Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / Put Your Heart Above Your Head

Transcript

Put Your Heart Above Your Head · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  Suze: May 28th, 2026.
• 0:11
  KT: There's nothing funny about this date, and why are you
• 0:15
  KT: always laughing when you, when you say the date?
• 0:18
  Suze: 'Cause I know we're gonna have a lot of fun
• 0:20
  Suze: in the next 30 minutes. I'm anticipating it. And so
• 0:24
  Suze: I'm starting to already get in that mood. Welcome everybody
• 0:28
  Suze: to the Women and Money podcast, and everybody smart enough
• 0:31
  Suze: to listen. This is the Ask KT and Suze edition.
• 0:35
  Suze: If you have a question
• 0:37
  Suze: that you want answered on this podcast, then write into,
• 0:42
  Suze: if KT chooses it, by the way, write into where KT?
• 0:45
  KT: Podcast at askSuze.com
• 0:49
  Suze: and that's S U Z E everybody keep it short.
• 0:53
  Suze: You're looking forward to the next few days?
• 0:56
  KT: I'm looking forward to the next few weeks. We have
• 1:00
  KT: quite a few exciting events lined up.
• 1:03
  Suze: We do, but that for me, the most exciting thing really, everybody...
• 1:07
  Suze: is June 4th. Make sure if you didn't register for
• 1:12
  Suze: the very first webinar that we did on April 23rd,
• 1:16
  Suze: make sure that you register at Suze Orman.com for the
• 1:20
  Suze: one on June 4th. It is 6 p.m. East Coast time.
• 1:25
  Suze: And I, I just have to say this, and maybe
• 1:27
  Suze: you overheard it. Just the other day, Keith and I
• 1:30
  Suze: were talking about what we were going to talk about,
• 1:34
  Suze: and I would ask him questions, and you know how
• 1:37
  Suze: Keith is. He then gives these big explanations. I said, no.
• 1:40
  Suze: When I ask you a question like what stocks would
• 1:44
  Suze: you buy, just tell us the stocks you would buy.
• 1:47
  Suze: I don't even care why you would buy them, just
• 1:49
  Suze: tell it. Tell me the ETFs that you would buy.
• 1:53
  Suze: Tell us everything, but the real thing.
• 1:56
  Suze: That we're also gonna be talking about is the new
• 2:00
  Suze: ETF that FITZ, is bringing out the symbol is FITZ.
• 2:06
  Suze: By the way, I just have to tell all of
• 2:08
  Suze: you this. It started trading today on the New York
• 2:12
  Suze: Stock Exchange. Again, symbol is FITZ. So this is a
• 2:17
  Suze: real thing now. You are the first people to hear
• 2:21
  Suze: about it if you're listening to this podcast today.
• 2:26
  Suze: So, KT we've had a good time lately.
• 2:29
  KT: Oh my God, she's been a social butterfly. We went, we,
• 2:34
  KT: we never go out. Suze and I very, very rarely
• 2:38
  KT: go out for dinner, and our friend Mark and Edward
• 2:41
  KT: missed us. They hadn't seen us, we were in Japan.
• 2:44
  KT: Come on, girls, come have dinner with us, and we said, OK.
• 2:47
  KT: So they took us to a little restaurant called Mediterra, Mediterra.
• 2:54
  KT: M E D I T E R R A and
• 2:57
  KT: it was fantastic. It's over in Royal Palm Place in
• 3:01
  KT: Boca Raton for all of you listening that live here
• 3:04
  KT: in South Florida. So much fun.
• 3:06
  Suze: Really, I very seldom like eating out or the food
• 3:10
  Suze: that I eat when I eat out, but I loved this.
• 3:14
  KT: Well, we had a good time. We met Chef Michael,
• 3:17
  KT: the owner, and it's a small family restaurant, really small, like,
• 3:21
  KT: I don't know, maybe a dozen tables or so, but
• 3:24
  KT: the food was delicious.
• 3:27
  Suze: More important than the food really is that we started
• 3:32
  Suze: to talk to Chef Michael.
• 3:35
  Suze: And he gave us some advice or something that...
• 3:40
  KT: No, no, no, he was admiring you, Suze. And Susie
• 3:44
  KT: was explaining that she's gonna be 75 and we're celebrating
• 3:48
  KT: her birthday, blah blah blah and he said, you, Suze,
• 3:51
  KT: I've been listening to for a very long time and
• 3:54
  KT: you not only have knowledge but you have wisdom.
• 3:58
  KT: And she...
