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Is Your Adult Child Financially Clueless? · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  Suze: November 27th, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
• 0:13
  Suze: and everybody, do you hear me? Everybody. That means everybody
• 0:17
  Suze: smart enough to listen, even Colo.
• 0:22
  KT: Somebody wanted to wish Suze and I a very happy Thanksgiving.
• 0:28
  Colo: Happy Thanksgiving KT and Suze.
• 0:29
  Suze: And everybody that loves you. Do you know how many
• 0:33
  Suze: people love you on this podcast,
• 0:35
  KT: But they're still making their famous stuffing together, and then
• 0:40
  KT: Colo's gonna go to his brother Faber's house and visit with, yeah.
• 0:44
  KT: Maria and Annie, his wife is coming and her..
• 0:47
  Colo: My wife is coming to town
• 0:48
  KT: And wait there's there's one more super addition to the family.
• 0:53
  KT: Who is it?
• 0:54
  Colo: Leah, my niece.
• 0:55
  KT: How old is she?
• 0:57
  Colo: She's only like 15 days old.
• 0:59
  Suze: Wow. So anyway.
• 1:02
  Suze: We love you, Colo. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well,
• 1:05
  Suze: to Annie, to your entire family. Anything else you want
• 1:08
  Suze: to say before you go?
• 1:10
  Colo: Yes, I wish everybody a happy, a super
• 1:12
  Colo: spectacular Thanksgiving
• 1:14
  Colo: to
• 1:14
  Colo: everybody.
• 1:15
  Suze: Ah, thank you, sweetheart. There you go. All right, now.
• 1:20
  Suze: It's always so nice to have him in the studio
• 1:22
  Suze: with us, isn't it? OK, there you go. But it's
• 1:26
  Suze: kind of funny. You want to know what happened before
• 1:28
  Suze: he came in? Everybody, go on, KT. Tell him you
• 1:31
  Suze: smelled him.
• 1:34
  KT: Wait, I didn't let him in the studio or near
• 1:37
  KT: Suze in case he smelled like anything sweat, um, chemicals
• 1:43
  KT: from cleaning things, whatever it is.
• 1:46
  Suze: Because our studio is really really small.
• 1:47
  KT: So I said really, let me smell you, and he
• 1:49
  KT: looked at me and then he leaned down and he
• 1:52
  KT: smelled me. I said, no, no, no, you don't smell bad.
• 1:55
  KT: I just wanna make sure you're not around any chemicals.
• 1:59
  Suze: So anyway, so that's when you know you truly
• 2:02
  Suze: love somebody. All right, KT, what do you have for us today?
• 2:05
  KT: My first question is from Annie. She said, Love, love,
• 2:08
  KT: love your podcast. I started on my investment journey thanks
• 2:13
  KT: to your Suze Orman show years ago. So grateful for
• 2:17
  KT: all your sage and easy to understand advice. And here's
• 2:21
  KT: the question: Does investing in a Roth 401k not make
• 2:27
  KT: sense at a certain tax bracket?
• 2:31
  Suze: Really?
• 2:33
  Suze: Listen, everybody, I don't care what tax bracket you're in.
• 2:37
  Suze: I don't care actually what your CPA says to you.
• 2:40
  Suze: I don't care what anybody says to you.
• 2:43
  Suze: I find it very difficult to find any situation where
• 2:48
  Suze: a Roth doesn't make sense, even if you are two
• 2:53
  Suze: years away from retirement. Just saying, now, obviously, sometimes when
• 2:59
  Suze: you're older and everything, you have to look at your
• 3:02
  Suze: income because of Medicare Part B and all of that stuff. However,
• 3:06
  Suze: in this situation, you're still working.
• 3:09
  Suze: Do a Roth 401k next KT.
• 3:12
  KT: So Suze, I'm just gonna be pretty gentle because it's
• 3:15
  KT: Thanksgiving with a few very lightweight questions and short ones
• 3:21
  KT: because I've got something coming up that you all might
• 3:24
  KT: wanna stay tuned to listen to. All right, so my
• 3:28
  KT: next question is, Suze KT, I'm finishing up my documents
• 3:32
  KT: but just wanted to confirm for the revocable trust.
• 3:36
  KT: I'm supposed to be the settlor and the trustee? Or
• 3:41
  KT: do I name someone else as the trustee?
• 3:44
  Suze: Now they're talking about in this question.
• 3:48
  Suze: The must-have documents, right? And the must-have documents are a
• 3:53
  Suze: living revocable trust, a will, an advance directive, and durable
• 3:58
  Suze: power of attorney for health care, as well as a
• 4:00
  Suze: financial power of attorney. When it comes to the living
• 4:04
  Suze: revocable trust.
