Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / The Unthinkables

Transcript

The Unthinkables · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  KT: Welcome everyone to the Women and Money podcast and everyone
• 0:12
  KT: that's smart enough and nice enough to listen today.
• 0:16
  Suze: I can't help it KT
• 0:19
  KT: Suze has a case of the giggles on May 7th, 2026,
• 0:23
  KT: and for those of you that would like to send
• 0:26
  KT: a question to KT cause it's ask her anything today,
• 0:30
  KT: just send it to podcast@ ask Suze.com. And if you're
• 0:36
  KT: nice enough, I will select it. But the ones, the
• 0:42
  KT: ones I have in front of me are no laughing matter, Ms. Orman. OK.
• 0:46
  KT: Are you ready? All right, buckle up.
• 0:49
  Suze: I'm trying my best.
• 0:51
  KT: All right, buckle up, because these are, I'm, I'm labeling
• 0:54
  KT: this podcast The Unthinkables. Yes, you can't have fun every
• 1:00
  KT: day because life, life doesn't deal us...
• 1:03
  Suze: Maybe we need to talk about something else. 'Till I
• 1:06
  Suze: calmed down a little from laughing.
• 1:08
  KT: What should we talk about?
• 1:10
  Suze: Well, this is May 7th and we're really not here.
• 1:15
  Suze: Right, we're in, we're in, we're in Japan, right, KT?
• 1:20
  KT: Yeah. We're in Japan, but we're recording this before we
• 1:24
  KT: left for Japan.
• 1:25
  Suze: But tell them why we're doing that.
• 1:26
  KT: Because when we're in Japan, we, we don't have a
• 1:29
  KT: recording studio, especially on May 7th. I'm gonna be in
• 1:33
  KT: Shinjuku with you in Tokyo.
• 1:37
  Suze: What's that?
• 1:37
  KT: I'm not gonna tell you anything. This is a big surprise.
• 1:40
  KT: This trip to Japan, we've waited 25 years.
• 1:45
  KT: A lot of you wait for good things to happen.
• 1:47
  KT: I've waited 25 years to bring Suze to what I
• 1:52
  KT: call the Japans.
• 1:53
  Suze: All right, so we're doing that. I'm calming down, everybody. Now.
• 1:56
  Suze: I'm sure you're wondering why I'm laughing. Yeah, we're not
• 1:59
  Suze: gonna talk about it. Anyway. Here's the thing I also
• 2:02
  Suze: just wanna say, KT.
• 2:05
  Suze: We have our date for part two webinar. Do you
• 2:10
  Suze: love that? With Fitzy, June 4th, 6 p.m. the day
• 2:15
  Suze: before my birthday. But just so all of you know,
• 2:19
  Suze: if you have already registered for part one
• 2:22
  Suze: of the webinar, which most of you did, 85,000 of
• 2:26
  Suze: you did anyway.
• 2:27
  KT: Which was at the end of April.
• 2:30
  Suze: Then fine, you don't have to worry, you're automatically registered
• 2:33
  Suze: for part two. You'll get emails and everything. If you
• 2:36
  Suze: didn't register, go to suzeorman.com and register because I'm telling you, you're...
• 2:43
  KT: Don't miss it.
• 2:44
  Suze: No, this one you don't want to miss.
• 2:45
  KT: Do not miss part two.
• 2:47
  Suze: Do you know the title?
• 2:49
  KT: No, I don't. Don't tell anyone the title. No, don't tell.
• 2:52
  KT: Don't give it up yet.
• 2:54
  Suze: Why not?
• 2:54
  KT: Don't, don't give it up yet.
• 2:56
  Suze: All right. But anyway, it's with me and Fitzy, OK,
• 3:00
  Suze: the entire time.
• 3:02
  Suze: Right. Just, just...
• 3:03
  KT: What does that mean the entire time? It means I'm
• 3:06
  KT: not gonna come in and say anything?