• 3:59
  Suze: And of course I said, so what's the difference, between
• 4:02
  Suze: the two? You have to listen to this answer actually.
• 4:05
  Suze: Get out your Suze notebooks. I know it's not Sunday,
• 4:08
  Suze: but get them out anyway. You need to write this
• 4:12
  Suze: down because it's one of the more brilliant things I
• 4:15
  Suze: have ever heard. KT, go.
• 4:19
  KT: OK, so Chef Michael said, Well, Suze, when one has knowledge,
• 4:24
  KT: you know that a tomato is a fruit.
• 4:27
  KT: And it's classified as a fruit, isn't it? And we
• 4:30
  KT: said yes. And he said, but when one has wisdom,
• 4:34
  KT: they know never to add tomatoes to fruit salad.
• 4:40
  Suze: I love that. I love there you have it for
• 4:43
  Suze: that reason alone. You should all go to his restaurant. Really,
• 4:46
  Suze: that is a man
• 4:49
  Suze: who when he has understanding of life he has understanding
• 4:52
  Suze: of how to be a great Chef. But anyway.
• 4:55
  KT: All right..
• 4:56
  Suze: KT, what do you got for me, sweetheart?
• 4:58
  KT: OK, so from Jennifer, my first question is Hi KT
• 5:02
  KT: and Suze, long time listener, first time emailer. As a
• 5:07
  KT: longtime listener, we have only ever bought term life insurance.
• 5:12
  Suze: Good on you.
• 5:14
  KT: Yeah. She said, my policies are ending their term and
• 5:18
  KT: are time to end with our retirement date. If we
• 5:22
  KT: have saved and have plenty to cover our retirement, they
• 5:25
  KT: actually have several million, Suze.
• 5:27
  Suze: Of course they do because they've listened to me forever.
• 5:30
  KT: She said. Is it OK to no longer carry life insurance?
• 5:35
  KT: I just wanna make sure I understand the end game.
• 5:39
  Suze: So here's the end game.
• 5:41
  Suze: Especially with term insurance, everybody, in case you don't know,
• 5:47
  Suze: term insurance is good for a specific period of time,
• 5:52
  Suze: a term. It could be one year, five years, 10 years,
• 5:56
  Suze: 20 years, or 30 years.
• 5:58
  Suze: And normally during your younger years, when in case something
• 6:03
  Suze: happened to you, if there was anybody that was financially
• 6:07
  Suze: dependent upon you and you died, you would be able
• 6:11
  Suze: to provide insurance for them.
• 6:14
  Suze: But because term insurance ends usually when you're older, or
• 6:20
  Suze: it gets too expensive to have when you're older and
• 6:23
  Suze: probably going to die, term insurance is very cost effective
• 6:28
  Suze: to have when you are younger.
• 6:32
  Suze: And so therefore as you start getting older because term
• 6:37
  Suze: insurance that protects you has been there, you get to
• 6:41
  Suze: save a lot of money because I just have to
• 6:44
  Suze: say this, KT, a lot of people have whole life,
• 6:48
  Suze: universal life, variable life, and that, in my opinion, in
• 6:53
  Suze: most cases is the biggest rip off out there.
• 6:57
  Suze: You are not meant to die with insurance. You are
• 7:00
  Suze: not meant to get older and then get an insurance policy.
• 7:05
  Suze: Insurance is to be there during your younger years when
• 7:08
  Suze: you don't have money, if you were to die to
• 7:12
  Suze: help somebody who's financially dependent upon you. So Jennifer, in
• 7:16
  Suze: your case, you are now older.
• 7:19
  Suze: You saved all the money that you would have wasted
• 7:21
  Suze: on whole life, universal or variable life. You probably invested
• 7:26
  Suze: it and everything, which is why you now have millions.
• 7:29
  Suze: So now that you have money, no matter what, if
• 7:33
  Suze: one of you dies, the other one is OK.
• 7:36
  Suze: Now is the time. You no longer need insurance anymore.
• 7:41
  Suze: Next question, KT.
• 7:42
  KT: Wait, I have to tell everyone the ending to this
• 7:44
  KT: email is thank you, Suze, for all of your wise advice.
• 7:50
  KT: So there you go. You are the epitome of knowledge
• 7:53
  KT: and wisdom.
• 7:54
  Suze: Now, KT, given that you just said that, you just
• 7:58
  Suze: said that, I want you to remember next time we
• 8:03
  Suze: get into a little tiff.
• 8:05
  Suze: That I have knowledge and wisdom, just remember that.