• 4:06
  Suze: The person that creates the trust is known as the
• 4:11
  Suze: trustor or the settlor. It's your trust. You created it.
• 4:18
  Suze: The trustee is the person who makes all the decisions
• 4:22
  Suze: about what you want to do in that trust. Normally
• 4:26
  Suze: the trustor or settlor and the trustee are the same person.
• 4:33
  Suze: So absolutely you need to be those two. All right.
• 4:38
  KT: All right.
• 4:39
  Suze: By the way, if you're interested in the must-have documents,
• 4:42
  Suze: go to must-havedocs.com and that's where you can currently get them.
• 4:47
  Suze: I think they're $99. Listen to me, everybody, they are
• 4:52
  Suze: going to change sometime next year in terms of their price,
• 4:56
  Suze: and you are getting $2,500 worth of state
• 4:59
  Suze: of the art documents you can share it with all
• 5:02
  Suze: of your family members, meaning you can have $2,500 worth
• 5:06
  Suze: of state of the art documents. Your sisters, your brothers,
• 5:10
  Suze: your nieces, whoever it is, they also can, they all
• 5:13
  Suze: get their own password. They all create their own site,
• 5:17
  Suze: so you should take advantage of it while you can.
• 5:20
  Suze: And KT, I just have to say this as well,
• 5:22
  Suze: if you're looking for a one year certificate right now.
• 5:26
  Suze: I would have all of you go to myalliant.com, because
• 5:31
  Suze: I think rates are gonna drop shortly, and you can
• 5:34
  Suze: still all get a one year certificate for 4.10% APR
• 5:41
  Suze: and for those of you who have $75,000 or more,
• 5:44
  Suze: you will get 4.15 APR. You might want to check
• 5:49
  Suze: it out cause I have a feeling it's gonna change.
• 5:51
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 5:53
  KT: This is gonna be a real gobbly kind of podcast, gobble, gobble, gobble. So,
• 5:58
  KT: from Donna.
• 6:01
  KT: Suze, I wanted to ask...
• 6:02
  Suze: what kind of podcast do you think this is gonna be today?
• 6:05
  KT: A gobble, gobble, gobble podcast, Suze. I got a gobbling going on.
• 6:09
  Suze: I thought you were gonna say this is gonna be
• 6:11
  Suze: a podcast stuffed with incredible financial advice. Get it? Yes,
• 6:16
  Suze: that too. Do you know people are still writing in
• 6:19
  Suze: wanting to know the recipe...
• 6:20
  KT: The recipe.
• 6:21
  Suze: It's somewhere.
• 6:21
  KT: We posted it a million times, I think it's on the wall.
• 6:24
  Suze: Yeah, look on the Women and Money Community app, scroll
• 6:28
  Suze: all the way down and it's there somewhere. All right, KT.
• 6:32
  KT: So this is from Donna. I wanted to ask you
• 6:34
  KT: a quick question regarding something Fidelity sent to me. Fidelity
• 6:40
  KT: asked if I wanted to make extra income by lending
• 6:44
  KT: out securities I already own.
• 6:47
  KT: Is this safe and should I consider it? I never
• 6:50
  KT: heard this before. That's why i picked it.
• 6:52
  Suze: Shame on Fidelity.
• 6:54
  KT: Oh, she's turning red. Everybody, like that turkey in the oven.
• 6:58
  Suze: Do turkeys turn red?
• 6:59
  Suze: Yeah, they get golden red... bronze.
• 7:02
  Suze: All right, so listen, in almost every single case, the
• 7:07
  Suze: answer is absolutely not. And why is that?
• 7:13
  Suze: Because you are lending out your stocks, your ETFs, whatever
• 7:16
  Suze: it may be, and therefore they are no longer number
• 7:20
  Suze: one protected by SIPC. That's where you are protected in
• 7:25
  Suze: case something happens to brokerage firms. You're giving up your
• 7:28
  Suze: rights to vote. You may not get the same tax
• 7:31
  Suze: treatment and the extra income that they're offering you so
• 7:34
  Suze: that they can lend out your certificates so other people
• 7:38
  Suze: can short them, do all these things with them.
• 7:41
  Suze: Right, the extra income is so small it's not worth it,
• 7:45
  Suze: and the added risk for very little reward, I don't
• 7:49
  Suze: think so. Therefore, just stick with owning your certificates outright.
• 7:53
  Suze: The mere fact you don't even know what that means
• 7:56
  Suze: says no. And again, shame on you, Fidelity, without explaining
• 8:01
  Suze: everything to everybody. Go on.