• 3:12
  Suze: I wasn't planning on it.
• 3:16
  KT: All right, I just wanted to hear her reaction.
• 3:18
  Suze: But if you want to, you can.
• 3:20
  KT: They never invite me. They actually don't need me. Suze
• 3:24
  KT: and Fitz are like two peas in a pod,
• 3:27
  Suze: Tell them the truth.
• 3:27
  KT: They are like brother and sister. They love me. They
• 3:30
  KT: talk to me every day.
• 3:31
  Suze: She doesn't like being on the camera.
• 3:33
  KT: I'm, I'm actually too shy to be in front of
• 3:36
  KT: the camera. My job has always...
• 3:37
  Suze: Because she doesn't think her hair looks good.
• 3:39
  KT: No, no, no. My job has always been behind the camera.
• 3:42
  KT: Where I feel very comfortable.
• 3:44
  Suze: The only time we were about to do one that
• 3:46
  Suze: was on camera halfway into it, like in a few
• 3:50
  Suze: minutes you're looking at your hair and go, What do
• 3:51
  Suze: you think about my new haircut? Do you remember that?
• 3:54
  KT: Oh, that was a test you and I did.
• 3:56
  Suze: No, I was really gonna do it.
• 3:57
  KT: Oh, no, no, no. All right, I do that. OK,
• 4:00
  KT: so let's everyone get ready. Maybe I, it's too early
• 4:04
  KT: to have a glass of wine or sake, but this
• 4:07
  KT: is called the Unthinkables. These are...
• 4:10
  KT: Not the happiest, um, emails I've received, but they're real.
• 4:14
  Suze: So, what does Unthinkable mean?
• 4:16
  KT: Well, the same as the what ifs like, uh, something's unthinkable.
• 4:19
  KT: You would never think this could happen to you or
• 4:23
  KT: your family or a loved one. These are unthinkable, and
• 4:27
  KT: it has to do with money and it has to
• 4:29
  KT: do more with life, more with the what ifs, which
• 4:32
  KT: are also
• 4:34
  KT: what if unthinkable. So here we go. This is from Lily.
• 4:39
  KT: Lily said, I'm so sad and heartbroken. Dear Suze and KT,
• 4:44
  KT: I lost my son this year. It's been unbearable. I
• 4:48
  KT: just want to hold him.
• 4:51
  KT: My question is about capital gains. My son lived in
• 4:55
  KT: a home that I bought for him because he was disabled.
• 4:59
  KT: I took care of all of the expenses. I paid
• 5:03
  KT: all the mortgage and paid off the house before I retired.
• 5:07
  KT: I'm not sure what I'm allowed for the sale since
• 5:11
  KT: it was my disabled son. Is there any way to
• 5:15
  KT: get any capital gains adjustment?
• 5:18
  KT: I know the house increased in value at least $300,000.
• 5:24
  KT: Please help Suze. This has been so hard already. I
• 5:28
  KT: don't want to be a burden to anybody, and I
• 5:31
  KT: don't want to keep the house. So thank you, Suze
• 5:35
  KT: and KT. I trust you gals.
• 5:37
  Suze: So... Lily, here's the thing, sweetheart, number one, of course
• 5:42
  Suze: we're very sorry, very sorry for your loss.
• 5:45
  Suze: There's obviously nothing we can do about that or really
• 5:49
  Suze: say anything more about that. However,
• 5:53
  Suze: You bought the house. I'm assuming the house was in
• 5:57
  Suze: your name.
• 5:58
  Suze: I'm assuming that you're thinking that, all right, because he
• 6:04
  Suze: lived in it, he was disabled, that maybe you can
• 6:07
  Suze: get that $250,000 appreciation above what you paid and things
• 6:13
  Suze: like that, and maybe you won't have to pay capital
• 6:15
  Suze: gains on the $300,000 that you have. Well, guess what?
