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How To Avoid Tax Penalties on Roth Conversion · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:07
  Suze: February 19, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women in Money
• 0:12
  Suze: podcast and Everybody Smart Enough to Listen. This is the
• 0:16
  Suze: KT and Suze where you ask us anything. You write
• 0:19
  Suze: into ask Suze podcast at gmail.com.
• 0:23
  Suze: Send in your question, and if KT chooses it, oh,
• 0:27
  Suze: we'll answer it on this podcast. So, Miss Travis, she's
• 0:33
  Suze: being silent. Wanna know why?
• 0:35
  Suze: I'll tell you why, because I hurt her feelings last
• 0:39
  Suze: Sunday because I asked Robert to ask the questions and
• 0:43
  Suze: not her.
• 0:44
  KT: Robert, I love you, but she should have asked me
• 0:46
  KT: to do that job.
• 0:48
  Suze: That's her job. She takes it very serious.
• 0:51
  Suze: But there was no way for us to video us.
• 0:53
  KT: We couldn't do it in the same little studio. Um,
• 0:58
  KT: it didn't, it didn't work. We don't have all those cameras.
• 0:59
  Suze: But trust me, everybody...
• 1:02
  KT: If we do it again, I'm going somewhere renting a
• 1:05
  KT: big studio for me. Leave Suze in this little itty
• 1:09
  KT: bitty studio, and we're gonna do it where I will
• 1:12
  KT: ask the questions.
• 1:14
  KT: But wasn't it great? Everyone? Keith and Suze have a
• 1:17
  KT: great energy, fabulous, um, dynamic. I loved listening to them first,
• 1:23
  KT: then I watched it on YouTube, and it was just
• 1:27
  KT: equally great. I loved the whole thing. I think she
• 1:30
  KT: should do it at least once a month, at least.
• 1:33
  Suze: There we go. And by the way...
• 1:34
  Suze: I just have to say for all of you, if
• 1:37
  Suze: you want to see us, we did finally tape a YouTube.
• 1:42
  Suze: Go to youtube.com/ Suze Orman and you can see both Mr.
• 1:47
  Suze: Fitz-Gerald and myself talking to one another, and you can
• 1:51
  Suze: also get a glimpse of Robert. All right, KT.
• 1:53
  KT: First, I have an, I have an announcement.
• 1:57
  KT: Suze, I want to wish all of my friends in Asia,
• 2:01
  KT: especially in Hong Kong, a very, very lucky Gong Xi Fa Cai. It
• 2:08
  KT: is the Lunar New Year. It started on the 17th
• 2:12
  KT: of February.
• 2:13
  KT: And it's the 19th today and we wanna wish everyone
• 2:18
  KT: a very, very happy year of the horse, a lucky year.
• 2:23
  Suze: What does that year mean?
• 2:24
  KT: There's many, many different attributes they're gonna have to look
• 2:27
  KT: it up, but it's a good sign. It's a good year.
• 2:30
  Suze: What are you?
• 2:31
  KT: I'm the best.
• 2:32
  KT: I'm, I'm a dragon, everybody. I'm a water dragon, which
• 2:37
  KT: is the single most powerful and probably the very best
• 2:42
  KT: sign you would ever want to be born to.
• 2:44
  Suze: And why is that?
• 2:45
  KT: Because a dragon's number one in the, in the scheme
• 2:49
  KT: of the horoscope, and water is a, uh, there's elements.
• 2:54
  KT: There's the fire dragon, the earth dragon, the water dragon,
• 2:57
  KT: and the metal dragon, I think, and the water dragon.
• 3:01
  KT: Puts out the fire dragon and gives sustenance to all
• 3:05
  KT: the other dragons.
• 3:07
  Suze: You're my little dragon. I can tell you that. All right, sweetheart,
• 3:10
  KT: My first email is a thank you. I like to
• 3:13
  KT: open with thank you notes.
• 3:14
  Suze: Notice everybody, I didn't ask what am I because I
• 3:16
  Suze: have no idea. Do you know what I am?
• 3:19
  KT: I think you're...
• 3:20
  Suze: A rabbit?
• 3:21
  KT: I think you're the, you're the rabbit for sure. You're
• 3:23
  KT: a rabbit.
• 3:24
  Suze: Hippity hop rabbit,
• 3:25
  Suze: Rabbit, Rabbit.
• 3:26
  KT: So Karen wrote, thank you, Suze and KT for helping
• 3:29
  KT: the masses of us out here.
• 3:33
  KT: That makes me sad, Karen, as I continue...
• 3:35
  Suze: Why does that make you sad?
• 3:37
  KT: For helping the masses. It's like everybody needs help.
• 3:42
  KT: I wish there weren't masses of people that need financial help,
• 3:45
  KT: but they do. As I continue on as a 67
• 3:49
  KT: year old widow, you've helped me to discover that I
• 3:53
  KT: can do this and live on. Your life's work is
• 3:57
  KT: so appreciated, and Karen sent a big heart to Suze, especially.