• 8:02
  KT: All right. The next question is from Sharon.
• 8:05
  KT: Suze, I picked this one because this question, it's just
• 8:08
  KT: one line, but it's a question almost everyone should be
• 8:12
  KT: asking that it pertains to ready? from Sharon: Suze, how
• 8:17
  KT: can you protect going from two incomes to one income?
• 8:23
  Suze: Do you all remember back in 2008, if you were
• 8:27
  Suze: watching the Suze Orman Show back then.
• 8:30
  Suze: I was saying to all of you, you need to
• 8:33
  Suze: practice living on one income even though both of you
• 8:37
  Suze: may be working. Take one of your incomes and put
• 8:41
  Suze: it away and just see, can you make it on
• 8:44
  Suze: one income, because back then it was very probable one
• 8:49
  Suze: of you was going to lose your job because we
• 8:52
  Suze: were actually in a depression, in my opinion, back then.
• 8:57
  Suze: The same holds true right now, Sharon. You can't necessarily
• 9:01
  Suze: protect yourself from going from two incomes to one.
• 9:05
  Suze: What you can do is, number one, control what your
• 9:10
  Suze: income is spent on.
• 9:13
  Suze: And if I were you, why don't you play one income?
• 9:18
  Suze: See what it's like. See what would happen if one
• 9:22
  Suze: of you did die. One of you lost your job,
• 9:26
  Suze: because death is actually different, I'm sorry to say, than
• 9:29
  Suze: losing a job. When you lose a job, you still
• 9:32
  Suze: might get your Social Security. When you lose a job,
• 9:35
  Suze: you still may have something coming in. You have the
• 9:38
  Suze: ability to get another one, even if it's, you know,
• 9:41
  Suze: a few dollars an hour, whatever it is. When death occurs,
• 9:45
  Suze: it's gone.
• 9:46
  Suze: So possibly you've lost a Social Security check, you've lost
• 9:49
  Suze: a pension, possibly all kinds of things can be lost. Therefore,
• 9:56
  Suze: practice now what happens if it were death and practice
• 10:01
  Suze: now what it would be if it was just simply
• 10:04
  Suze: retirement or one of you lost a job.
• 10:08
  Suze: If it's disability, by the way, you can always get
• 10:11
  Suze: a disability policy because 1 out of 4 people can
• 10:16
  Suze: become disabled and all of a sudden you've lost that income,
• 10:20
  Suze: but you can protect against that by purchasing a disability policy.
• 10:26
  Suze: So there are things you can do, but the best
• 10:29
  Suze: thing you can do.
• 10:31
  Suze: Is get a grip on what will one income pay
• 10:34
  Suze: for and if your expenses are too much, how do
• 10:37
  Suze: you cut your expenses if you can't afford your home
• 10:40
  Suze: all right, now maybe you downsize whatever it is, but
• 10:43
  Suze: if you plan for all of that, then you've protected
• 10:48
  Suze: yourself from the what ifs of life. Next question, KT.
• 10:51
  KT: OK, as I said, short and sweet, this is from Gwen.
• 10:55
  KT: What are your thoughts on real estate at the moment?
• 10:58
  Suze: Not great, to tell you the truth, KT.
• 11:01
  Suze: There used to come a time where owning a home
• 11:05
  Suze: was the American dream, and that was when interest rates
• 11:10
  Suze: were lower, insurance was lower, property taxes were lower, and
• 11:16
  Suze: truthfully across the board expenses were lower, and it just
• 11:22
  Suze: made sense. I have to tell you, it doesn't make
• 11:26
  Suze: sense now for a whole lot of people. Why?
• 11:32
  Suze: Mortgage rates are still high. Prices of real estate.
• 11:36
  Suze: Still high.
• 11:38
  Suze: Inflation is still high, and when I mean by inflation,
• 11:44
  Suze: I'm not talking about what everybody says the inflation rate is,
• 11:48
  Suze: I'm talking about your own personal inflation, what it costs
• 11:53
  Suze: for you to live.
• 11:55
  Suze: To shop, to eat, to do anything, I get that
• 11:59
  Suze: gasoline prices have gone down, but there is more to
• 12:03
  Suze: living than just gasoline prices. But the real thing that
• 12:08
  Suze: concerns me truthfully.
• 12:11
  Suze: Is the insurance it takes to insure your home and
• 12:17
  Suze: what that is going to cost you. And sometimes it
• 12:21
  Suze: just doesn't make sense because in many places in the
• 12:25
  Suze: United States, your property insurance might even be more than
• 12:29
  Suze: your mortgage payment.