• 6:20
  Suze: You're just going to have to do so. There's not
• 6:23
  Suze: much you can do about it. It was in your name.
• 6:26
  Suze: You did not live in it for two out of
• 6:28
  Suze: the past 5 years, so therefore you don't qualify for
• 6:31
  Suze: the 250. The only thing you can do is tally
• 6:36
  Suze: up every penny you paid over the years on that house.
• 6:40
  Suze: Did you buy a new refrigerator? Did you get in
• 6:42
  Suze: a new roof? What did you do? Add that real
• 6:45
  Suze: estate commission and everything.
• 6:48
  Suze: And hey, worst case scenario, you have to pay some taxes.
• 6:53
  Suze: Not that bad, especially when you compare it to the
• 6:56
  Suze: loss that you just experienced. All right, KT
• 6:59
  KT: Suze, this next question isn't really an unthinkable. It's more
• 7:04
  KT: of a what if.
• 7:05
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 7:07
  KT: So from Carolina, she said, Dear Suze, I hope this
• 7:10
  KT: message finds you well. I'm writing because I would truly
• 7:14
  KT: appreciate your advice about my personal situation.
• 7:18
  KT: I am 61 years old. I live in the state
• 7:21
  KT: of Florida. I have been living with my husband since
• 7:24
  KT: the year 2000. We were married religiously under Jewish law
• 7:29
  KT: 21 years ago, but we never married legally at the
• 7:35
  KT: time because my husband comes from a very wealthy family.
• 7:39
  KT: The prenuptial agreement that was presented to me was extremely
• 7:43
  KT: difficult to understand. My own attorneys advised me not to
• 7:48
  KT: sign it. After waiting 5 years to finally marry him
• 7:52
  KT: and be accepted by his family. I decided I did
• 7:56
  KT: not want to continue fighting and create bitterness before the wedding.
• 8:01
  KT: I also converted to Judaism and hoped that with time
• 8:06
  KT: he and his family would understand that I was with
• 8:09
  KT: him because I loved him, not because of his money.
• 8:13
  Suze: Is loved past tense?
• 8:16
  KT: I don't know. Today at 61, I do not have
• 8:20
  KT: a job. I do not have anything in writing, at
• 8:23
  KT: least nothing I have seen that guarantees I will be
• 8:27
  KT: financially protected in the future. From what I have researched,
• 8:31
  KT: Florida does not recognize common law marriage in a way
• 8:35
  KT: that would give me spousal rights. My understanding is that
• 8:40
  KT: only a legal marriage would give me those protections.
• 8:44
  KT: So, Suze, that is my situation. My question is, what
• 8:49
  KT: would you recommend I do to protect myself financially and
• 8:53
  KT: make better decisions going forward?
• 8:57
  Suze: Oh boy, Carolina, listen to me.
• 9:01
  Suze: 20 some odd years you've been married to him. You
• 9:05
  Suze: converted to Judaism for his family, and that is not
• 9:09
  Suze: something that is easy to do, not like you just
• 9:12
  Suze: go in and you do it. You have to sit
• 9:15
  Suze: down and talk with him.
• 9:17
  Suze: You really do, and you need to be very, very
• 9:19
  Suze: honest with him, and you need to say, in my opinion,
• 9:23
  Suze: I have done everything to show you and your family
• 9:28
  Suze: that I love you.
• 9:30
  Suze: But I need to know from you that you love
• 9:34
  Suze: me too, and that you want to protect me in
• 9:40
  Suze: case something happens to you. What you have to understand
• 9:43
  Suze: is you are not legally married to him.
• 9:48
  Suze: And so therefore if he dies you don't have claim
• 9:52
  Suze: on anything, on anything that's in his name, the money, anything.
• 10:00
  Suze: When you sit down with him, you need to explain
• 10:04
  Suze: that to him and how that makes you feel.