• 4:03
  KT: So thanks, Karen, for that note. Makes us feel good.
• 4:05
  Suze: You know, it's really important, everybody, to have belief in
• 4:09
  Suze: who you are.
• 4:11
  Suze: And to have belief in what's possible and what you
• 4:14
  Suze: can really do and to not buy the ticket that
• 4:17
  Suze: many people are trying to sell you, which is you
• 4:20
  Suze: need help, it's too complicated, you don't have what it
• 4:24
  Suze: takes you weren't good in math. Bottom line, there isn't
• 4:27
  Suze: an excuse strong enough to keep you from being who
• 4:30
  Suze: you are meant to be, KT.
• 4:32
  KT: That's true. Next one is from Jermaine, and Jermaine said, Suze,
• 4:38
  KT: I purchased your must-have documents in 2021.
• 4:42
  KT: And I have not completed them because I don't have
• 4:45
  KT: an executor. How do I set up your must-have documents
• 4:49
  KT: when I don't have an executor? I'm 54 years old.
• 4:54
  KT: I don't have any children. I don't have any family.
• 4:57
  KT: I'm in year five, woo, year five of a divorce case,
• 5:03
  KT: and I don't want my money to end up in
• 5:05
  KT: his hands. OK, Suze.
• 5:09
  KT: But listen, the reason I picked this, everyone in the
• 5:12
  KT: subject line, she wrote, Lone Wolf with a quick question. Oh,
• 5:17
  KT: thank you, Jermaine. So Suze, what should she do?
• 5:20
  Suze: So, first of all, most likely if I were you,
• 5:23
  Suze: and you probably already have one, if you are in
• 5:27
  Suze: five years of a divorce, I think that means that
• 5:30
  Suze: you each have a lawyer at this point in time.
• 5:33
  Suze: Don't you think, KT?
• 5:34
  KT: I would assume that. We don't know, right?
• 5:36
  Suze: So let's say you don't.
• 5:38
  Suze: The very first thing I would do if I were you, Jermaine,
• 5:41
  Suze: is I would get a really great lawyer, believe it
• 5:44
  Suze: or not, just to make sure that everything is the
• 5:50
  Suze: way it should be, not necessarily with your trust in
• 5:53
  Suze: your will, but really with this divorce, cause that has
• 5:57
  Suze: to settle, and you need to know who has what
• 6:01
  Suze: and this before you can actually set up anything in
• 6:05
  Suze: terms of an executor.
• 6:07
  Suze: If you don't have any children, does that mean you
• 6:09
  Suze: don't have any best friends? You don't have any people
• 6:13
  Suze: that you trust? An aunt, a sister, a brother, anybody
• 6:18
  Suze: can be your successor trustee if you have a trust
• 6:22
  Suze: and or your
• 6:23
  Suze: executor, if you really, really don't have anyone, then you
• 6:28
  Suze: need a professional trustee. It can be a lawyer. It
• 6:32
  Suze: can be somebody at a bank, whatever it may be,
• 6:36
  Suze: but there's gotta be somebody in your life that you love,
• 6:41
  Suze: you trust, and that you can name them to be
• 6:45
  Suze: the executor and or successor trustee because you need a
• 6:48
  Suze: trust as well. You just need to ask them if
• 6:51
  Suze: they want it, all right.
• 6:54
  KT: OK, the next question is...
• 6:55
  Suze: We had that problem.
• 6:57
  KT: What, what problem with not having exact, oh no, no, no,
• 7:01
  KT: we had a different problem. We have so many family
• 7:05
  KT: members and friends and lawyers and professionals that first Suze
• 7:11
  KT: and I, when we met each other, we made, I
• 7:13
  KT: think it was our, our office manager, our successor trustee,
• 7:17
  KT: then it turned into a family member.
• 7:20
  KT: Then it turned into, should we go because we became
• 7:23
  KT: more and more complicated with our trust and our assets
• 7:27
  KT: and our, our life and we didn't want them to,
• 7:30
  KT: we didn't wanna worry them.
• 7:32
  Suze: So it's always great if you have a complicated situation
• 7:36
  Suze: to have a professional trustee.
• 7:38
  KT: Yeah.
• 7:39
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 7:39
  KT: OK, this next one is from Jordan. Jordan has a
• 7:42
  KT: home loan question.
• 7:44
  KT: But this is how he's opening. He said, Hi, KT
• 7:47
  KT: and Suze. First, a huge thank you. I picked up
• 7:52
  KT: a copy of the money book for the Young, Fabulous,
• 7:55
  KT: and Broke, 15 years ago. It completely changed the trajectory
• 8:01
  KT: of my financial life. I am endlessly grateful. So, Jordan,
• 8:06
  KT: you must 15 years ago and if you followed that book, wow,
• 8:10
  KT: you must be doing great.