• 12:31
  Suze: Is your job secure? Many of you in the federal
• 12:35
  Suze: government thought your jobs were secure, and then all of
• 12:38
  Suze: a sudden you also didn't get back pay. And now
• 12:41
  Suze: is your mortgage in jeopardy?
• 12:44
  Suze: So, you have to know, is you purchasing a home,
• 12:49
  Suze: real estate, wise for you in your particular situation? Can
• 12:55
  Suze: your situation change? Do you have at least a 12
• 12:58
  Suze: month emergency fund, besides 20% to put down? Can you
• 13:02
  Suze: afford increases in insurance, property tax, and everything? Do you
• 13:07
  Suze: have the money to maintain the home? So, it depends. Also,
• 13:12
  Suze: I know that I'm going on on this, KT, but.
• 13:15
  Suze: You're the one who asked the question, right, is that
• 13:19
  Suze: Mother Nature is seriously concerning me. There isn't a time
• 13:24
  Suze: that I turn on the television and I don't see rains, floods,
• 13:30
  Suze: all these things happening in Texas, Southern California being deluged
• 13:34
  Suze: by once again water, fire here, dust storms here, all
• 13:39
  Suze: kinds of things, right? Tornadoes.
• 13:44
  Suze: And so
• 13:46
  Suze: Mother Nature is a serious concern to me and therefore
• 13:51
  Suze: it should be to you as well, just something to
• 13:55
  Suze: think about, all right.
• 13:57
  KT: Yeah, real estate's really tricky.
• 13:59
  Suze: Fires. Think about fires in the Los Angeles area
• 14:03
  KT: And hurricanes.
• 14:04
  Suze: And how many emails we have gotten saying the insurance
• 14:09
  Suze: company KT isn't paying them. Their insurance company canceled them
• 14:12
  Suze: right before the fire. They had $900,000 and the insurance
• 14:17
  Suze: company only gave them $500,000. They don't know what to do, so...
• 14:23
  Suze: I don't love real estate as much as I once did.
• 14:26
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 14:26
  KT: Suze, I agree, real estate's really tricky these days. So
• 14:30
  KT: if you don't buy a home, or you can't buy
• 14:32
  KT: a home, what do you do?
• 14:34
  Suze: Um, I have to tell you, you rent, and I
• 14:36
  Suze: know that a lot of you are like, oh, but
• 14:39
  Suze: I can't find an apartment. Apartments are so expensive. I'm
• 14:43
  Suze: paying somebody else to own something outright. The most important
• 14:47
  Suze: thing you can do is be realistic.
• 14:50
  Suze: What can you afford and what can you not? And
• 14:55
  Suze: don't feel like you're a failure if you do rent.
• 14:59
  Suze: Some of the wealthiest people I know have only rented.
• 15:03
  Suze: Just think about it, OK.
• 15:05
  KT: My next question is again back to federal employees because
• 15:09
  KT: I think they deserve a little more TLC these days. Um,
• 15:14
  KT: this is from Kelly. She said, Suze, what should federal
• 15:17
  KT: workers be doing about this new Roth in-plan conversion option?
• 15:22
  KT: Do it now? Wait till we are retired to convert
• 15:26
  KT: money in our traditional to the Roth? She said, I've
• 15:29
  KT: heard answers from too many people. I only trust you.
• 15:33
  Suze: Good, because you know, KT, remember a few podcasts ago
• 15:37
  Suze: you asked me why do they have to check to
• 15:39
  Suze: see if they can transfer right from a traditional 401k
• 15:43
  Suze: to a Roth, and I said not all companies allowed it. Well,
• 15:47
  Suze: guess what? Federal government didn't really allow it. You could
• 15:50
  Suze: have a Roth TSP, but you couldn't transfer from a
• 15:54
  Suze: traditional TSP to a Roth TSP. Starting 2026. You're gonna
• 15:59
  Suze: be able to. So here's the thing.
• 16:03
  Suze: I want all of you to listen to me right
• 16:06
  Suze: now about the stocks. Many things are down considerably. So
• 16:13
  Suze: if there's ever a time to convert to a Roth,
• 16:18
  Suze: now is the time. Forget the TSP for just one second.
• 16:23
  Suze: You're in a traditional IRA.
• 16:26
  Suze: And you own Palantir, IONQ, Ibit all of those stocks.
• 16:32
  Suze: Now is the time to convert to a Roth if
• 16:35
  Suze: you can, because those prices are down considerably, because they're
• 16:41
  Suze: down considerably. Your taxes will be less.
• 16:45
  Suze: And therefore that's how you make your money, make more money.