• 8:10
  Suze: Oh, you should see your face. Everybody. What are you thinking?
• 8:14
  KT: That I have equally the same amount, if not more,
• 8:19
  KT: of knowledge and wisdom.
• 8:20
  Suze: That's my girl.
• 8:21
  KT: I have a whole lot of wisdom. I have knowledge, wisdom,
• 8:25
  KT: and experience.
• 8:27
  Suze: KT. I am older than you.
• 8:29
  KT: So what? I've been around the world three or four
• 8:31
  KT: times more than you.
• 8:32
  KT: I have knowledge, wisdom, and experience.
• 8:36
  Suze: I'm wise enough to know to stop while I'm still
• 8:38
  Suze: maybe a little bit ahead.
• 8:40
  KT: OK. My next email is from Elizabeth. She said, Hi,
• 8:42
  KT: KT and Suze. I just recently started listening to your podcast.
• 8:47
  KT: I know. Where have I been?
• 8:49
  Suze: Oh my God, that's so funny. You know what I
• 8:50
  Suze: just thought to myself as she said that? I went, yeah,
• 8:53
  Suze: like where have you been for the past 45 years?
• 8:57
  KT: She answered you. She said, and I've gotten a serious education in
• 8:59
  KT: the three weeks since I started listening. I have looked
• 9:03
  KT: into the must-have documents. I've gotten my mother to talk
• 9:07
  KT: to a lawyer about a revocable trust and looked into
• 9:10
  KT: my life insurance policy, which I learned I don't need.
• 9:16
  KT: She said, my parents bought a universal life policy for
• 9:19
  KT: me when I was a minor and offered it to
• 9:22
  KT: me to take over when I turned 21.
• 9:25
  KT: I'm 54 and I've been carrying it ever since. I
• 9:30
  KT: thought it was important to have to take care of
• 9:32
  KT: funeral expenses, so I kept it. I know now that
• 9:36
  KT: I don't need it and there's no one who is
• 9:38
  KT: financially dependent on me. The yearly premium is $187 and
• 9:46
  KT: the current cash surrender value is about $5,200.
• 9:52
  KT: I think I know what you will say, but wanted
• 9:55
  KT: to ask what is the best way to make use
• 9:57
  KT: of this money once I cash it out. I'm guessing
• 10:01
  KT: a Roth. I've also been quite behind in my retirement,
• 10:05
  KT: but I was also considering paying down a credit card
• 10:08
  KT: with $8,200. Ooh ouch at 17.99%. I also do not
• 10:15
  KT: have an emergency fund, but Susie, I'm feeling very good
• 10:20
  KT: about this decision to ditch the insurance and would love
• 10:23
  KT: your input.
• 10:24
  Suze: So I'd like...
• 10:25
  KT: So she's starting, she's just listening to you.
• 10:28
  Suze: So Elizabeth, given that I just answered a question on
• 10:32
  Suze: term insurance and said in that question that I just
• 10:35
  Suze: hate universal variable and whole life insurance, now I get
• 10:39
  Suze: to give everybody an example of why you just heard
• 10:44
  Suze: Elizabeth write that her yearly premiums were only $187 a year.
• 10:54
  Suze: You also heard her say that she took it over
• 10:56
  Suze: at 21. She's now 54. That's 33 years.
• 11:02
  Suze: That she's been paying $187 a year and you also
• 11:07
  Suze: heard her say that the cash value of this policy
• 11:11
  Suze: was $5,200. Do you know that if Elizabeth had simply
• 11:18
  Suze: taken that $187 a year and put it somewhere and
• 11:24
  Suze: just got a 7% annual average rate of return, which
• 11:28
  Suze: is not that much.
• 11:31
  Suze: That she would have approximately $24,000.
• 11:38
  Suze: But instead, she has a life insurance policy that she
• 11:42
  Suze: doesn't need with a cash value of $5,200. Do you understand, everybody,
• 11:48
  Suze: that when you have a universal variable or whole life
• 11:51
  Suze: insurance policy,
• 11:53
  Suze: Why, probably it could be one of the biggest wastes
• 11:56
  Suze: of money ever versus a term policy, which probably at
• 12:01
  Suze: her age would have been $10 or $25 or $30
• 12:05
  Suze: even a year, who knows.
• 12:07
  Suze: And guess what, she could have invested that money. Now,
• 12:12
  Suze: what should she do with that money, KT? What's the answer?
• 12:16
  KT: Boy, I'd get that ouch out of my life. I'd
• 12:19
  KT: get rid of that credit card debt at 17.99.