• 8:12
  KT: He said, my husband and I bought a condo three
• 8:14
  KT: years ago and have been anxiously waiting for interest rates
• 8:18
  KT: to fall so that we could refinance a current rate
• 8:23
  KT: of 6.75%.
• 8:25
  KT: Our mortgage broker suggested something called an all in one loan.
• 8:31
  KT: Wait a minute, Suze. I think sometimes referred to as
• 8:34
  KT: a first lean mortgage. He said that he has some
• 8:38
  KT: clients who have paid off their homes in four to
• 8:42
  KT: 10 years by using this product.
• 8:45
  KT: Now Jordan said, I'm hesitant. Seems there could be some
• 8:49
  KT: downsides but significant upside if it works as advertised. The
• 8:55
  KT: thought of paying off our mortgage in less than 10
• 8:57
  KT: years is very exciting. But here's the best part: Thank
• 9:02
  KT: you ladies, Jordan and Nick, men smart enough to listen.
• 9:06
  Suze: Now, why do you think I went, ugh,
• 9:08
  KT: I don't know, but I never heard of that.
• 9:10
  Suze: Of course you never did. But anyway, why do you
• 9:12
  Suze: think I did that? Because I don't want, why, why
• 9:14
  Suze: would I do that?
• 9:16
  KT: Because you don't like it when you, when you do this,
• 9:19
  KT: when she does sound effects, everyone.
• 9:21
  KT: You have to get ready. Like, prepare yourself, brace yourself
• 9:25
  KT: when Suze does a sound effect like that, like, oh no,
• 9:29
  KT: or like, really? That's when you know she's not...
• 9:33
  Suze: That's not why I did it.
• 9:34
  KT: Oh, why'd you do it?
• 9:36
  Suze: See, I'm gonna surprise you.
• 9:37
  KT: Why'd you do it?
• 9:38
  Suze: Because, as you know, I go through some of these emails.
• 9:43
  Suze: And when I read this, I was so upset. I
• 9:48
  Suze: answered Jordan and Nick in great detail, but I left
• 9:52
  Suze: it there, and I was hoping that you weren't going
• 9:55
  Suze: to read it or pick it.
• 9:58
  Suze: Because I don't want people to know about these mortgages
• 10:01
  Suze: because I hate these mortgages and I don't even want
• 10:04
  Suze: these types of things in people's heads. So now I'm
• 10:07
  Suze: gonna have to tell everybody, KT about something that I
• 10:11
  Suze: think is the biggest waste of time and money ever.
• 10:14
  Suze: So are you ready, everybody? Thanks to KT, I'm gonna
• 10:17
  Suze: talk about this. All right. So first of all, what
• 10:20
  Suze: exactly is an all in one loan?
• 10:24
  Suze: Very simple. It's basically where you have this mortgage. It's
• 10:28
  Suze: like a home equity line of credit as well, and
• 10:31
  Suze: you deposit your paycheck directly into the mortgage account. Every
• 10:37
  Suze: dollar that's sitting in there reduces your principal immediately. You
• 10:42
  Suze: deposit $10,000 or $15,000, KT, it reduces $250,000 to let's
• 10:48
  Suze: say $245,000 to $50,000 whatever it may be, all right.
• 10:52
  Suze: And interest is then calculated on the lower balance, and
• 10:57
  Suze: then when you spend money, the balance goes back up
• 11:01
  Suze: so it usually functions like a revolving credit line like
• 11:05
  Suze: I said, similar to a HELOC. It sounds brilliant because
• 11:10
  Suze: it's true mathematically it can reduce interest if used perfectly.
• 11:16
  Suze: So, who are the idiots that use this?
• 11:20
  KT: Alright, there you go.
• 11:22
  Suze: If a household has very high income, they keep large
• 11:26
  Suze: cash balances. They have low spending relative to income. So
• 11:30
  Suze: you put in a, a check for $30,000 and your
• 11:33
  Suze: monthly expenses are $10,000. Then the $20,000 goes in to
• 11:37
  Suze: start to reduce it, OK. They don't carry any consumer debt.
• 11:42
  Suze: They have really strong KT, they're really good with money.
• 11:46
  Suze: So then, like I said.
• 11:47
  Suze: The math will work, but here is the truth, everybody.
• 11:51
  Suze: It is not the loan that's paying off the house.
• 11:54
  Suze: It's your money. It's the excess cash flow. What is
• 11:58
  Suze: wrong with all of you? So, listen, these loans are
• 12:02
  Suze: usually at an adjustable rate. They're probably higher than what
• 12:07
  Suze: they're paying on their mortgage right now, 6.75%, whatever it
• 12:10
  Suze: may be, all right.
