Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / Classic Suze School: Living a Life of No Regrets

Transcript

Classic Suze School: Living a Life of No Regrets · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

0:07
Robert: October 1st, 2026. Welcome to the Women and Money podcast,
0:11
Robert: as well as everyone smart enough to listen.
0:15
Robert: Hi there, it's Robert, the producer here, and for today's
0:18
Robert: classic Suze School, we'll go back a little bit for
0:23
Robert: a fantastic episode about living a life with no regrets. Enjoy.
0:33
Suze: Our main goal in life...
0:37
Suze: Yes, I know the goal of money is to be secure.
0:41
Suze: I get that. You get that. But our main goal
0:45
Suze: in life is to live a life where we have
0:49
Suze: no regrets, everybody.
0:53
Suze: And if we live a life where we have no regrets,
0:57
Suze: then we are secure not only hopefully financially, but emotionally, psychologically,
1:05
Suze: every possible way.
1:08
Suze: And I'm so afraid that so many of us really
1:13
Suze: are living a life that's going to lead to regrets.
1:18
Suze: Because we are afraid to stand in our own truth.
1:22
Suze: We are afraid to take our own power. We're afraid
1:26
Suze: to tell people that we don't want in our lives anymore,
1:30
Suze: to get out of our lives.
1:32
Suze: We're just afraid to take actions, that one day would make
1:39
Suze: it so that we wouldn't have a life of regrets,
1:41
Suze: but instead we live in a state of fear in
1:45
Suze: most cases.
1:48
Suze: So today, we have a Suze School about living a
1:54
Suze: life so you have no regrets, OK?
1:59
Suze: Because I have to... by the way, taken out your
2:01
Suze: little Suze notebooks, 'cause I'm just rambling today, and that's
2:06
Suze: what I'm gonna do for the rest of this podcast.
2:09
Suze: I'm gonna ramble, hopefully right into your heart.
2:14
Suze: So I just have to tell you something.
2:17
Suze: After all these years and so many of them, after
2:22
Suze: sitting with people who were dying, after talking to women
2:26
Suze: who lost their partners, after hearing from people who had
2:29
Suze: millions and people who had nothing, do you know what
2:34
Suze: nobody has ever said to me.
2:37
Suze: They have never said I wish I had made 2%
2:42
Suze: more on my portfolio. They just don't say those types
2:46
Suze: of things. What do they say? They say...
2:52
Suze: I wish I had forgiven sooner.
2:55
Suze: I wish I had taken that trip.
2:57
Suze: I wish I had said I love you more. I
3:01
Suze: wish I hadn't stayed so afraid.
3:05
Suze: So regret is almost always about fear. It just is.
3:13
Suze: It's the fear of truthfully, everyone looking foolish, losing money,
3:17
Suze: being alone, starting over, saying no, saying yes, and I
3:23
Suze: have met women who have stayed in marriages they knew
3:28
Suze: were wrong for 20 years because they were afraid they
3:32
Suze: couldn't survive financially.
3:34
Suze: I've met women who had $5 million and were afraid
3:38
Suze: to spend $5,000 on something that would bring them joy,
3:43
Suze: so regret comes when fear runs your life instead of truth,
3:48
Suze: and here is the truth.
3:51
Suze: You are far more powerful than all of you think.
3:55
Suze: Are you kidding me? Last night I was talking on
3:59
Suze: the phone to my really good friend who is a powerful,
4:03
Suze: powerful woman. She is a CEO.
4:07
Suze: And she has been living in fear of telling a friend,
4:12
Suze: she doesn't want to be a friend anymore.
4:15
Suze: She doesn't want her in her life anymore, and there
4:17
Suze: were valid reasons why she didn't want her in her
4:21
Suze: life anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
4:27
Suze: So, all of you have got to understand, you are
4:32
Suze: far more powerful than you think. So, this is a
4:36
Suze: financial show.
4:38
Suze: Usually that's what we always talk about. So let's go
4:41
Suze: to money for one second here, because when I talk
4:45
Suze: about money, you know I'm talking about you. You know
4:49
Suze: you and your money are one. So if you can't
4:52
Suze: do what you need to do with your money, it's
4:55
Suze: because you can't do what you need to do with yourself.