• 10:07
  Suze: And that if he really loves you he will make
• 10:11
  Suze: you be secure. He will show you. Has he included
• 10:15
  Suze: you in the trust in the will? Can he put
• 10:18
  Suze: your name on the piece of real estate? Is there
• 10:20
  Suze: a life insurance policy where it all goes to you?
• 10:24
  Suze: And more importantly...
• 10:27
  Suze: Will he legally marry you?
• 10:30
  Suze: By the state of Florida laws, will he do that
• 10:35
  Suze: a civil legal marriage certificate, because if he's willing to
• 10:41
  Suze: do that now everything changes. You have both legs that
• 10:46
  Suze: you can stand on. So let's just say in a
• 10:49
  Suze: trust he leaves you $10 million because he inherited from
• 10:54
  Suze: his whatever it is.
• 10:56
  Suze: You don't have to pay a state tax on that.
• 10:59
  Suze: There's so many things that you get to do. Social Security,
• 11:04
  Suze: taking over his IRA. You have to be legally married now.
• 11:11
  Suze: If he says no I can't legally marry you.
• 11:16
  Suze: Now you have to think about this seriously. I'm so
• 11:19
  Suze: sorry to say then he needs to, cause nothing's preventing this,
• 11:24
  Suze: giving you a serious lump sum of money just in
• 11:27
  Suze: your name, having a life insurance policy where you are
• 11:33
  Suze: the owner, he is the insured, and you are the beneficiary,
• 11:38
  Suze: and that you see that premiums are paid every single
• 11:43
  Suze: year on it.
• 11:45
  Suze: So, those are the types of things that you need
• 11:47
  Suze: to do. The first thing you need to do is
• 11:50
  Suze: get yourself a really good lawyer, a lawyer that understands
• 11:55
  Suze: the situation, that is going to treat it with a
• 11:59
  Suze: lot of compassion and understanding, and hopefully you can really
• 12:05
  Suze: make this family come together as one. You deserve that.
• 12:10
  Suze: After all this time, you deserve that. Next question, KT.
• 12:15
  KT: Suze, my next question...
• 12:17
  Suze: Is this another sad one?
• 12:20
  Suze: Uh-huh. Thank God. At least I was.
• 12:23
  KT: It isn't. This is a great one.
• 12:25
  Suze: I started this podcast off laughing and so happy.
• 12:28
  KT: This is a great one. This is from Jessica. I'm
• 12:31
  KT: so proud of you, Jessica. This is a great one.
• 12:34
  KT: Dear Suze, I first started listening to you as a
• 12:37
  KT: thirty-something during runs on the treadmill after work. I called
• 12:42
  KT: them Oprah runs. I watched that show while exercising every day,
• 12:47
  KT: and there you were.
• 12:49
  KT: So many of your books, your CNBC show, the podcast,
• 12:53
  KT: I woke up at 60 after two divorces and some
• 12:57
  KT: tough times. But thanks to you, I also have two
• 13:02
  KT: beautiful children now in college, each ready? Each with $400,000
• 13:09
  KT: in 529 plans.
• 13:11
  KT: I started those because of you and they are all
• 13:15
  KT: set for undergrad and grad school for me, lots of
• 13:20
  KT: knowledge and Suze with $2.7 million in the bank. I
• 13:26
  KT: earned it. I saved it. I invested it.
• 13:30
  KT: So this is a love letter to you, Suze.
• 13:34
  Suze: Don't get jealous.
• 13:35
  KT: I'm not. I am smiling, everyone, a love letter to you, Suze,
• 13:40
  KT: from an underprivileged childhood with a mom running from bill collectors,
• 13:45
  KT: changing apartments, teaching my brother and I how to steal,
• 13:50
  KT: sleeping under Salvation Army coats because the heat was shut
• 13:54
  KT: off to adult security.
• 13:57
  KT: I sincerely want you to know that there are many,
• 14:01
  KT: many lives you've changed and women you've inspired. Most of
• 14:07
  KT: us just plan to write to you at some point.