• 12:12
  Suze: But every time you swipe a debit card or whatever
• 12:15
  Suze: you're borrowing against the value of your home, and I'm
• 12:19
  Suze: just telling you it makes no sense. Listen boys and everybody,
• 12:24
  Suze: if you want to own your house outright in 10 years,
• 12:27
  Suze: don't do it this way. Just put that extra money
• 12:31
  Suze: directly towards your mortgage, period. Otherwise you can get yourself
• 12:37
  Suze: in trouble. Remember, your mortgage forces you to pay down
• 12:40
  Suze: your principal.
• 12:42
  Suze: This does not, and listen, if the lender freezes the
• 12:46
  Suze: line like they did in 2008, don't ever forget that
• 12:50
  Suze: or your property values drop.
• 12:54
  Suze: Uh huh, you could be in serious trouble, so pay
• 12:59
  Suze: it off.
• 13:01
  Suze: Like you normally would, if you have extra cash, just
• 13:04
  Suze: put it right in towards the principal of your mortgage.
• 13:07
  Suze: You don't need this gimmick to pay off a mortgage
• 13:11
  Suze: and would probably make me not want to use that
• 13:13
  Suze: mortgage broker at all. OK, go on, KT.
• 13:17
  KT: Who knew? I did not know all of that.
• 13:19
  Suze: Yeah, they've, uh, they've been around for so long. When
• 13:22
  Suze: I was doing the Suze Orman show, I can't tell
• 13:24
  Suze: you how popular they were. Everybody wanted to do it
• 13:28
  Suze: and then came.
• 13:30
  Suze: The depression, house values dropped. 2007 froze all credit lines.
• 13:36
  Suze: Home equity lines of credit disappeared, and people were screwed.
• 13:40
  Suze: Can I just say it that way? All right.
• 13:43
  KT: Next question...
• 13:43
  Suze: Wait, I have to say something else.
• 13:45
  KT: OK.
• 13:46
  Suze: Listen, there's no easy ticket to ride here.
• 13:50
  Suze: There really isn't. Don't try to get around things. If
• 13:54
  Suze: you owe your taxes, pay your taxes. Don't do some
• 13:58
  Suze: gimmick that will help you save money on taxes, that
• 14:01
  Suze: will get you to pay off your mortgage cheaper, whatever
• 14:04
  Suze: it may be. Just stick to the rules, play by
• 14:08
  Suze: the game, and you will win. Gold medal, gold medal.
• 14:14
  KT: Oh, yeah, touchdown and gold.
• 14:16
  Suze: Oh my God, did your heart break when
• 14:18
  Suze: the skater, the male skater lost the gold medal. He
• 14:21
  Suze: didn't even place.
• 14:22
  KT: Elio.
• 14:23
  Suze: Oh, did that break your heart?
• 14:25
  KT: The quad god Elio, it broke my heart to see
• 14:28
  KT: his mom, who doesn't even watch the game. She, she
• 14:32
  KT: can't do it. She's, she was a professional skater, everyone.
• 14:35
  Suze: But, also, so, so it broke our hearts. All right, go on.
• 14:39
  KT: But his father hugged him like it was...
• 14:41
  Suze: Of course his father hugged him. All right.
• 14:44
  KT: OK, so from Amanda, Hi Suze and KT.
• 14:47
  KT: You were talking about the must-have docs on a recent podcast,
• 14:51
  KT: and it made me think harder about setting up a will.
• 14:55
  KT: I need to do it. I'm 42 years old. I
• 14:58
  KT: have little liquid funds, but already I have about $400,000
• 15:04
  KT: in retirement accounts, primarily traditional.
• 15:08
  KT: So in making my will...
• 15:10
  Suze: Mistake, mistake, mistake.
• 15:11
  KT: ...I know she'll tell you to do your Roth. All right, ready?
• 15:13
  KT: In making my will, can I leave people funds from
• 15:17
  KT: the retirement accounts? Also, how often should I be updating
• 15:22
  KT: my will? So Amanda, Suze's gonna tell you though, there's
• 15:27
  KT: another word that goes with will, and it's called trust.
• 15:30
  Suze: No, actually, what I'm gonna tell her, KT, is that listen, Amanda,
• 15:35
  Suze: given that your money is in...
• 15:37
  Suze: most of it anyway, in a retirement account. Number one,
• 15:41
  Suze: it's in a, a retirement account that's pre-tax. Please listen
• 15:45
  Suze: to the April 21st, 2024 podcast called Don't Be Partners
• 15:49
  Suze: with Uncle Sam. I wouldn't be doing that if I
• 15:53
  Suze: were you the way you're doing it, however, because it's
• 15:57
  Suze: an IRA.
• 15:59
  Suze: Just designate the beneficiaries that you want on your beneficiary form,
• 16:06
  Suze: and it goes directly to them and bypasses probate. You
• 16:10
  Suze: don't need a will simply to leave money that's in
• 16:13
  Suze: an IRA to somebody.
