: $30,000 over the next three years. I could afford to
• 6:40
  KT: pay the tuition out of pocket, but I'm wondering if
• 6:43
  KT: I might end up with more money in the long
• 6:45
  KT: run by taking out student loans.
• 6:49
  KT: Now here's the catch, Suze. He's 35. He already has
• 6:54
  KT: $30,000 in student loans, and Will says, I hate to
• 7:00
  KT: add to that as it is my only debt outside
• 7:04
  KT: of my home loan. So he just gave you a keyword.
• 7:08
  KT: I hate to add to that.
• 7:10
  Suze: All right, so you give him the advice. What would
• 7:12
  Suze: you do? Quizzy pop quizzy.
• 7:15
  KT: I wouldn't go back for my master's will.
• 7:18
  Suze: Oh God, I wasn't expecting that.
• 7:21
  KT: No, seriously, you're 35. You're doing a great job. I'm
• 7:27
  KT: telling you something, boyfriend. I think...
• 7:30
  KT: The nursing industry so needs people like you that are
• 7:35
  KT: good at what you do, you love what you do,
• 7:37
  KT: and who cares about earning potential. You're great. Don't go
• 7:42
  KT: back for the master's.
• 7:43
  Suze: All right, but Will, before you go back for the master's,
• 7:47
  Suze: if you decide to go back and get a master's,
• 7:50
  Suze: you really need to check and see what would that
• 7:54
  Suze: do for you financially speaking if you had a master's.
• 7:59
  Suze: You need to find that out, especially if you have
• 8:03
  Suze: to take out a student loan or take money out
• 8:06
  Suze: of something else to finance it. What would that money
• 8:10
  Suze: have grown to versus how much really of an increase
• 8:15
  Suze: in your salary will you get? Just something to think about. If, however,
• 8:22
  Suze: you decide that it's worth it and you have the
• 8:25
  Suze: money now,
• 8:27
  Suze: to be able to pay 10,000 a year towards it,
• 8:30
  Suze: I would do that rather than going into debt to
• 8:32
  Suze: get it, because why? You hate that you have debt.
• 8:36
  Suze: You hate it. So therefore, don't hate things in life, Will.
• 8:41
  Suze: When you hate something, it makes you negative and all
• 8:43
  Suze: these other things, and you'll never get a job or
• 8:45
  Suze: things in a raise that you want if you have
• 8:47
  Suze: anger in you because you're doing something you hate, so...
• 8:51
  Suze: I kind of would probably stick by KT's suggestion. All right, next,
• 8:56
  Suze: my dear. You know, KT, I have to say.
• 8:58
  Suze: Over the years now, if you go back and you
• 9:02
  Suze: listen to everybody to podcasts, I've even been questioning, does
• 9:06
  Suze: it make sense to go to a university at all
• 9:11
  Suze: that costs you $40,000 or $60,000 a year? Why not
• 9:15
  Suze: a community college? Why not getting, you know, all kinds
• 9:19
  Suze: of things? Be careful, everybody. That's all I can say.
• 9:22
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 9:23
  KT: OK, so next question. This isn't actually a question. This
• 9:26
  KT: is a great... email.
• 9:29
  Suze: Well, I'm so surprised you didn't start with a great email.
• 9:32
  KT: No, Hi, KT and Suze. I recently visited a friend
• 9:35
  KT: and her husband. Somehow we got on the thrilling topic
• 9:38
  KT: of taxes. She mentioned that they decided to file separately
• 9:43
  KT: this year because it would supposedly save them money right away.
• 9:48
  KT: My gut said something was off...
• 9:50
  Suze: So married filing separately.
• 9:52
  KT: Yeah, wait, especially since she told me before that she
• 9:56
  KT: contributes to a Roth IRA.
• 9:58
  KT: I told her my husband and I file jointly because
• 10:01
  KT: I was pretty sure we couldn't contribute to our Roths
• 10:05
  KT: if we filed separately. She said...