• 14:11
  KT: This is my moment. Thank you and love to KT too.
• 14:17
  KT: Are you crying, with joy??
• 14:18
  Suze: No, I'm not, But I'm thinking, OK, KT chose this.
• 14:22
  Suze: This is the unthinkable show. And so you chose this KT.
• 14:29
  Suze: Tell me if I'm right or wrong, because so many
• 14:31
  Suze: of you think it's unthinkable that you can go from
• 14:35
  Suze: less than to more than.
• 14:37
  Suze: That you can go from living on the streets and
• 14:40
  Suze: having no money whatsoever to be a multimillionaire with kids
• 14:44
  Suze: who have lots of money and all kinds of plans,
• 14:47
  Suze: and is that why you chose it?
• 14:49
  KT: Yeah, no, I chose it because, yeah, this is an unthinkable.
• 14:54
  KT: Who thinks that can happen to you and it can everyone,
• 14:58
  KT: it is very, very doable, and Jessica just said many
• 15:02
  KT: of us want to write to you, Suze, but this
• 15:05
  KT: is my moment.
• 15:07
  Suze: Oh, so we all need to take our moments, you know, KT,
• 15:11
  Suze: we always think our life is unthinkable, even to this day, everybody,
• 15:17
  Suze: and I swear this is true.
• 15:19
  Suze: KT and I look at what we have, and we
• 15:23
  Suze: don't you, we think it's unthinkable that our lives went
• 15:29
  Suze: from really having nothing and all these things to, oh
• 15:32
  Suze: my God, like I just had goosebumps. I mean, even
• 15:36
  Suze: we just can't really still to this day believe it's true,
• 15:39
  Suze: but we're so grateful, we're so grateful to all of
• 15:42
  Suze: you to be part of that.
• 15:44
  Suze: And grateful for everything, right, KT?
• 15:48
  KT: You know, I'm sitting here in our little condo in
• 15:51
  KT: Florida on our way to Japan, and I'm looking around
• 15:56
  KT: Suze's little recording studio and I see on the shelf
• 16:00
  KT: two Emmys. I'm looking and staring at 10 New York
• 16:04
  KT: Times bestselling books that she's written.
• 16:07
  KT: I'm looking at photographs of her with Muhammad Ali. I'm
• 16:12
  KT: looking at things around us.
• 16:15
  KT: And it is true, you know, you have to sometimes
• 16:19
  KT: pinch yourself and say, did this really all happen?
• 16:25
  Suze: It was awfully fast. All right, anyway, all right, OK,
• 16:28
  KT: My next question, Suze and KT, I'm a 65-year-old woman
• 16:33
  KT: living in Florida, and I wish I had begun following
• 16:36
  KT: your guidance decades ago rather than just the past two years.
• 16:41
  KT: Through experience and good therapy, I now understand the importance
• 16:45
  KT: of financial independence. At age 52, after my children were grown,
• 16:51
  KT: I pursued a long held goal of attending graduate school
• 16:55
  KT: and becoming a therapist. I now have been licensed and
• 17:00
  KT: deeply enjoy my work. So at 2022, my youngest daughter
• 17:05
  KT: died suddenly, leaving behind her 3-year-old son Eli.
• 17:11
  KT: After legal proceedings, my husband, not Eli's biological grandfather, and
• 17:18
  KT: I adopted him. Eli is now 7-years-old. My husband and
• 17:24
  KT: I separated in January 2026 after 16 years of marriage. Um, apparently, Suze,
• 17:32
  KT: her husband had some drinking problems.
• 17:35
  KT: And she said, given my responsibility to provide a stable
• 17:39
  KT: environment for Eli, I made the decision to separate and
• 17:43
  KT: I expect we will divorce within the next two years. So,
• 17:48
  KT: she goes on to list both her financial snapshot and
• 17:52
  KT: her husband's financial picture and they're both very, very financially secure,
• 17:59
  KT: but she has a dilemma.