5:00
Suze: So let me give you the top five money regrets
5:04
Suze: that I see all the time.
5:07
Suze: And the first one is not investing earlier, OK?
5:13
Suze: You tell me all the time, and I know there
5:16
Suze: are men that are listening.
5:19
Suze: But it's mainly the women that write me and tell
5:22
Suze: me these things, so I'm sure there are men out
5:26
Suze: there that do the same thing, but I'm addressing this
5:29
Suze: to everybody who is smart enough to listen. So women
5:32
Suze: tell me all the time, Suze, I waited. I was scared.
5:37
Suze: I didn't think I knew enough.
5:40
Suze: All right, what you all have to understand right now,
5:44
Suze: and you have to write this down, time is the
5:47
Suze: most valuable asset everybody you will ever have, and you
5:52
Suze: will never ever get time back.
5:56
Suze: So, your biggest regret of all is if you are
6:00
Suze: wasting time, 'cause you think you don't have the knowledge,
6:05
Suze: the ability, the capability, or whatever it may be to invest.
6:12
Suze: The next one, number two, write this down. Trusting the
6:17
Suze: wrong person. How many times have I said to you,
6:21
Suze: you have got to trust yourself more than you trust others.
6:27
Suze: Trusting the wrong person, such as a partner, a financial adviser,
6:33
Suze: a family member.
6:35
Suze: If something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't. Let me
6:40
Suze: give you an example of trusting the wrong person. I've
6:44
Suze: a friend, a friend who is in Hollywood. She makes
6:48
Suze: a lot of money. She has a lot of money,
6:52
Suze: and she was using a financial adviser that many of
6:55
Suze: her friends in Hollywood were using. Great. And that was
6:59
Suze: a good financial adviser. He was doing fabulous, I thought,
7:03
Suze: for all of them.
7:05
Suze: And this woman is in her 40s and she had
7:09
Suze: all the money that was with her adviser 100% in stocks,
7:15
Suze: but besides what she had with this adviser, she had
7:19
Suze: a lot of money in a money market account in
7:22
Suze: CDs and treasuries, so not all of her money by
7:26
Suze: any means was all in stocks, and she didn't need
7:31
Suze: money for a long time because she's very famous in
7:35
Suze: her career and she was going to be able to
7:37
Suze: write and do things forever. OK.
7:41
Suze: Now she has another financial advisor, who happens to be
7:46
Suze: talking to her and says, so what are you invested in?
7:50
Suze: And she tells her what she is investing in, this
7:56
Suze: was another woman, OK, and the financial adviser says, Are
8:00
Suze: you crazy? You can't have 100% of your money invested
8:06
Suze: in equities. That's far too much risk for you. Well,
8:10
Suze: guess what my friend did? She changed 100% of the
8:16
Suze: money that she had with this financial adviser that she
8:20
Suze: had been with for years
8:22
Suze: and put it at the firm that her friend told
8:26
Suze: her would be better for her and invest the money
8:30
Suze: properly for her. Now here's what's so sad. She was
8:34
Suze: invested properly.
8:36
Suze: The woman that she was talking to knew nothing about
8:40
Suze: how much cash she had, how the markets work, anything,
8:44
Suze: and now this woman, seriously, I can tell you, is
8:49
Suze: going to have regrets simply because she trusted somebody else.
8:57
Suze: When I asked her, I said, what? Why did you
9:00
Suze: do that? How did that feel to you? She said, well,
9:03
Suze: it didn't feel right, but it seemed to make sense
9:05
Suze: that I had too much in the market.
9:07
Suze: So I said, so why don't you just go and
9:10
Suze: talk to your current financial advisor? And she said, well,
9:15
Suze: I was afraid to tell him what I thought.
9:20
Suze: Do you see how fear in this situation most likely
9:24
Suze: is going to lead to serious regret.
9:29
Suze: Three: staying silent about money.