• 12:22
  Suze: Ding a ding a ding a ding a ding a
• 12:24
  Suze: ding a ding. So listen, Elizabeth.
• 12:27
  Suze: What if I told you I can guarantee you an 18%
• 12:33
  Suze: return on your money without any risk, any downside, and
• 12:37
  Suze: I could do that. Would you take that?
• 12:40
  Suze: And you would absolutely say yes and how would we
• 12:44
  Suze: do that? We would get rid of it by getting
• 12:47
  Suze: rid of your $8,200 of credit card debt just that simple.
• 12:52
  Suze: So all $5,200 goes to pay off that debt and
• 12:59
  Suze: then your goal is going to be to absolutely be
• 13:04
  Suze: able to get $3,000 more dollars from somewhere.
• 13:08
  Suze: Saving. Well, I don't care where it is. You go
• 13:11
  Suze: out and you get another job, you do whatever it takes,
• 13:14
  Suze: and you get rid of all $80,200 of that debt.
• 13:20
  Suze: Then the money
• 13:21
  Suze: that you are paying towards that debt, you start putting
• 13:25
  Suze: it towards a Roth IRA because remember a Roth IRA
• 13:31
  Suze: no matter what your age or how long the money
• 13:34
  Suze: has been in there, you can take out your original
• 13:37
  Suze: contributions at any time without
• 13:40
  Suze: taxes or penalties. Therefore, your Roth IRA can double as
• 13:46
  Suze: an emergency savings account or an emergency fund if you
• 13:50
  Suze: just simply leave that money in a money market account
• 13:53
  Suze: within the Roth IRA. Once you have more money building there.
• 14:00
  Suze: Then we start your own emergency account, but for now,
• 14:05
  Suze: that is exactly what I want you to do.
• 14:08
  Suze: I just have to add one more thing, Elizabeth. I
• 14:12
  Suze: think I heard KT say that in the shorter period
• 14:16
  Suze: of time that you've been listening, you looked into the
• 14:19
  Suze: must-have documents and had your mother talk to an attorney
• 14:23
  Suze: about a living revocable trust. I just wanna say something.
• 14:27
  Suze: Make sure you listen to the webinar on June 4th.
• 14:32
  Suze: If you haven't registered, go to Suzeorman.com and do so,
• 14:36
  Suze: because it is in that webinar at the end,
• 14:41
  Suze: that there will be birthday pricing for the must-have documents. Now,
• 14:47
  Suze: I want you all to listen to me sometime at
• 14:50
  Suze: the end of June.
• 14:54
  Suze: You have to watch for this. The price is going
• 14:56
  Suze: to go up for the must-have documents to $153. So
• 15:02
  Suze: if there was ever a time that you wanted to
• 15:06
  Suze: get the must-have documents, it's for the birthday pricing, and
• 15:11
  Suze: you
• 15:11
  Suze: all know that I tie it towards my birthday age.
• 15:14
  KT: She's gonna be 75.
• 15:16
  Suze: So it's going to be $75. All right, so don't
• 15:21
  Suze: buy it now at $99. Wait until the birthday, June
• 15:27
  Suze: 4th pricing.
• 15:29
  Suze: And by the way, I just have to tell you
• 15:31
  Suze: this as well. The ultimate scam protection is also gonna
• 15:35
  Suze: be $75.
• 15:38
  KT: Isn't that supposed to be a surprise?
• 15:39
  Suze: Oh, who cares? I just don't want people, KT, to
• 15:43
  Suze: go and buy it now...
• 15:43
  KT: She doesn't want you to buy it now when we know on
• 15:46
  KT: June 4th, which is...
• 15:47
  Suze: Right around the corner, right, that you could buy it
• 15:50
  Suze: for less, but the main thing I wanted you to
• 15:53
  Suze: know is that those $2,500 worth of state of the
• 15:57
  Suze: art documents, good in all states that you can share
• 16:01
  Suze: with your mother, with your family members. I don't care
• 16:04
  Suze: if you have 25 family members, $75 but sometime at
• 16:10
  Suze: the end of June,
• 16:13
  Suze: it's going up to $153. Just think about it. And
• 16:21
  Suze: if you haven't done it before, now is the time.
• 16:24
  Suze: All right, KT. OK.
• 16:25
  KT: Next is from Irene. Irene is a mom who said, Suze,
• 16:30
  KT: I need your advice regarding purchasing or leasing a car
• 16:34
  KT: for a college student.
• 16:36
  Suze: That's simple. Purchase. Go on.