• 18:01
  KT: The dilemma is I find myself struggling with feelings of
• 18:05
  KT: gratitude and guilt which are making it difficult to assess
• 18:10
  KT: what is equitable. I am grateful for my husband's role
• 18:14
  KT: in adopting Eli and providing financial stability. At the same time,
• 18:19
  KT: I am responsible for ensuring a secure future for both
• 18:24
  KT: Eli and myself.
• 18:27
  KT: Suze, I would greatly value your guidance on how to
• 18:30
  KT: approach this situation. So, what she's really having trouble with
• 18:35
  KT: and struggling with is clearly thinking about alimony, child support,
• 18:41
  KT: and asset division.
• 18:43
  KT: So she doesn't want her decisions to be clouded by emotion.
• 18:47
  Suze: There you go. You know, all of you, I tell
• 18:50
  Suze: you that if you write into a podcast at asksuze.com,
• 18:54
  Suze: every once in a while I peruse them, and if
• 18:58
  Suze: something catches my little eye, as many of you know,
• 19:01
  Suze: I will answer, and KT, I answered Denise directly on
• 19:05
  Suze: every aspect of every question that she asks. I'm curious
• 19:09
  Suze: as to how would you answer her.
• 19:13
  KT: I would have no guilt at all. Just go for it.
• 19:17
  KT: Do what's right. Take the alimony, the financial security, and
• 19:23
  KT: whatever is coming your way and Eli's way. That's all
• 19:27
  KT: there is to it. It's very simple. It's very straightforward,
• 19:31
  KT: and you shouldn't be guilty. You're a therapist. You know better.
• 19:35
  Suze: Yeah, you know, one of the things like that she
• 19:37
  Suze: was offered was $4,000 a month for 8 years while
• 19:41
  Suze: Eli is still young.
• 19:43
  Suze: And she may not think that's a lot of money,
• 19:45
  Suze: but $4,000 a month over 8 years is $384,000. So
• 19:55
  Suze: one thing none of you should do when you're in
• 19:57
  Suze: a situation like this is look at anything on a
• 20:01
  Suze: monthly basis. Look at what that would mean to you
• 20:05
  Suze: or your son or your family over a long period
• 20:09
  Suze: of time.
• 20:11
  Suze: And then really, you feel guilty about that. I don't
• 20:15
  Suze: think so. So, the real thing here that I find
• 20:19
  Suze: fascinating is at the bottom of her email, there are
• 20:24
  Suze: all her credentials, therapy, health, everything. And what I wrote
• 20:30
  Suze: back to her was this: Can you imagine if one
• 20:34
  Suze: of your clients was you?
• 20:38
  Suze: And saying this to you, what would you tell your client?
• 20:44
  Suze: Because you know what's funny, ladies, when it comes to
• 20:47
  Suze: us being strong for others, we do it all the time. Now,
• 20:51
  Suze: don't do this, go for that, don't do that. But
• 20:54
  Suze: when it comes to ourselves and asking something for ourselves,
• 20:59
  Suze: feeling like we deserve it ourselves, we go, I don't know,
• 21:02
  Suze: I feel guilty. He was such a good guy.
• 21:05
  Suze: Give me a break and go for it, Denise. Next question, KT.
• 21:10
  KT: This is uh one of my favorite. I love this one.
• 21:14
  KT: This is from Margaret, she said. I am so thankful
• 21:17
  KT: for both of you and have learned so much over
• 21:20
  KT: the years. I purchased the must-have docks. I have a
• 21:24
  KT: legal will in place that equally splits my estate between
• 21:28
  KT: my three children. My oldest has joined a cult-like church
• 21:33
  KT: and does not speak with me any longer.