• 16:15
  Suze: However, is that all you really have? Do you not
• 16:18
  Suze: have anything around your house that anybody would want? Do
• 16:22
  Suze: you have all your paperwork in place that if all
• 16:25
  Suze: of a sudden you become sick, who's going to pay
• 16:27
  Suze: your bills for you? Who's gonna, you know, do all
• 16:29
  Suze: these things for you? So you really need to think
• 16:33
  Suze: more about.
• 16:35
  Suze: Can I leave the money that's in my IRA, the
• 16:38
  Suze: wrong kind of IRA, to somebody if I don't have
• 16:41
  Suze: a will? And how often should I update my will?
• 16:44
  Suze: What you should be doing is the must-have docs. You
• 16:46
  Suze: should go to must-havedocs.com.
• 16:49
  Suze: You should absolutely get them. They are a living revocable trust,
• 16:53
  Suze: an advanced directive, a durable power of attorney for health care,
• 16:56
  Suze: as well as finances, as well as a will. You
• 16:59
  Suze: can update them as much as you want, but truthfully,
• 17:02
  Suze: just designate for your individual retirement account the name of
• 17:08
  Suze: the people that you want to leave the money to.
• 17:12
  Suze: There you go, KT. $99 for over $2500 worth of state of the art doccuments.
• 17:16
  KT: I thought the price was gonna go up?
• 17:18
  Suze: I don't know why. Hay House didn't do that. Not
• 17:20
  Suze: my problem.
• 17:21
  KT: All right, everybody take advatnage... I know they're gonna raise it.
• 17:24
  Suze: I don't want them to. I hope they just leave
• 17:26
  Suze: it low for all of you forever, but...
• 17:28
  KT: There you go.
• 17:29
  Suze: What can I do?
• 17:29
  KT: OK, here's the next question. Hello, Suze and KT. I
• 17:32
  KT: bought a house with my sister in 2020, but I
• 17:36
  KT: would really like to have my own place. My question is,
• 17:39
  KT: how would it affect me or my sister tax-wise for
• 17:44
  KT: me to be on two mortgages? It certainly wouldn't make
• 17:48
  KT: any sense for my sister to refinance just to remove
• 17:51
  KT: my name.
• 17:52
  KT: So I'll stay on the mortgage even though I wouldn't
• 17:56
  KT: be living in this house. I'm just not sure if
• 17:59
  KT: this will affect things in ways I don't know about.
• 18:02
  KT: Is there anything I should be aware of?
• 18:04
  Suze: So here's what's funny, KT. I wrote these people back already.
• 18:09
  Suze: So again, you need to know I go through the
• 18:12
  Suze: emails and when one of them touches my heart.
• 18:16
  Suze: And this one touched my heart because here's a person
• 18:19
  Suze: that wasn't so much thinking about himself or herself, they
• 18:23
  Suze: were thinking about their sister, and to make sure it
• 18:27
  Suze: was OK for them. And when I read something like that,
• 18:30
  Suze: I just like that so much. But here's essentially what
• 18:35
  Suze: I told them that I'm not sure anybody realizes, but
• 18:38
  Suze: when any of you are on the mortgage of a home.
• 18:43
  Suze: You have to realize that you are 100% legally responsible
• 18:47
  Suze: for that debt. So in this case, if the sister
• 18:50
  Suze: KT misses a payment.
• 18:52
  Suze: It's going to hit his credit. So then when he
• 18:56
  Suze: applies for his own mortgage, lenders are going to count
• 18:59
  Suze: that full mortgage payment also in his debt to income ratio.
• 19:04
  Suze: So it may hurt him and not allow him to
• 19:07
  Suze: even qualify for a mortgage. Or if he does, it
• 19:10
  Suze: will be at a higher interest rate. So that's just something.
• 19:15
  Suze: So really it can reduce, you know, how much he
• 19:18
  Suze: can qualify for his interest rate, all of that.
• 19:21
  Suze: But here's the reality. As long as she's fine and
• 19:25
  Suze: can afford the mortgage, great. So let's say he gets
• 19:28
  Suze: a home.
• 19:30
  Suze: He can afford his mortgage. She's paying for hers, and
• 19:33
  Suze: now she's in a car accident. Something happens, and she
• 19:37
  Suze: can no longer work. Then the question becomes, can he
• 19:43
  Suze: afford both of those mortgages, his sister's as well as
• 19:48
  Suze: his own. So he has to understand the risk that
• 19:52
  Suze: he's in by being on that mortgage. If you understand
• 19:56
  Suze: the risks, OK.