• 16:38
  KT: She said. My daughter's going into her sophomore year at college.
• 16:42
  KT: And she's attending a college in Florida that she's not
• 16:46
  KT: allowed in the next year to live on campus or
• 16:49
  KT: or they make it difficult. There's no housing, so she
• 16:52
  KT: said in this case she needs a car. Is it
• 16:55
  KT: worth it to lease one for three years or purchase
• 16:58
  KT: a used car?
• 17:00
  KT: I'm a single widow mother and she does want a
• 17:04
  KT: way to be able to work and help out, but
• 17:07
  KT: she needs a vehicle. Thank you so much from Irene.
• 17:11
  Suze: Here's the truth, Irene. She's not only needing a vehicle now,
• 17:15
  Suze: she's gonna need
• 17:15
  Suze: a vehicle for the rest of her life. I need
• 17:18
  Suze: you to think about it that way. When you lease
• 17:21
  Suze: a car, you pay for it for three years. At
• 17:24
  Suze: the end of the three years, you turn it back in.
• 17:27
  Suze: Now where are you? Now you have to do it
• 17:29
  Suze: all over again.
• 17:32
  Suze: Here's what you need to get, Irene. There are great
• 17:35
  Suze: used cars still out there. There really are. So look
• 17:40
  Suze: around and get her a car that's a used car,
• 17:44
  Suze: and if you have to finance it, fine, finance it
• 17:47
  Suze: over three years or so. And therefore, at the end
• 17:51
  Suze: of three years, guess what? She still has a car.
• 17:55
  Suze: Just saying.
• 17:56
  Suze: You know, KT, I know a lot of people are
• 17:58
  Suze: gonna say, but there's all these things you have to
• 18:00
  Suze: do to fix it, and this breaks, and it's just
• 18:03
  Suze: easier to get a brand new car. No, it's not.
• 18:06
  Suze: Don't be lazy. Don't be lazy and lease a car.
• 18:10
  Suze: All right, go on, KT.
• 18:12
  KT: OK, this is from Heather. Greetings KT and Suze. I'm
• 18:16
  KT: writing to ask for your advice on whether I should
• 18:19
  KT: purchase a long-term care insurance policy. I am 58 years old.
• 18:25
  KT: I'm a divorced female. I have three independent adult children.
• 18:31
  KT: My current net worth is 5.5 million, which includes 1.5
• 18:37
  KT: million in real estate and 4 million in investments at Fidelity.
• 18:42
  KT: I currently work as a server earning approximately $60,000 a year,
• 18:48
  KT: which is less than my annual expenses of $90,000 largely
• 18:53
  KT: due to taxes. I plan to wait until age 67
• 18:58
  KT: to take my maximum Social Security benefits, and I intend
• 19:02
  KT: to continue working as long as possible.
• 19:06
  KT: I do not have the extra cash in my current
• 19:09
  KT: budget to cover the premiums of a long-term care policy.
• 19:14
  KT: Should I purchase a policy or should I plan to
• 19:17
  KT: self-fund any potential nursing home care? Kindly, Heather.
• 19:24
  Suze: Heather, Heather, Heather, listen, before we even talk about if
• 19:28
  Suze: you should have long-term care insurance or not, I think
• 19:31
  Suze: you need to have a talk with your three adult children.
• 19:36
  Suze: And talk to them about kids. If something happens to mom,
• 19:40
  Suze: are you gonna let me move in with you? Do
• 19:43
  Suze: you even wanna move in with them? Do you have
• 19:45
  Suze: what it takes to also help me take care of
• 19:48
  Suze: myself as I get older?
• 19:50
  Suze: So that's the first thing you need to know. Number one,
• 19:54
  Suze: at 58 is the perfect age to look into getting
• 19:58
  Suze: long-term care insurance, and why is that? That's because most
• 20:02
  Suze: long-term care insurance policies skyrocket in premiums once you turn
• 20:08
  Suze: 60 or older in terms of self-funding. If you don't
• 20:14
  Suze: have the money today,
• 20:16
  Suze: in order to pay premiums and everything for long-term care.
• 20:21
  Suze: Why is that? It's because all you're looking at is
• 20:25
  Suze: what the amount of money that you bring in as
• 20:27
  Suze: a server.
• 20:29
  Suze: But you're ignoring the fact that you have $4 million
• 20:33
  Suze: in Fidelity. Put a pin in that for a second.