9:34
Suze: When you are silent, you don't say something kind of
9:38
Suze: like this woman did in a way, but when you
9:41
Suze: are silent, it creates dependency.
9:46
Suze: You don't ask, what is our money doing? Where is it?
9:50
Suze: You are just afraid to say anything with anybody when
9:53
Suze: it comes to money, so your silence creates dependency on
9:59
Suze: whoever else is dealing with your money. How do you
10:03
Suze: change that? Through knowledge, through getting involved, because knowledge creates power.
10:10
Suze: And all of you know that I always say, I
10:13
Suze: want you all to own the power to control your
10:16
Suze: own destinies, but how are you gonna do that if
10:19
Suze: you don't have a voice, if you stay silent.
10:24
Suze: If you stay silent, I promise you it will be
10:29
Suze: one of your biggest regrets. Next, spending to impress.
10:36
Suze: Do you all understand that nobody is thinking about your
10:41
Suze: handbag as much as you think they are? Nobody is
10:46
Suze: paying attention to really what you are wearing.
10:49
Suze: Your clothes will never make you. Your handbags will never
10:53
Suze: make you. The car you drive will never make you.
10:57
Suze: You make your clothes. You make the impression when you
11:01
Suze: walk into the room. You make everything around you look
11:05
Suze: like a million dollars. You could put a million dollars
11:08
Suze: of clothes on you, and yet if you are powerless
11:11
Suze: when it comes to your own money, when you don't
11:13
Suze: have the strength to say what you want to say.
11:17
Suze: To do all of those things you could be dressed
11:21
Suze: in every label possible and you will look and appear
11:25
Suze: like a pauper because people recognize your inner power before
11:31
Suze: they admire some stupid clothing that you may have on.
11:36
Suze: And last but not least of these five top money
11:41
Suze: regrets that I see all the time is waiting for
11:46
Suze: some day... waiting for some day.
11:51
Suze: Well, I'll get around to it. I'll do it some day.
11:55
Suze: Some day has to be the most expensive word in
12:00
Suze: the English language. It was some day that word that
12:05
Suze: got me to write one of my very best books
12:08
Suze: of all books I've ever written, The Nine Steps to
12:11
Suze: Financial Freedom.
12:13
Suze: What keeps people from doing that which they know they
12:17
Suze: should do with money? They're doctors. They're lawyers. They've raised
12:22
Suze: a family, and yet when I tell them to do something,
12:26
Suze: they say, OK, and then I see them again. I say,
12:30
Suze: Did you do it? They go, Not yet. I'll do
12:31
Suze: it some day.
12:33
Suze: Some day you cannot wait for some day. Your new
12:38
Suze: word has to be today. I am doing it today.
12:44
Suze: And if you do these few things, they're just five
12:47
Suze: very simple things, then what is it going to mean
12:51
Suze: to you? Like, what does it actually mean to live
12:55
Suze: a life with no regrets, everybody.
13:00
Suze: So, first, I'll tell you what it doesn't mean.
13:03
Suze: It does not mean that you made perfect decisions. You're
13:08
Suze: going to make mistakes, OK.
13:11
Suze: It does not mean that you're never gonna lose money
13:14
Suze: and that you never failed. I have lost money. I
13:18
Suze: have failed on many things that I tried. I did
13:21
Suze: not always make perfect decisions. I'll tell you that.
13:26
Suze: But that doesn't mean that I regret doing those things,
13:30
Suze: cause at least I tried. What it does mean, however,
13:36
Suze: is that you acted from courage, everybody, instead of fear.
13:40
Suze: You told the truth when it mattered. You protected yourself.
13:45
Suze: You loved fully. You really loved. You just didn't kind
13:50
Suze: of stay in a relationship because you had loved or
13:52
Suze: what you loved fully.
13:55
Suze: You filled your heart to its own capacity and you
13:59
Suze: never settled.
14:01
Suze: You lived intentionally. Like a lot of times when I
14:05
Suze: do something and I get a new partner, they wanna
14:08
Suze: do a partnership with me, I go, what's the intention
14:11
Suze: behind this? Why are we doing this?