• 16:49
  Suze: You convert half this year maybe, half next year, but
• 16:53
  Suze: if your portfolio is down, now is the time to
• 16:58
  Suze: convert if you were thinking about converting. Again back to
• 17:02
  Suze: Kelly and this question.
• 17:05
  Suze: Convert, convert. The key is how much do you convert,
• 17:10
  Suze: given I don't know a lot about your circumstance.
• 17:15
  Suze: Convert amounts so you don't go into a higher tax
• 17:18
  Suze: bracket number one.
• 17:20
  Suze: If you can and you don't have a lot in
• 17:22
  Suze: the TSP convert as much as you can while it's
• 17:25
  Suze: probably down if you invested in certain government funds that
• 17:30
  Suze: may be down and do that. Absolutely convert. Do not
• 17:35
  Suze: wait until you are retired. If you are retired and
• 17:40
  Suze: you are converting, you will then be making one of
• 17:43
  Suze: the biggest mistakes out there, and the reason is.
• 17:47
  Suze: What will that do to your income in regards to
• 17:51
  Suze: the Medicare B premium? You have to think about that,
• 17:55
  Suze: and maybe I'll talk about that more on Sunday's podcast.
• 17:59
  Suze: All right, KT next.
• 18:01
  KT: OK, Suze, this is what I've been holding back on
• 18:04
  KT: this particular question. It's a little complicated, but it's a
• 18:08
  KT: fascinating story and I think many of the listeners may
• 18:11
  KT: relate to it.
• 18:13
  KT: This is from a stepmom who said, Hi, Suze and KT.
• 18:17
  KT: My husband and I recently discovered that his 42 year
• 18:21
  KT: old daughter is financially clueless.
• 18:25
  Suze: That should be the name of this podcast.
• 18:27
  KT: Financially Clueless. All right, she has shown a strong desire
• 18:32
  KT: to learn and improve her financial situation.
• 18:35
  KT: And we're both deeply concerned about her well-being and are
• 18:39
  KT: seeking your expert advice. So she said last week we
• 18:44
  KT: discovered she does not know how to budget, understand bank statements,
• 18:49
  KT: or balance her checking.
• 18:51
  Suze: Wait, before you go on, how do you think they
• 18:53
  Suze: discovered that? What do you think happened to them?
• 18:56
  Suze: That made them discover that she didn't know how to any of that?
• 18:59
  KT: They somehow got involved with her money and
• 19:03
  KT: you'll see you're right, that's the biggest.
• 19:06
  Suze: How do you discover that people?
• 19:08
  KT: How do you know that? So anyway, the stepdaughter moved
• 19:12
  KT: from her mom's home in Alabama to their California home
• 19:16
  KT: in 2022.
• 19:18
  KT: They allowed her to stay with them, Suze, for a
• 19:21
  KT: year while she searched for a job and her own apartment.
• 19:25
  Suze: Mistake.
• 19:26
  KT: So the stepmom was able to find her a great job.
• 19:29
  KT: And since she had no credit history, no credit card,
• 19:33
  KT: and no rental history...
• 19:34
  Suze: Doin't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me.
• 19:37
  KT: Bingo, bingo.
• 19:38
  KT: Husband had to co-sign the lease.
• 19:41
  Suze: Well, there we talk about who's financially clueless. All right.
• 19:45
  KT: Recently he's been receiving notices that his daughter's payment was late.
• 19:51
  Suze: Wait, wait, stop. That's how they knew that she didn't
• 19:55
  Suze: know how to do anything because it finally affected them. Ugh. Go on.
• 19:59
  KT: Wait a minute. And, on, and on the last time
• 20:02
  KT: her check bounced. My husband and I went to her
• 20:05
  KT: apartment to discuss this in person. We could not understand
• 20:09
  KT: why this was happening, so ready Suze turned out she
• 20:13
  KT: wasn't checking her bank account balance. She kept swiping her
• 20:17
  KT: ATM card for purchases and paying bills without verifying if
• 20:22
  KT: there was enough money in her account to cover them.
• 20:26
  KT: Ready? This is the part that's really sad. She blew
• 20:30
  KT: through a $100,000 inheritance.
• 20:33
  KT: Given her current financial situation, she could greatly benefit from
• 20:38
  KT: a structured financial education.
• 20:41
  Suze: Oh, you think that's it? You think a structured financial
• 20:44
  Suze: education is going to solve this problem? Go on KT.
• 20:47
  KT: So then she said, Could you...
• 20:48
  Suze: I thought today was supposed to be Thanksgiving and nice
• 20:50
  Suze: and easy.
• 20:51
  KT: But this, this is an interesting story. Suze. Could you
• 20:55
  KT: recommend a spreadsheet and product suitable for someone new to
• 20:59
  KT: manage finances?