• 20:37
  Suze: If you don't have the money to pay for long-term
• 20:41
  Suze: care insurance today with that $4 million do you have
• 20:45
  Suze: any idea how fast $4 million will go down if
• 20:49
  Suze: you decide to self-insure and in 2 years from now
• 20:54
  Suze: you need full-time care? Are you kidding me?
• 20:58
  Suze: You are looking at probably one year paying more to
• 21:03
  Suze: self-insure yourself than you would maybe for the entire time
• 21:08
  Suze: you paid the premiums on the long-term care insurance policy.
• 21:12
  Suze: So if I were you, I would absolutely seriously consider it.
• 21:18
  Suze: Now, all of you know that I really think Phyllis
• 21:22
  Suze: Shelton is the absolute expert in the United States on
• 21:27
  Suze: long-term care insurance. She has many women who work with her.
• 21:32
  Suze: She will answer your questions for free and if you're
• 21:36
  Suze: interested and wanna know about long term care insurance, write
• 21:40
  Suze: Phyllis P H Y L L I S at gotLTCI.com. Again,
• 21:49
  Suze: I make absolutely no money if you use her.
• 21:52
  Suze: I just know when it comes to somebody being honest
• 21:55
  Suze: and to tell you what you need and what you
• 21:58
  Suze: don't need, she or the people that work with her
• 22:02
  Suze: will do that for you. KT, next question.
• 22:04
  KT: OK, this is from Lynn. I love this question.
• 22:07
  Suze: You just love it because it's your twin sister.
• 22:09
  KT: It is my sister's name, but listen to this. Hi, Suze.
• 22:13
  KT: I have to tell you, because of you the other
• 22:17
  KT: day I sat down with my husband and we went
• 22:20
  KT: over all of our finances. Now each time a bill
• 22:26
  KT: comes in, I am going to take care of it
• 22:29
  KT: to get used to it. Great. Now wait, here's the
• 22:32
  KT: best part of the email. Here's my question. Ready for this, everyone?
• 22:37
  KT: She's 75 years old and her husband's 78 and just now,
• 22:43
  KT: just now she is getting involved with her money, with their money.
• 22:48
  Suze: That's not surprising.
• 22:50
  KT: I love that. It's shocking to me.
• 22:51
  Suze: Maybe we share the same birthday.
• 22:55
  KT: I don't know, but she said we have an
• 22:57
  KT: account with Morgan Stanley. I know we have some ETFs,
• 23:02
  KT: but we also have many mutual funds. Should we be
• 23:06
  KT: selling those and investing more in ETFs at our age,
• 23:11
  KT: I do worry about not having a long time to
• 23:15
  KT: recover from losses in the stock market.
• 23:19
  KT: So I love this email.
• 23:21
  Suze: I see that.
• 23:22
  KT: Tell her to listen to the 4th. June 4th.
• 23:24
  Suze: Yeah, make sure you tune in June 4th to the
• 23:26
  Suze: webinar because Keith and I will be talking about that.
• 23:30
  Suze: We're gonna be talking about, by the way.
• 23:33
  Suze: Our opinion on bonds and I personally don't like bonds
• 23:37
  Suze: right now overall. I'll talk more about that on June
• 23:40
  Suze: 4th and I do think, however, dividend paying stocks that
• 23:45
  Suze: will also give you growth are where you wanna go
• 23:48
  Suze: when you do need income because you have to keep
• 23:52
  Suze: up with inflation and I personally think inflation is here
• 23:56
  Suze: to stay. I have a feeling that you
• 23:59
  Suze: need to make sure that you look at what your
• 24:03
  Suze: holdings are in your exchange traded funds that you currently
• 24:07
  Suze: have as well as your mutual funds that you have
• 24:11
  Suze: and do you have loaded mutual funds where you paid
• 24:13
  Suze: a commission to the financial adviser or are they no
• 24:17
  Suze: loaded funds and are you paying an investment advisory fee
• 24:23
  Suze: to that broker?
• 24:25
  Suze: So, that is what's important to understand about your money,
• 24:31
  Suze: because I would also venture a guess that you own
• 24:34
  Suze: many mutual funds and ETFs that all own the same
• 24:38
  Suze: stocks within the ETFs and mutual funds. So it is
• 24:42
  Suze: not just across the board that you should get rid
• 24:45
  Suze: of your mutual funds to do ETFs. What is across
• 24:50
  Suze: the board is this.
• 24:51
  Suze: Are you invested appropriately for what your needs and wants are?
• 24:58
  Suze: Do you feel secure in what you have and do
• 25:01
  Suze: you know what you have? So that's the key here.