• 10:08
  Suze: And you live together, go on.
• 10:09
  KT: She said, No, you can. Even our tax preparer had
• 10:13
  KT: suggested married filing separately.
• 10:17
  Suze: They live together?
• 10:17
  KT: To reduce, to reduce the tax bill, yeah, now listen,
• 10:21
  KT: listen to this. I felt silly for not remembering why
• 10:25
  KT: my husband and I filed jointly and kind of embarrassed
• 10:29
  KT: that I may have been wrong. So I followed up
• 10:32
  KT: on this topic. I found a podcast from August 15,
• 10:37
  KT: 2021 where you
• 10:40
  KT: went over the rules for married couples. The income limit
• 10:44
  KT: is up to 10,000 for married filing separately and living together.
• 10:51
  KT: My friend and I definitely earn way above that and
• 10:54
  KT: share the same residence with our spouses.
• 10:57
  Suze: Her friend is screwed.
• 10:58
  KT: So I was right. Thankfully I have not changed my
• 11:03
  KT: filing status, I emailed our tax person and sent the
• 11:07
  KT: IRS rules to my friend as an FYI. Suze, you rock.
• 11:13
  KT: Thank you for taking the time to repeat the information
• 11:17
  KT: over and over so that it's drilled into my brain.
• 11:21
  KT: There you go.
• 11:22
  Suze: What's interesting about this...
• 11:23
  KT: She said she loves you so much.
• 11:26
  Suze: Thank you. Thank you. Anyway, what's interesting about this is that
• 11:30
  Suze: I want all of you to start to take note.
• 11:34
  Suze: Just because a so-called professional, a CPA, a financial advisor says, no,
• 11:41
  Suze: you can do that, you better check it, recheck it,
• 11:45
  Suze: and check it again. And when a friend says to you,
• 11:48
  Suze: I've been listening to the Suze Orman Show, and I
• 11:51
  Suze: think she said that.
• 11:54
  Suze: They really should check it again. So it's not that
• 11:57
  Suze: I'm never wrong, of course, I can be wrong, but
• 12:00
  Suze: that's just plain stupid.
• 12:02
  KT: All right. Hi, KT and Suze. You both inspire me
• 12:06
  KT: and give me hope. I have just two short questions,
• 12:10
  KT: but I'm only gonna ask one.
• 12:13
  KT: With my new job, they offer a traditional 401k. They
• 12:17
  KT: will match 4%. Will I contribute only to the match
• 12:22
  KT: or maximize the 15%? I'm 49 turning 50 this May
• 12:28
  KT: with only 70,000 in a rollover IRA, 40,000 Roth IRA,
• 12:34
  KT: and an emergency fund of 36,000, which is good for
• 12:39
  KT: about five months for me. So there you go.
• 12:43
  Suze: She said, so there you go. Or you said...
• 12:45
  KT: No, no, no, I, I'm saying, so there you go.
• 12:47
  KT: So there you go. So what's your advice?
• 12:50
  Suze: Are you telling me that the company that you work
• 12:53
  Suze: for doesn't offer a 401k Roth, that they only offer
• 12:59
  Suze: a traditional 401k?
• 13:02
  Suze: Is that true?
• 13:04
  Suze: 'Cause if that's true, where they only offer a traditional 401k,
• 13:09
  Suze: which is a pre-tax 401k, then yeah, you're only gonna
• 13:14
  Suze: contribute up to the point of the match, that 4%.
• 13:17
  Suze: I don't care that, you know, you can put in
• 13:21
  Suze: an extra 11%, doesn't matter to me. What matters to
• 13:25
  Suze: me is that you have the most efficient use of
• 13:29
  Suze: your retirement money.
• 13:31
  Suze: And the most efficient use would be, after the 4%,
• 13:35
  Suze: open up a Roth IRA and given
• 13:40
  Suze: you're turning 50 this month. You can put $8,000 in
• 13:45
  Suze: your Roth IRA after taxes, which also can be used
• 13:51
  Suze: as your emergency fund, period. The other money, I don't
• 13:56
  Suze: care about now. If they do, why are you laughing?