• 19:58
  Suze: But if at all possible if she could refinance and
• 20:02
  Suze: just have it in her name, it would be so
• 20:05
  Suze: much better actually for him and for her too, not really,
• 20:09
  Suze: because I'm sure he's just on the mortgage and not
• 20:12
  Suze: on the title, so it doesn't really matter. I'm not
• 20:15
  Suze: sure about that, right? But, but anyway, they just need
• 20:19
  Suze: to talk about it. So you know, as he just
• 20:23
  Suze: needs to know the risks of it. However, for all
• 20:26
  Suze: of you.
• 20:28
  Suze: If somebody asks you to co-sign or be on a
• 20:31
  Suze: mortgage with them and they can't get the mortgage without
• 20:36
  Suze: you doing that, do yourself a favor and do them
• 20:39
  Suze: a favor and just don't do it, don't do it,
• 20:43
  Suze: don't do it, because if something happens, they're laid off,
• 20:48
  Suze: they can't afford it, they don't tell you they're not
• 20:50
  Suze: paying the mortgage, they then ruin your FICO score. I'm
• 20:53
  Suze: telling you, if they can't afford it on their own.
• 20:56
  Suze: They can't afford to buy a home. Sometimes helping is hurting,
• 21:02
  Suze: and sometimes hurting is helping KT. Next.
• 21:05
  KT: So, next question is from Kristen. She said, Hi Suze.
• 21:09
  KT: I'm a longtime listener.
• 21:10
  Suze: How come you don't laugh anymore?
• 21:13
  Suze: I'm serious. You used to laugh all the time on
• 21:16
  Suze: the podcast. I haven't heard you laugh lately.
• 21:18
  KT: I I laughed when you went, ugh.
• 21:21
  Suze: Not like you used to. You used to crack up.
• 21:24
  Suze: Now you don't crack up anymore.
• 21:25
  KT: Well, these are, these aren't laughable situations. That's one of
• 21:28
  KT: the reasons.
• 21:29
  Suze: Well, stop picking ones that are so serious. All right, go on.
• 21:32
  KT: All right, this is from Kristen.
• 21:34
  KT: Hi Suze, I'm a longtime listener and I've been slowly
• 21:37
  KT: converting my IRA to my Roth IRA by myself through Vanguard.
• 21:43
  KT: Good job, Kristen. This year is the first year I've
• 21:46
  KT: gotten a penalty as I did not withhold enough or
• 21:51
  KT: pay enough throughout the year. It was $164 but everything
• 21:56
  KT: counts these days.
• 21:58
  KT: So Kristen was penalized $164
• 22:01
  Suze: Yeah, because she, yeah, yeah, she underpaid her taxes.
• 22:04
  KT: Yeah, I have already converted this year 40,000 when the
• 22:08
  KT: market dropped, but I'm not sure how to avoid the
• 22:11
  KT: not withholding enough penalty.
• 22:15
  KT: It's kind of tricky, right? How do you do that, Suze?
• 22:17
  Suze: So what are you doing? I wrote her. I wrote her
• 22:19
  Suze: back as well. What are you doing? Picking the ones
• 22:21
  Suze: that I, are you reading my mind?
• 22:24
  KT: Maybe I can read your mind though, right? I can. Shen knows it.
• 22:28
  Suze: What am I thinking right now? Right now.
• 22:30
  KT: What do you want for lunch?
• 22:33
  Suze: No, I'm not thinking that at all. I'm thinking, why
• 22:37
  Suze: doesn't she laugh like she used to anyway? Here's the scoop, everybody.
• 22:42
  Suze: It is true that if you do a Roth conversion,
• 22:47
  Suze: you have to make sure, because you're gonna owe ordinary
• 22:50
  Suze: income tax on whatever amount you converted, and you usually
• 22:55
  Suze: kind of have to calculate that when you convert it. So,
• 22:58
  Suze: many people do withholding, many people do estimated tax payments, however,
• 23:05
  Suze: if you wanna avoid penalties.
• 23:08
  Suze: The way that you can make sure that you avoid
• 23:10
  Suze: penalties if you pay at least listen closely.
• 23:15
  Suze: 100% of last year's tax liability, so whatever you owed
• 23:21
  Suze: in taxes last year, or you're gonna owe 110% if
• 23:29
  Suze: your AGI was $150,000 or more. If you just pay
• 23:36
  Suze: that in withholding estimated payments, whatever it may be.
• 23:41
  Suze: So that's all you have to do, all right. And
• 23:44
  Suze: now you know, all right.
• 23:45
  KT: Last question, Susie, is from Jason.
• 23:48
  Suze: You didn't pick many this today. You thought I was
• 23:51
  Suze: gonna go on longer than I did, didn't you?
• 23:53
  KT: Usually she really, she goes overtime, and I'm saying if,
• 23:57
  KT: if anything, give them a, a little bit of a break.
• 23:59
  Suze: So wait, everybody have to know what it's like here. I
• 24:02
  Suze: start to answer a question. If I go too long,
• 24:05
  Suze: I do.