• 25:05
  Suze: So if I were you, I would go and pay
• 25:07
  Suze: a visit to the Morgan Stanley broker and ask all
• 25:12
  Suze: those questions and have him go or her go through
• 25:17
  Suze: everything that is within every mutual fund and ETF that
• 25:21
  Suze: you have. And of course I'm going to want you
• 25:24
  Suze: to add the ETF F I T Z, to the equation.
• 25:30
  Suze: All right, yes, KT.
• 25:31
  KT: This is a very interesting one. This is from Cherise,
• 25:35
  KT: and she said, Hi, Suze. My husband and I got
• 25:38
  KT: married in 2018, and we have two kids, 6 and 4.
• 25:44
  KT: We combined finances in 2021 and bought a town home
• 25:48
  KT: in 2022 that honestly was probably a bit too expensive.
• 25:54
  Suze: I know where this is going.
• 25:55
  KT: Ready about 6 months later, right after baby number two,
• 25:59
  KT: he moved out. He said it was for his health
• 26:02
  KT: and that he needed time. He got his own apartment
• 26:06
  KT: and continued paying half of daycare, but I was left
• 26:10
  KT: covering the mortgage and utilities. Friends advised me to beg
• 26:15
  KT: him to come back.
• 26:17
  Suze: Get new friends. What is that about?
• 26:20
  KT: Well, wait a minute. After about six months, he did
• 26:23
  KT: that decision was more about my own sanity and stability
• 26:27
  KT: than anything else. Fast forward to now our youngest is four.
• 26:32
  KT: Our relationship is still strained, and communication is not our
• 26:37
  KT: strong suit, but we are good business partners.
• 26:42
  KT: I know I hate this, but we're both financially driven,
• 26:46
  KT: come from humble beginnings with no support, but each other
• 26:50
  KT: and the kids love him, so we are trying to
• 26:53
  KT: make it work. We've also aligned on a pretty aggressive
• 26:56
  KT: goal of reaching 5 million in the next 10 years.
• 27:01
  KT: My question is, before marriage, I had about 300,000 in assets.
• 27:07
  KT: He had about $100,000.
• 27:10
  KT: As we prepare to sell the town house, I have
• 27:13
  KT: an opportunity to separate out and protect my premarital assets,
• 27:19
  KT: and he's agreed to that verbally.
• 27:21
  KT: What's the best way to actually do this? Should I
• 27:24
  KT: buy a small condo in my own name or just
• 27:28
  KT: keep the money in a separate account? More broadly, how
• 27:32
  KT: do you keep some level of financial separation just in
• 27:36
  KT: case while still building a life and future together, especially
• 27:41
  KT: with kids.
• 27:43
  KT: I don't know about building a life and future together.
• 27:46
  KT: Do you, Suze?
• 27:47
  Suze: I tell you what I do know. What? All right,
• 27:50
  Suze: everybody sit down, sit down, because I haven't been aggravated
• 27:55
  Suze: at all in this podcast. But here's what I want
• 28:00
  Suze: to say to you, Cherise. Listen to me.
• 28:03
  Suze: I don't know what kind of friends begged you to
• 28:06
  Suze: go back on somebody who left you. All right, fine,
• 28:10
  Suze: and you did.
• 28:12
  Suze: But to answer your question number one, you are to
• 28:16
  Suze: sell this townhouse, and when you do, all of your
• 28:21
  Suze: premarital money is to go where? into a separate account
• 28:26
  Suze: in just your name, period.
• 28:30
  Suze: Just that simple. All right. However, here's what concerns me.
• 28:35
  Suze: If you can't communicate with him, which you said, your
• 28:40
  Suze: communication was not the best.
• 28:43
  Suze: You said that your relationship is still strained. What are
• 28:49
  Suze: you doing? You have a 6-year-old now. Nowhere did I
• 28:54
  Suze: hear KT say how old you were, but I'm still
• 28:59
  Suze: going to assume if you have a 6-year-old, you are
• 29:02
  Suze: still relatively young, maybe in your 40s, maybe your early 50s,
• 29:07
  Suze: who knows? What are you doing?
• 29:12
  Suze: And your goal is to accumulate $5 million then what?
• 29:18
  Suze: And the kids love him, so what? That doesn't mean
• 29:23
  Suze: he has to be out of their life, but I'm
• 29:25
  Suze: telling you this right now. In my opinion, he should
• 29:28
  Suze: be out of your life, period. So you separate the money.
• 29:34
  Suze: You separate from him. You take a leave. You say
• 29:39
  Suze: you need some time because girlfriend, you need time to see,
• 29:43
  Suze: can you make it on your own? You need that,
• 29:46
  Suze: and I know that you can.