14:16
Suze: Are we doing this simply to make money? Is that
14:18
Suze: the intention? And if that's the intention, I don't want
14:21
Suze: to do it.
14:23
Suze: If the intention is to help people, if that is
14:27
Suze: the intention, OK, count me in.
14:31
Suze: So, every one of us has to live intentionally knowing
14:36
Suze: why do you do that which you do, and when
14:40
Suze: you know why you do that which you do, you
14:43
Suze: will live a life that doesn't have regrets, because one
14:47
Suze: of the reasons we have regrets is we do something
14:50
Suze: just because everybody else has done it. We do something
14:53
Suze: because somebody else thinks we should do it. No.
14:57
Suze: It's where you know what you want. You feel it
15:00
Suze: in your gut. You make decisions that are good for you,
15:05
Suze: not for anybody else, and you trust yourself more than
15:10
Suze: you trust others. And what does it mean financially? What
15:15
Suze: does it mean really financially to live a life of
15:20
Suze: no regrets?
15:22
Suze: It's, you know, where your money is. How sick and
15:26
Suze: tired am I of asking really brilliant people, where is
15:33
Suze: your Roth IRA located at such and such a place,
15:36
Suze: they tell me. Well, what's it invested in?
15:39
Suze: I don't know.
15:41
Suze: How much do you have in there? I don't know.
15:45
Suze: Well, what did you buy the house for? What did
15:47
Suze: your mother buy the house for? People go, I don't know.
15:53
Suze: They do not know where.
15:55
Suze: Their money is so you do not know where your
15:59
Suze: money is and what it is invested in is one
16:03
Suze: of the biggest regrets you will have. It's almost like saying,
16:09
Suze: where are your children? I don't know. Are you telling
16:12
Suze: me that if you have a 2 year old, a
16:15
Suze: 5 year old, a 20 yearold, even a 30 or
16:18
Suze: 40 year old, they're children, and somebody said, Well, where
16:22
Suze: are your kids these days? I don't know.
16:25
Suze: What are they doing? I don't know. Where are they living?
16:29
Suze: I don't know. There is no difference between your children
16:34
Suze: that you gave birth to or adopted.
16:39
Suze: And your financial children.
16:43
Suze: 'Cause it is those financial children one day that are
16:46
Suze: going to have to take care of you when you
16:49
Suze: can no longer take care of yourself.
16:53
Suze: Living a life of no regrets means that you have
16:58
Suze: the must-have documents.
17:01
Suze: You have a will, a living revocable trust, an advanced directive,
17:06
Suze: a durable power of attorney for health care, as well
17:09
Suze: as a financial power of attorney. And not only do
17:12
Suze: you have them, but you have filled them out. You
17:16
Suze: have actually funded them. You have taken the steps today
17:21
Suze: to protect your tomorrows.
17:25
Suze: Also, what living a life of no regrets means financially.
17:31
Suze: Is this you are not dependent on someone else to
17:36
Suze: explain your own life to you, your own money to you.
17:42
Suze: Now they can explain it to you the first time,
17:45
Suze: the second time, but you have got to know where
17:49
Suze: every penny is, where it is invested, why it is invested.
17:54
Suze: You have to know everything.
17:56
Suze: Because when you do these things that I just said,
18:00
Suze: you become powerful.
18:03
Suze: And power, I promise you, eliminates regrets, not false power,
18:09
Suze: not where you say you know, not where you feel
18:11
Suze: like you're secure, but where you know without a shadow
18:15
Suze: of a doubt.
18:17
Suze: Where everything is, why it's there, how you feel about it,
18:21
Suze: and everything I just said to you. Now I have
18:25
Suze: a question to ask you, and this is a hard question.
18:30
Suze: If your partner, let's say you are sharing money with somebody,
18:35
Suze: you are married, you live together, whatever it may be,
18:40
Suze: if your partner didn't come home tomorrow for whatever reason,
18:46
Suze: They had a heart attack. They died. They just left you.
18:50
Suze: Who knows? But if your partner didn't come home tomorrow,
18:54
Suze: would you know? And you'd better be honest with yourselves
18:57
Suze: right now, everybody. Would you know where everything is? Would
19:01
Suze: you know how to access it? What to do next?