• 21:02
  KT: All right, and it's signed "Bonus mom."
• 21:05
  Suze: Here's the "bonus" mom that you're about to get, OK.
• 21:08
  Suze: Is that... you're not going to fix this by giving
• 21:12
  Suze: somebody a structured spreadsheet. You're going to fix this by
• 21:16
  Suze: understanding that you are still contributing to the problem, and
• 21:21
  Suze: the problem began when you had to co-sign for her. Listen,
• 21:26
  Suze: she is 42 years old.
• 21:30
  Suze: 42 years old. Somehow she had a $100,000 inheritance. Why
• 21:39
  Suze: did you have to co-sign for her? Did you not
• 21:42
  Suze: know that she had already blown that $100,000 inheritance? Cause
• 21:46
  Suze: if she had a $100,000 inheritance and she had shown
• 21:50
  Suze: that to some landlord and maybe paid the entire rent
• 21:55
  Suze: up front for a year.
• 21:58
  Suze: Your husband wouldn't have had to co-sign for her. The
• 22:01
  Suze: biggest mistake you will ever make in life when it
• 22:04
  Suze: comes to your children is when you co-sign for them.
• 22:08
  Suze: You think you're helping them. If a bank won't give
• 22:11
  Suze: them a loan, you are not going to be the bank,
• 22:15
  Suze: do you hear me? Unless you can afford to be
• 22:20
  Suze: the bank.
• 22:22
  Suze: Don't ever do it. So you, my dear Bonus Mom,
• 22:26
  Suze: you have to look at your own actions and what
• 22:29
  Suze: did you and your husband do to enable her to
• 22:33
  Suze: live in the life of financial la la land, cause
• 22:37
  Suze: that's where she is living. No spreadsheet, nothing will ever
• 22:43
  Suze: get to her.
• 22:45
  Suze: Except her having her checks bounce, her losing her car,
• 22:50
  Suze: your husband's credit has already been ruined because she's missed
• 22:55
  Suze: payments and now is bouncing checks. You're going to have
• 22:59
  Suze: to have her live in reality, even if that means
• 23:02
  Suze: she has to move in with a friend, with somebody.
• 23:05
  Suze: I don't care what it means, but you cannot save her.
• 23:10
  Suze: KT, what is my favorite saying about helping?
• 23:13
  KT: When is helping hurting and when is hurting
• 23:17
  Suze: helping?
• 23:19
  Suze: You have to be a warrior here and not turn
• 23:22
  Suze: your back on this battlefield, and this battlefield is all
• 23:26
  Suze: about getting a 42 year old to live in financial reality,
• 23:32
  Suze: and you want to know why she doesn't live in
• 23:34
  Suze: financial reality, cause Daddy is always going to save her.
• 23:39
  Suze: She may think you may always save her. Maybe her
• 23:42
  Suze: mom may always save her. Her inheritance saved her.
• 23:47
  Suze: Everything has saved her. Now she has to become strong
• 23:52
  Suze: enough and save herself. You never go up in a
• 23:57
  Suze: situation like this until you have hit rock bottom.
• 24:01
  KT: Wow, Suze, that's a little harsh.
• 24:04
  Suze: Why?
• 24:04
  KT: It's Thanksgiving.
• 24:05
  Suze: No, yeah, Bonus Mom should be thankful that this is
• 24:09
  Suze: harsh because if she really wants to help her stepdaughter,
• 24:14
  Suze: let her stepdaughter hear what I just said and let
• 24:19
  Suze: me be the one who is harsh.
• 24:22
  Suze: And stepdaughter, if you are ever going to listen to this,
• 24:26
  Suze: nobody knows more about money in my opinion than me.
• 24:31
  Suze: To help you...
• 24:33
  Suze: sometimes you need to get a little dose of reality.
• 24:37
  Suze: And that was your dose. All right, KT, next.
• 24:41
  KT: It is Thanksgiving, and I've got to give a little bit of love here.
• 24:43
  Suze: But listen, it's only Thanksgiving today. Most of the people
• 24:46
  Suze: listen to this podcast a few days from now. They'll
• 24:50
  Suze: already forget it and they'll already...
• 24:51
  KT: On that last one, let the daughter listen. That is
• 24:56
  KT: gonna be the best thankful. Yeah, it's like that's gonna
• 24:59
  KT: be the best thanks you can give.
• 25:00
  Suze: You have to stop trying to help her through typical means,
• 25:04
  Suze: a spreadsheet?
• 25:05
  Suze: A spreadsheet. What's that gonna do to her? Nothing. She's
• 25:08
  Suze: gonna forget to enter all the numbers. All right, go on.