• 24:05
  Suze: She does this. She's doing it now.
• 24:07
  KT: We've got, we've got tape us together.
• 24:09
  Suze: Her hand is going counterclockwise in a circle with...
• 24:13
  KT: With my finger...
• 24:14
  Suze: pointing wrap it up, Suze, wrap it up.
• 24:16
  KT: It's called a wrap signal in TV world. Wrap it up,
• 24:19
  KT: and the, the producer, the director is always behind the camera.
• 24:23
  KT: And when you see that arm,
• 24:24
  Suze: You know, you have to wrap it.
• 24:25
  KT: They used to... remember when, um, they would wrap Oprah.
• 24:29
  Suze: Yeah, big one. A real big one.
• 24:31
  KT: Who was...
• 24:32
  Suze: Mark? He was so great. But anyway, but even more
• 24:36
  Suze: than that, I just have to tell everybody something else.
• 24:39
  Suze: So here we are taping, you know, the video to
• 24:42
  Suze: go on YouTube, right? And KT's in the room very
• 24:46
  Suze: close to me just watching.
• 24:48
  Suze: And all of a sudden from the corner of my
• 24:50
  Suze: eye I keep seeing her go to her hair and
• 24:54
  Suze: like get the hair out of her eyes as my
• 24:57
  Suze: signal to your hair is in your eyes, your hair
• 25:00
  Suze: get it out. You try to talk and concentrate and
• 25:03
  Suze: listen to Fitz and everything with KT
• 25:06
  Suze: going with her hand back through her head, get it
• 25:08
  Suze: out of your eyes, Suze get it out of the eyes.
• 25:11
  KT: I did a lot of signals when she had the
• 25:14
  KT: TV show. I would be out there in the studio
• 25:17
  KT: with her and finally Amy, our executive producer, was so
• 25:21
  KT: mad that I would distract her all the time.
• 25:23
  KT: Or I would say no stop because I didn't like
• 25:26
  KT: the way that she was sitting or slouching or how
• 25:29
  KT: her shirt was buttoned, some things like that.
• 25:32
  Suze: It's been such a pain in the, you know, go
• 25:34
  Suze: on KT.
• 25:35
  KT: All right, my last and final question is from Jason.
• 25:39
  KT: I like this question. Good morning, Suze and KT. Can
• 25:43
  KT: you explain the difference between an individual and a custodial 529 plan?
• 25:49
  Suze: I can't believe it.
• 25:51
  KT: What?
• 25:52
  Suze: I wrote them back too.
• 25:54
  KT: My partner and I wanna open a 529 for her
• 25:57
  KT: seven year old daughter. I am 46. My partner's 35.
• 26:02
  KT: Thanks for the show. This is from Jason, and then
• 26:06
  KT: at the end of this, this is the best part.
• 26:08
  KT: This is why I picked you, Jason. PS Her daughter
• 26:12
  KT: already
• 26:12
  KT: has a Roth for minors. Woohoo.
• 26:17
  Suze: Now that line was the reason I wrote them back.
• 26:20
  KT: Yeah, and the reason I picked this, see, great minds
• 26:23
  KT: think alike, Suze.
• 26:24
  Suze: There you go.
• 26:25
  KT: I love this.
• 26:26
  Suze: So Jason, since you already know the answer to this,
• 26:30
  Suze: we can just wrap the show. But for everybody who
• 26:32
  Suze: wants to know.
• 26:34
  Suze: Very simple. Don't ever do a custodial 529 account. It's
• 26:40
  Suze: like a Uniform Gift to Minors Act account. It is
• 26:44
  Suze: the property of the child, so the child owns it.
• 26:48
  Suze: It's gonna hurt them for financial aid once they
• 26:51
  Suze: turn 18, the money is theirs, blah blah blah blah.
• 26:56
  Suze: If you do a straight 529 plan where the mom
• 26:59
  Suze: owns it, it's still the mom's asset. It doesn't hurt
• 27:04
  Suze: her daughter for financial aid if the daughter doesn't want
• 27:07
  Suze: to go to school for whatever reason.
• 27:10
  Suze: She can transfer it to whoever she wants, another child
• 27:13
  Suze: if they have it, or another beneficiary, and on and
• 27:15
  Suze: on to make it very simple. Stay away from UGMA, UTMA,
• 27:22
  Suze: and custodial 529 plans.
• 27:26
  Suze: Is that really it? I feel like it's so short today.
• 27:29
  KT: That is a wrap. That was a nice podcast, very diversified,
• 27:33
  KT: very informative. Some simple questions, some a little more complicated.
• 27:38
  Suze: There was not one complicated.
• 27:40
  KT: There was one that... that you hated...
• 27:41
  Suze: But that wasn't complicated. It was easy to know just
• 27:45
  Suze: said don't do it, everybody, right, and everything. All right, so.