• 21:36
  KT: I do not want my money to be given to
• 21:38
  KT: this church, and I am removing him. He has a
• 21:43
  KT: minor child. I would like to leave a specific sum
• 21:46
  KT: of money to for when she is older. Can you
• 21:50
  KT: do this with the must-have documents? Thank you so much
• 21:54
  KT: for any advice you can give me, Suze.
• 21:56
  Suze: Yeah, the way that you would have to go about this,
• 22:00
  Suze: although you might really want to see a lawyer and
• 22:03
  Suze: set this up with a lawyer, you're going to have
• 22:06
  Suze: to find a trustee for his daughter because otherwise, number one,
• 22:13
  Suze: she's a minor. You don't know when your death is
• 22:16
  Suze: going to happen. It could happen tomorrow.
• 22:19
  Suze: And therefore everything has to be in order as to
• 22:23
  Suze: who will be in control of this money, when does
• 22:27
  Suze: she get it? How does she get it, because you
• 22:29
  Suze: have to give this far more thought, truthfully than the
• 22:33
  Suze: must-have documents will do for you, because trust me, if
• 22:39
  Suze: you have a trustee and now she or he is
• 22:42
  Suze: giving money to his daughter, don't think his daughter isn't
• 22:46
  Suze: going to turn around and give it right to him.
• 22:48
  Suze: How do you know that his daughter isn't going to
• 22:50
  Suze: be part of the cult as well?
• 22:53
  Suze: You have to give this serious thought because a lot
• 22:56
  Suze: of times when a parent is part of a cult,
• 22:59
  Suze: the daughter or the child becomes part of the cult.
• 23:03
  Suze: It's not just that, oh, she won't be doing it.
• 23:07
  Suze: She won't want to give everything to the cult. You
• 23:09
  Suze: have to think like that.
• 23:11
  Suze: I've seen it too many times, believe it or not.
• 23:16
  Suze: So therefore, if I were you, I would really go
• 23:19
  Suze: seek legal advice as to how you can set this up,
• 23:24
  Suze: the instructions that you would give the successor trustee, whoever's
• 23:28
  Suze: in charge of this, and how you want it to work.
• 23:31
  Suze: It's just not as simple as what the must-have documents
• 23:35
  Suze: would provide for you. All right, KT.
• 23:37
  KT: OK, my last question is from Broken Heart.
• 23:41
  Suze: Oh no, this has been quite the podcast. I'm so
• 23:46
  Suze: glad that we're in Japan. Alright, go on.
• 23:50
  KT: I've been listening to your podcast for four years. I
• 23:55
  KT: never thought this would happen to me. My husband passed
• 23:59
  KT: away two weeks ago unexpectedly at the age of 52.
• 24:06
  KT: I am 54 years old. We have been married for
• 24:09
  KT: 27 years. We have two college-aged children together.
• 24:15
  KT: So he left quite a lot of money and I'm
• 24:19
  KT: just gonna kind of cut to the chase here, um.
• 24:23
  KT: Basically, Suze, she said, I'd keep his 401k and IRA
• 24:29
  KT: accounts the way they are. What is the best way
• 24:32
  KT: to keep or invest his life insurance money? Should I
• 24:35
  KT: have a financial advisor?
• 24:38
  KT: And then she said, my kids and I are under
• 24:40
  KT: my husband's health insurance. She has to switch that to hers,
• 24:45
  KT: but then she writes, and it's very sad. I am sorry,
• 24:48
  KT: my mind is everywhere to write this email is difficult.
• 24:53
  KT: English is my second language. I'm sure there are many mistakes.
• 24:57
  KT: I feel so much guilt to deal with his money
• 25:01
  KT: that he can't spend anymore.
• 25:04
  Suze: Uh, guilt, guilt, guilt.
• 25:07
  Suze: Here's the thing. So, I will answer it here, but
• 25:11
  Suze: KT I will get in touch with this woman and
• 25:14
  Suze: talk with her, because it's two weeks ago.