• 14:01
  Suze: People don't say I don't care about the other. Well, well,
• 14:04
  Suze: you know what I mean. You, you get it, you
• 14:07
  Suze: get it. But here's the scoop. It may be
• 14:10
  Suze: that your company may offer a Roth 401k, but the
• 14:14
  Suze: match goes into a traditional 401k. And a lot of
• 14:19
  Suze: people think, oh, that means I have to only have
• 14:23
  Suze: a traditional 401k for them to match it. If they
• 14:27
  Suze: have a Roth 401k, then here's what you are to do.
• 14:34
  Suze: You are to put up to 15% if you want in
• 14:37
  Suze: your Roth 401k. They will put the 4% in your
• 14:41
  Suze: traditional 401k, and you can still have an $8000 Roth
• 14:47
  Suze: IRA if you want. Now, you have hit the serious
• 14:51
  Suze: retirement jackpot. Next question, KT.
• 14:55
  KT: OK, Suze, this last email. This is uh, an interesting
• 14:59
  KT: one and I picked it because I think many of
• 15:02
  KT: you listening will go through this or have already either
• 15:06
  KT: for your family or yourselves. Dear Suze and KT, first
• 15:09
  KT: of all, thank you. My wife and I have learned
• 15:12
  KT: so much from you. Our children learned more watching your
• 15:16
  KT: shows back in the day
• 15:18
  KT: and trying to predict your answer on the can I
• 15:21
  KT: afford it segment than they ever learned in school about
• 15:25
  KT: personal finances.
• 15:26
  Suze: So now have them go to my YouTube channel where
• 15:30
  Suze: they can actually play the can I afford it game.
• 15:32
  KT: Go to Suze's official YouTube channel, and there's a lot
• 15:35
  KT: of great stuff on that.
• 15:37
  KT: So here's my question. My father-in-law is currently in hospice
• 15:42
  KT: care and will be passing soon. He has asked us
• 15:45
  KT: to take care of his wife, and we fully intend
• 15:49
  KT: to do so. In fact, we already own the condo
• 15:53
  KT: where they live. As part of that, he has asked
• 15:56
  KT: me to take care of the bills, which his wife
• 15:59
  KT: has never been involved with.
• 16:01
  KT: He then handed me a stack of bills that revealed
• 16:06
  KT: he has 13 credit cards with about $50,000 in debt.
• 16:12
  KT: He is currently paying $200 a month to each of
• 16:16
  KT: the cards, a bit over the minimum payments on each.
• 16:21
  KT: Now because we have followed your recommendations for 25+ years now,
• 16:27
  KT: we could easily write a check to each of the
• 16:30
  KT: credit cards, cut them up, and be done with it.
• 16:33
  Suze: Over my dead body.
• 16:34
  KT: However, I don't want to do that because I am angry.
• 16:39
  KT: Not at my in-laws but at the predatory credit card
• 16:43
  KT: companies they could have run a credit report. They would
• 16:48
  KT: have seen that he lived on a fixed income and
• 16:51
  KT: that he already had 6, 7, 8 credit cards he
• 16:55
  KT: was not paying off. I am furious that two new
• 17:00
  KT: significantly large companies wrote him and said, we see that
• 17:04
  KT: you have 11 credit cards already. We would like to be
• 17:08
  KT: your 12th at a 29.99% interest.
• 17:12
  Suze: I would love to know the name of those companies.
• 17:15
  KT: Yeah, we don't have that.
• 17:16
  Suze: You write me and tell me. Go on.
• 17:19
  KT: That seems almost criminal to me.
• 17:21
  Suze: It is.
• 17:21
  KT: I do not judge my father-in-law at all. They did
• 17:25
  KT: not live extravagantly, but I am angry at these credit
• 17:30
  KT: card companies.
• 17:32
  KT: My question is this: Should I pay these cards off
• 17:36
  KT: and be done with it...