• 25:10
  KT: All right, so this one, I think, is a very,
• 25:13
  KT: very sweet and very heartwarming question. Ready? What... this is
• 25:19
  KT: from Kim. She said, What is the financial benefits of
• 25:22
  KT: being married? Love the question. Wait, I'm soon to be
• 25:26
  KT: 68 and my 72-year-old sweetheart and I want to get married.
• 25:32
  KT: I love this, Suze, she said, I have a house
• 25:35
  KT: worth half a million dollars where we currently live, a
• 25:38
  KT: Roth and an IRA with a total of about $1.3 million.
• 25:43
  KT: He also has a house and investments worth closer to
• 25:47
  KT: $2 million.
• 25:49
  KT: We don't have any joint accounts regarding our finances, and Suze,
• 25:54
  KT: do we need a prenup? She said, I can't imagine
• 25:57
  KT: us splitting up just like you and KT, but who
• 26:01
  KT: knows what can happen.
• 26:03
  KT: So there you go. So how are we going to
• 26:05
  KT: answer Kim?
• 26:06
  Suze: I first want to take on marriage, KT, because especially
• 26:10
  Suze: for the gay and lesbian couples that are out there
• 26:13
  Suze: that currently still have the right to be married, it
• 26:16
  Suze: is so, so important. And it's not just a right
• 26:21
  Suze: for gay and lesbian couples, it's a right for every
• 26:25
  Suze: single person out there. And let me just go through
• 26:28
  Suze: a list of all the advantages of getting married.
• 26:33
  Suze: Number one, marriage at any age, seriously, especially at your age, Kim,
• 26:39
  Suze: can bring some major financial benefits like
• 26:44
  Suze: spousal Social Security, estate tax advantages, simplified inheritance, all of
• 26:51
  Suze: those things matter. So for instance, maybe your spousal benefits,
• 26:57
  Suze: you would be eligible up to 50% of your spouse's
• 27:00
  Suze: Social Security benefit if it's higher than yours.
• 27:04
  Suze: That's a big deal. Also, besides spousal benefits, how about
• 27:10
  Suze: survivor benefits? So if one of you passes away, the
• 27:15
  Suze: surviving spouse, do you get this? They can receive the
• 27:18
  Suze: higher of the two Social Security checks, and that can
• 27:23
  Suze: be significant. Now, KT, for you and me, our Social
• 27:27
  Suze: Securities are the same, so it wouldn't matter.
• 27:31
  Suze: But in many cases, maybe your Social Security is $1,800
• 27:36
  Suze: a month. Mine's $4,000. If I die, wouldn't you rather
• 27:39
  Suze: get my $4,000 than your $1,800? Well, that would only
• 27:42
  Suze: happen if we were married, and thank God we are. Inheritance.
• 27:50
  Suze: She has so much in her name, so much in his,
• 27:54
  Suze: who knows, it's just so much easier when you have
• 27:57
  Suze: it together, and it's not just inheritance of property. All right,
• 28:02
  Suze: there's a $15 million estate tax, but inheritance of a
• 28:06
  Suze: retirement account.
• 28:09
  Suze: As a spouse you can take over my retirement account,
• 28:14
  Suze: KT as if it was yours. I can take over
• 28:17
  Suze: your retirement account as if it were mine. If we
• 28:21
  Suze: were not married, I'd have to wipe that account clean
• 28:25
  Suze: in 10 years. Can you imagine what that would do
• 28:29
  Suze: to your tax bracket, KT?
• 28:31
  Suze: So those are just some of them. There's health care
• 28:35
  Suze: and legal rights. KT, do you remember when I got
• 28:38
  Suze: seriously sick? They wouldn't let her into the operating room.
• 28:42
  Suze: She had to say she was my sister.
• 28:45
  Suze: And this was before we were legally married, and now
• 28:49
  Suze: she carries her legal marriage...
• 28:52
  KT: Marriage certificate...
• 28:53
  Suze: ...with her everywhere she goes. Those are just a few
• 28:57
  Suze: of the benefits of being married. Plus forget the financial benefits.
• 29:05
  Suze: The emotional benefits of knowing that you are married. Legally,
• 29:11
  Suze: you are now one.
• 29:15
  Suze: It is very, very different than when you live with
• 29:18
  Suze: each other and you have everything separate. It's, there's, uh,
• 29:22
  Suze: how would you describe it, KT?
• 29:24
  KT: It's an incredible sense for us or for me of
• 29:28
  KT: not only security but trust and you, you just feel.
• 29:33
  KT: You feel great. You feel really...