• 25:19
  Suze: Two weeks ago and she's writing about the money. What
• 25:25
  Suze: is my law of money when it comes to death
• 25:29
  Suze: or divorce? You are to do absolutely nothing other than
• 25:34
  Suze: keep it safe and sound after experiencing the loss of
• 25:38
  Suze: a loved one.
• 25:40
  Suze: At least she knows that her mind is all over
• 25:42
  Suze: the place. Most of the time when I was actually
• 25:46
  Suze: seeing clients and something like this happened, even 6 months afterwards,
• 25:51
  Suze: they would come in. I would tell them what to do,
• 25:54
  Suze: and then 3 weeks later they'd come back and go,
• 25:56
  Suze: What did you say?
• 25:58
  Suze: I don't know what to do, so keep the money
• 26:02
  Suze: safe and sound. Obviously, if you have any debts, you
• 26:06
  Suze: want to pay off the mortgage and everything because you're
• 26:09
  Suze: gonna stay in the house and it may find that
• 26:11
  Suze: you can do. You can see a financial advisor if
• 26:14
  Suze: you wanted to, but I would advise you, please don't,
• 26:19
  Suze: because who knows what they're gonna tell you to do,
• 26:21
  Suze: and I wanna make sure that you don't do anything.
• 26:25
  Suze: That could be a mistake. I don't want you to
• 26:27
  Suze: have any regrets. You feel so bad because he can't
• 26:31
  Suze: spend his money any more. Do you know how bad
• 26:34
  Suze: he would feel if he knew you wasted it and
• 26:36
  Suze: did something silly with it? So nothing. Take care of
• 26:41
  Suze: your children. Take care of yourself, and just keep everything
• 26:46
  Suze: safe and sound for now. Biggest mistake people make, KT,
• 26:52
  Suze: when they suffer the loss
• 26:54
  Suze: of somebody, um, they think they have to deal with
• 26:57
  Suze: the money right away, and that's when they do things
• 27:00
  Suze: that are so horrific. I can't even tell you. Wanna
• 27:03
  Suze: know the most horrific thing that happened to somebody? Tell me.
• 27:07
  Suze: So I was seeing clients. This woman, right, had a
• 27:11
  Suze: life insurance policy obviously that she didn't get through me
• 27:15
  Suze: that left her 1 or $2 million. I can't remember
• 27:18
  Suze: the exact amount.
• 27:20
  Suze: And the insurance agent right after the husband died shows
• 27:26
  Suze: up at her house and says, I have a check
• 27:29
  Suze: here for you for 1 or $2 million. Just sign
• 27:33
  Suze: it on the back and I'll deposit it for you
• 27:35
  Suze: and everything will be OK.
• 27:38
  Suze: She signed it on the back. Yeah, gone. He took it.
• 27:42
  Suze: He took it and they never could get it back.
• 27:45
  Suze: Don't ask me why they couldn't get it back, but
• 27:47
  Suze: they couldn't.
• 27:49
  Suze: All right, so everybody six months, one year, preferably two.
• 27:55
  KT: Just grieve your loss and don't worry about anything.
• 27:59
  Suze: All right, so KT, let's wrap this because we're having such
• 28:02
  Suze: a good time in Japan.
• 28:04
  Suze: And all, but there's really only one thing that we
• 28:06
  Suze: want you to remember, and it's this. If you haven't
• 28:09
  Suze: registered yet for the part two of the webinar, go
• 28:12
  Suze: to suzeorman.com and do so. You'll be sorry if you don't.
• 28:17
  Suze: That's all I'm gonna say. But until Mother's Day, that's
• 28:22
  Suze: coming up on Sunday.
• 28:25
  Suze: We have recorded quite the Suze School for all moms.
• 28:32
  Suze: So moms, make sure you listen in. But until then,
• 28:37
  Suze: remember people first, then money, then things.
• 28:40
  KT: Now you stay safe.
• 28:42
  Suze: You take it away, KT. Bye bye.