• 29:48
  Suze: You don't put money before people and the people I'm
• 29:52
  Suze: talking about is you. You wanna build financial wealth with
• 29:56
  Suze: this man, but what do you wanna build emotionally for yourself?
• 30:01
  Suze: What are you showing your kids that, oh, stay with
• 30:04
  Suze: somebody that it's strained and
• 30:06
  Suze: your communication isn't good, but, but you make good partners.
• 30:09
  Suze: There's no way you can make good partners if your
• 30:11
  Suze: communication is not good, and you are asking the questions,
• 30:17
  Suze: how do you keep things separate? How do you do that?
• 30:19
  Suze: The way you keep things separate is to separate and
• 30:24
  Suze: to literally give it a try.
• 30:27
  Suze: And therefore if you legally separate then all the money
• 30:31
  Suze: that you earned during that time, guess what, that's your money,
• 30:37
  Suze: not to be split together obviously you've done far better
• 30:42
  Suze: with money than he has obviously you were able to
• 30:45
  Suze: do great by yourself.
• 30:48
  Suze: And now you bought something that was a little bit
• 30:51
  Suze: too expensive and now you're asking this bottom line, girlfriend
• 30:54
  Suze: is separate, separate, separate, and look at the email that
• 31:00
  Suze: you wrote, the words that you used, and you will
• 31:05
  Suze: see that you have answered your own question.
• 31:09
  KT: Suze, I love that answer. You know why? Why? Because
• 31:12
  KT: when I was reading that I was thinking, what is
• 31:15
  KT: wrong with people that they put money as a priority?
• 31:20
  Suze: That's KT, not what they're really doing. What they're doing
• 31:23
  Suze: is they're afraid. Remember, everybody, I tell you, fear, shame,
• 31:27
  Suze: and anger, the three internal obstacles to wealth. She was
• 31:31
  Suze: afraid that she couldn't make it on her own.
• 31:34
  Suze: Right? She was afraid that she needed help.
• 31:38
  Suze: So, people stick in a situation, usually because they like
• 31:44
  Suze: their house, they want the kids to be OK, and
• 31:47
  Suze: they don't know what they would do if they would separate.
• 31:50
  Suze: Well, I can tell you out of the thousands that
• 31:52
  Suze: I've actually talked to that left without the answer to
• 31:58
  Suze: that question, they are doing so well. They have homes,
• 32:03
  Suze: this and that they're happy. So I am hoping all
• 32:08
  Suze: of you understood why I answered it the way I did.
• 32:11
  Suze: And if you happen to be in a situation like that,
• 32:15
  Suze: please put your heart before.
• 32:20
  Suze: Your head. All right, you know, it's funny, KT, when
• 32:24
  Suze: you go into temples all over the world and you bow,
• 32:29
  Suze: I always think to myself, do you know why people bow.
• 32:33
  Suze: I don't know if this is true or not. I've
• 32:34
  Suze: made this up so that for that moment in time
• 32:39
  Suze: your heart is above your head. It's your head and
• 32:43
  Suze: what you think and what other people think that will
• 32:47
  Suze: always get you in trouble. It's how you feel, how
• 32:51
  Suze: you want to feel, how you deserve to feel, that
• 32:55
  Suze: will really give you the happiness in life that you deserve.
• 33:01
  Suze: That's all I need to say. All right, KT, so
• 33:05
  Suze: until Sunday, I've no idea what Suze School is gonna
• 33:07
  Suze: be about.
• 33:08
  Suze: I have to tell you I loved last week's Suze School.
• 33:12
  Suze: I sat down. It was clear. It was exactly what
• 33:16
  Suze: I wanted to say. I didn't ramble. Sometimes I ramble.
• 33:19
  Suze: I know I ramble, but anyway, I loved it. If
• 33:23
  Suze: you haven't listened to it, listen to it. It's why
• 33:25
  Suze: I hate target date mutual funds, but it also gives
• 33:30
  Suze: you a little synopsis on.
• 33:31
  Suze: The economy, inflation, interest rates, bonds, and all of that.
• 33:37
  Suze: But until next Sunday, there's only one thing that we
• 33:40
  Suze: want people to remember. And what is it, KT?
• 33:42
  KT: It is this people first, then money, then things.
• 33:46
  Suze: And a tomato is a fruit, but don't put it
• 33:49
  Suze: in a fruit salad. All right, everybody, talk to you soon.
• 33:52
  KT: Bye bye.