• 27:49
  Suze: Until Sunday when we will have another Suze school. I
• 27:53
  Suze: have no idea what the topic is going to be,
• 27:55
  Suze: but everybody remember, go to youtube.com/ Suze Orman. Don't forget
• 28:01
  Suze: to subscribe because as you can tell, Ms. Travis is
• 28:06
  Suze: wanting us to put this podcast on YouTube. She wants
• 28:10
  Suze: to be visible. Is that true?
• 28:13
  KT: No, I just think it, you look great on YouTube.
• 28:16
  KT: I think that you're very engaging.
• 28:18
  KT: And people will learn more by watching you than just
• 28:21
  KT: listening to you. I really believe that it's OK. We
• 28:26
  KT: can do it. I'll spend more time. We'll, we'll put
• 28:28
  KT: more effort into Suze because you will love watching her,
• 28:33
  KT: especially when she gets real animated. Wait, she made Keith
• 28:37
  KT: turn red twice in the YouTube. So it's worth it
• 28:41
  KT: just to watch it to see what she says that
• 28:43
  KT: makes Keith turn all red.
• 28:44
  Suze: Yeah, but most of them will be just me, KT,
• 28:47
  Suze: and me and you, so you better be ready to
• 28:50
  Suze: do it. But wait, everybody, I just have to tell
• 28:52
  Suze: you one thing since we didn't have a whole lot
• 28:54
  Suze: of questions today for some reason. Miss Travis didn't pick
• 28:57
  Suze: a lot, which is when I was little.
• 29:02
  Suze: I would sit there because we only had one bathroom
• 29:04
  Suze: and I would just sit in the little bathroom on
• 29:06
  Suze: the toilet with the toilet closed, no big deal. I'd
• 29:09
  Suze: sit on the toilet watching my father shave and get
• 29:13
  Suze: ready to go out. Maybe it took him 15 minutes
• 29:16
  Suze: at most for everything. Then I would wait and my
• 29:19
  Suze: mom would come in and then she would put all
• 29:22
  Suze: this makeup on and it would take at least a half hour,
• 29:26
  Suze: 45 minutes just for the cream, da da da da da, everything.
• 29:31
  Suze: And I started to think, I go, Mom, this is nuts.
• 29:36
  Suze: Look how long it takes you to get ready and
• 29:38
  Suze: look how little it takes Dad to get ready. Then
• 29:41
  Suze: we would go out shopping. I'd go and be with
• 29:43
  Suze: my mom, and we would go into these department stores,
• 29:45
  Suze: and she would buy all this makeup. And when my
• 29:48
  Suze: dad would take me cause for some reason one was
• 29:51
  Suze: always working, so I'd be with the other.
• 29:53
  Suze: My dad never bought anything like that. So finally, I
• 29:57
  Suze: was maybe eight years old now, and I'm sitting down
• 30:00
  Suze: with my mind, go, mom, I want you to know
• 30:03
  Suze: I figured something out. Makeup is an economic plot against women.
• 30:09
  Suze: Men don't do it, Mom. It takes us more time,
• 30:13
  Suze: and it's an economic plot, and because of that, how
• 30:17
  Suze: old do you think I was the first time
• 30:21
  Suze: that I put makeup on and I had to put
• 30:23
  Suze: it on because somebody was photographing me and so they
• 30:27
  Suze: made me put it on. How old do you think
• 30:29
  Suze: I was?
• 30:29
  KT: Probably your early 30s, right?
• 30:31
  Suze: Yeah, I was 35. What made you say that?
• 30:34
  KT: Because as a waitress you never wore makeup, right?
• 30:37
  Suze: I never, I, and when I was first a stockbroker,
• 30:39
  Suze: I never wore makeup. So I just, because why it
• 30:44
  Suze: was an economic plot against women and to this day.
• 30:48
  Suze: What do I hate putting on more than anything else, KT?
• 30:52
  KT: So the makeup that she hates putting, she hates putting
• 30:55
  KT: on makeup, but most of all, lipstick.
• 30:58
  Suze: Hate it.
• 30:59
  KT: I mean, that's the when we do Suze's makeup, the
• 31:01
  KT: last thing we apply is lipstick, absolutely. And then she,
• 31:05
  KT: she has a tissue as soon as she's done with
• 31:07
  KT: her show or photograph or whatever it is, she just
• 31:10
  KT: rubs it all off, hates lipstick on her lips.
• 31:12
  Suze: I hate makeup, hate it, hate it, hate it. Anyway.
• 31:16
  Suze: Until Sunday, there's really only one thing that we want
• 31:19
  Suze: you to remember, and what is that, KT?
• 31:21
  KT: People first, then money, then. things.
• 31:24
  Suze: Now you stay safe, everybody. Bye bye bye.