• 29:36
  Suze: It's very
• 29:36
  Suze: different when you say to somebody, this is my wife
• 29:40
  Suze: or my spouse or my husband, then this is my
• 29:44
  Suze: boyfriend or girlfriend. This is my partner. It's people always say, well,
• 29:49
  Suze: why didn't they get married? Why aren't you married?
• 29:52
  Suze: So the question is, why aren't you really married, but
• 29:55
  Suze: that's besides the point. All right, prenup, and I'm just
• 29:58
  Suze: going to say...
• 29:58
  KT: I love being married. Do you?
• 30:00
  Suze: To you? Yes.
• 30:02
  KT: Yea, I love being married to you.
• 30:03
  Suze: Would I have loved being married to any other girlfriend
• 30:07
  Suze: that I had? Bottom line, it would have been the
• 30:10
  Suze: absolute biggest mistake if I had married any of them,
• 30:15
  Suze: which is why I never did. But that's besides the point.
• 30:18
  Suze: So if you know he's right for you, marry.
• 30:22
  KT: She said, sweetheart.
• 30:23
  Suze: But she can't imagine then why she would need a prenup.
• 30:27
  Suze: And the reason you will need a prenup is number one,
• 30:32
  Suze: once you get married, M just doesn't stand for marriage,
• 30:36
  Suze: it stands for money. And depending on what state you
• 30:40
  Suze: happen to live in and what you decide to do
• 30:43
  Suze: years from now with your money.
• 30:46
  Suze: From that point on, half could be his or yours,
• 30:49
  Suze: so you have to settle that right now. Do it
• 30:53
  Suze: when you're in a state of love and when you
• 30:56
  Suze: say you can't imagine anything going wrong.
• 31:00
  Suze: Trust me, in life, whether it's 14 years, 30 years,
• 31:06
  Suze: 35 years, or even longer.
• 31:09
  Suze: I've seen it all. What happens after 30 years of marriage,
• 31:15
  Suze: 25 years of marriage. Seriously, you may not quite feel
• 31:19
  Suze: the same, believe it or not. It just happens. 14 years,
• 31:24
  Suze: you're still in your honeymoon. Just wait. 25. Oh, KT
• 31:29
  Suze: just reached over to hold my hand.
• 31:31
  Suze: Right, but I've gotten too many emails: "after 30 years
• 31:35
  Suze: of marriage, Susie, he now is living in the big
• 31:38
  Suze: house and I'm living in a studio apartment. I never
• 31:41
  Suze: imagined that could happen." You know, if you ask me,
• 31:46
  Suze: and since you have asked me, I just want to
• 31:47
  Suze: say one other thing. There's a reason why your friends
• 31:52
  Suze: who are older are still getting a prenup today. There's
• 31:57
  Suze: a reason.
• 31:59
  Suze: And you might want to ask them about it.
• 32:02
  Suze: And when you have everything like that in order, you're married,
• 32:08
  Suze: you have a prenup, you've prepared for the what ifs,
• 32:12
  Suze: trust me, you will live a far, far happier life
• 32:18
  Suze: and a life that you will give hopefully thanks for
• 32:24
  Suze: like today. What are we doing, KT?
• 32:27
  KT: Happy Thanksgiving.
• 32:28
  Suze: We're all giving thanks for everything today.
• 32:32
  Suze: And, and just know how lucky you are that you're
• 32:35
  Suze: able to do so. For those of you who don't
• 32:40
  Suze: think that you have something to be thankful for, your
• 32:44
  Suze: job is to just see you're alive.
• 32:48
  Suze: You're walking, you're able to eat. Find something, one little
• 32:53
  Suze: thing in your life that you're thankful for, and give
• 32:57
  Suze: it all the thanks you possibly can, and KT.
• 33:03
  Suze: The thing that I am absolutely most thankful for in
• 33:08
  Suze: my life, more than anything, more than my health, anything.
• 33:12
  Suze: Is you.
• 33:13
  KT: Oh, Suze. Don't make me cry.
• 33:15
  Suze: Oh, KT... now she's crying. Oh, here she goes. Oh.
• 33:23
  KT: We're so lucky,
• 33:24
  Suze: So lucky, aren't we?
• 33:25
  KT: We really are so blessed.
• 33:28
  KT: People always tell us how blessed we are, and we
• 33:30
  KT: tell each other all the time. So happy Thanksgiving and
• 33:34
  KT: be blessed, be grateful.
• 33:37
  KT: And always remember this, people first...
• 33:41
  Suze: Then money...
• 33:41
  KT: then money, then things.
• 33:43
  Suze: All right, stay safe, everybody. Bye bye.