19:06
Suze: I cannot tell you how many women I have met
19:09
Suze: who were financially secure.
19:12
Suze: But emotionally and really administratively they were paralyzed. How do
19:17
Suze: I know this? Because when September 11th happened.
19:24
Suze: Do you know the number of calls I got from
19:27
Suze: women who were married to the top executives of financial
19:32
Suze: firms and they didn't know anything.
19:37
Suze: They had a lot of money, but they didn't even
19:39
Suze: know where their money was. They knew no passwords. They
19:43
Suze: knew nothing, and this is what they all said to
19:46
Suze: me during those days, and many women today still say
19:50
Suze: it to me.
19:51
Suze: They say these words. I should have paid attention. Are
19:57
Suze: you kidding me? I'm asking you not to let that
20:02
Suze: be you. So let's just do an exercise.
20:07
Suze: This is something I want you to do tonight. What
20:11
Suze: else are you doing tonight that could be possibly more
20:14
Suze: important than this? So I don't care if you're listening
20:16
Suze: to this on a Sunday, on a Monday, on a Tuesday.
20:19
Suze: I don't care the day that you're listening to this.
20:22
Suze: This is what I want you to do tonight, not someday.
20:27
Suze: I want you to do it tonight. Where are you
20:30
Suze: not taking your power, everybody? So ask yourself the question,
20:36
Suze: where am I living smaller than I should be?
20:41
Suze: Does that make sense to you?
20:44
Suze: Next, where am I staying silent.
20:49
Suze: Where are you not saying something that you're thinking and
20:51
Suze: you're feeling, but you just aren't saying it? Write it down.
20:58
Suze: What financial decision am I postponing because I'm scared.
21:05
Suze: Are you scared to put the money in your Roth
21:07
Suze: IRA in these markets? You have to face your fear.
21:12
Suze: You have to face what's true in your life. There's
21:16
Suze: only four questions here, so here's the last one. If
21:19
Suze: I only had five years left, what would I fix today?
21:26
Suze: OK.
21:27
Suze: Can you write those down? Where am I living smaller
21:32
Suze: than I should? Where am I staying silent? What financial
21:36
Suze: decision am I postponing because I'm scared? And if I
21:40
Suze: only had five years left, what would I fix today?
21:45
Suze: I just want you to take one action this week.
21:48
Suze: You don't have to fix all of those things. I
21:51
Suze: want you to look at what you wrote down.
21:53
Suze: And then just take one action.
21:57
Suze: To reverse just one of those things so that in
22:01
Suze: that little area you no longer will have a regret.
22:05
Suze: And remember, and I've said this to you before, courage,
22:09
Suze: it takes courage.
22:11
Suze: To face yourself, to do these things, that's why courage
22:15
Suze: is one of the equalities of wealth, but courage, I
22:20
Suze: promise you, compounds just like money does. You know how
22:23
Suze: when you invest money and then all of a sudden
22:26
Suze: the money, your money invested makes money and on and
22:29
Suze: on and on. Courage does the exact same thing. Once
22:33
Suze: you take some action out of courage, all of a
22:37
Suze: sudden you realize, oh.
22:38
Suze: I'm courageous, and then your courage starts to become more
22:42
Suze: and more, and then you start to do things that
22:46
Suze: are stronger, more truthful, more intentful.
22:51
Suze: And more freeing.
22:53
Suze: You have to remember that your money is not just numbers.
22:58
Suze: It is freedom. It is dignity. It is choices. So
23:04
Suze: I want you to live so you have no regrets.
23:08
Suze: Do you hear me? And I want you to remember.
23:12
Suze: And I've said this before many times. You are your
23:16
Suze: own greatest rescuer. I want you to remember people first,
23:23
Suze: then money, then things, and when I say people first,
23:27
Suze: I mean you. If you put yourself first with everything
23:33
Suze: I talked about in this podcast, I promise you.
23:37
Suze: You will live a life with no regrets, and then
23:40
Suze: you really will stay safe. Bye bye.