• 17:37
  Suze: No.
• 17:37
  KT: ...which would not be a burden on us? Or should
• 17:41
  KT: I set up an autopay for the monthly minimums and
• 17:45
  KT: ride it out so that these predatory credit card companies
• 17:49
  KT: don't get an extra penny?
• 17:52
  Suze: No.
• 17:52
  KT: If we do pay it off. Should we use our
• 17:54
  KT: funds or the $100,000 life insurance funds?
• 18:00
  Suze: No.
• 18:00
  KT: Suze, thank you so much for all that you do.
• 18:03
  Suze: That's good because I'll tell you why it's good. KT.
• 18:06
  Suze: I wrote this person and here's the advice that I
• 18:10
  Suze: gave them. Now Daddy has died. Now your job is
• 18:14
  Suze: to take care of Mom.
• 18:16
  Suze: What's interesting is mom doesn't really have any assets in
• 18:20
  Suze: her name.
• 18:22
  Suze: Her house that she's living in is in your name.
• 18:25
  Suze: The $100,000 life insurance policy. She could absolutely just say,
• 18:30
  Suze: you know what, I don't want it or whatever, and
• 18:33
  Suze: let it go to you. So that $100,000 could absolutely
• 18:37
  Suze: go into your name as well. Now here's Mom, she
• 18:42
  Suze: doesn't have any assets at all, and all of a sudden...
• 18:47
  Suze: You let the credit card companies know that Dad died
• 18:50
  Suze: and let's see what they do. If they come after Mom,
• 18:54
  Suze: here's the way that you're gonna get back at them.
• 18:57
  Suze: You are going to claim bankruptcy for your mother because
• 19:00
  Suze: your mother doesn't really have any income. She doesn't really
• 19:03
  Suze: have any assets. You are not going to give them
• 19:06
  Suze: the pleasure of letting this money earn 29% interest.
• 19:10
  Suze: You are going to become a warrior and you are not
• 19:12
  Suze: going to turn your back on this battlefield. You are
• 19:14
  Suze: going to protect your mother. You are going to protect
• 19:17
  Suze: her assets, and you are going to take these banks
• 19:21
  Suze: and let them lose the money. They never should have
• 19:24
  Suze: lent it. They don't deserve it back, and there you go.
• 19:28
  Suze: All right, KT.
• 19:28
  KT: So I thought that that would be your decision because
• 19:31
  KT: she's 84 and really healthy.
• 19:34
  Suze: Yeah.
• 19:34
  KT: And she has a long way to go. So why
• 19:37
  KT: have any debt? Just claim bankrupcy.
• 19:38
  Suze: She doesn't need debt. She never even knew it. And
• 19:41
  Suze: with that $100,000 from the life insurance policy that the
• 19:44
  Suze: kids now have, they'll take care of her.
• 19:48
  KT: They'll take care of her anyway.
• 19:49
  Suze: You know, they own the house, everything. So believe it
• 19:53
  Suze: or not, the mere fact that you own the house
• 19:56
  Suze: that she lives in is your father's saving grace. So therefore,
• 20:03
  Suze: that's what I would do.
• 20:05
  KT: That was great advice. I love that because I was
• 20:08
  KT: thinking the same thing.
• 20:09
  Suze: You were thinking that?
• 20:10
  KT: Claim bankruptcy.
• 20:12
  Suze: All right, there we go. Two great minds think alike.
• 20:15
  Suze: They think alike. All right, everybody, that brings us to
• 20:18
  Suze: the end. Of an Ask KT and Suze Anything podcast.
• 20:23
  Suze: So until Sunday, there's only one thing, isn't there, KT,
• 20:27
  Suze: that we want you to remember? What is that smile
• 20:30
  Suze: all about?
• 20:30
  KT: People first, baby, then money, then things, and you stay
• 20:35
  KT: healthy and safe.
• 20:37
  Suze: All right, see you Sunday. Bye-bye.