Latest / Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen) / Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. You Have To Be Smarter Than This!

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Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. You Have To Be Smarter Than This! · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:11
  Suze: She's already making me laugh, everybody, anyway, April 23rd, 2026.
• 0:17
  Suze: Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast, and Everyone
• 0:21
  Suze: Smart Enough to listen.
• 0:23
  Suze: Oh, here we go. Today is the Ask KT and
• 0:26
  Suze: Suze Anything edition. If you have a question, send it
• 0:30
  Suze: in to ask Suze S U Z E podcast at gmail.com.
• 0:35
  Suze: If KT chooses it, oh, we will answer it on
• 0:38
  Suze: the podcast. And as so many of you know, I
• 0:41
  Suze: do answer many of you personally, but that is besides
• 0:44
  Suze: the point.
• 0:46
  Suze: Why are you smiling?
• 0:47
  KT: Today's our lucky day. You're not even getting there. Today's
• 0:51
  KT: our lucky day. It is finally here, Suze. April...
• 0:54
  Suze: KT, everyday is our lucky day...
• 0:55
  KT: No, no, no. April 23rd. Are you a little nervous?
• 0:57
  Suze: I'm not nervous.
• 0:58
  KT: I think she's nervous. Everyone.
• 1:01
  Suze: Why would I be nervous?
• 1:01
  KT: Because it's been three years since you gave a live webinar,
• 1:05
  KT: and tonight
• 1:06
  KT: is your debut. Webinar time.
• 1:10
  Suze: Let me tell you, everybody though, about this. Hopefully you
• 1:13
  Suze: have registered for the webinar that I will be giving. However,
• 1:19
  Suze: if you're not registered yet, just go to suzeorman.com. There's
• 1:22
  Suze: still time. Over 70,000 of you
• 1:28
  Suze: out there have registered, but KT, I just want to
• 1:31
  Suze: tell people a little bit about the webinar.
• 1:33
  KT: Please do.
• 1:34
  Suze: Because I've made a decision here. I've decided I wanna
• 1:38
  Suze: do a two-part webinar.
• 1:41
  KT: Great.
• 1:41
  Suze: So tonight I'm going to be focusing, everybody, just so
• 1:45
  Suze: you know, on the emotional side of money, certain things
• 1:49
  Suze: like that.
• 1:51
  Suze: In about two, three or four weeks from now, Keith Fitz-Gerald and I
• 1:55
  Suze: will be giving a second webinar where we will actually
• 2:00
  Suze: be giving you exchange traded funds, um, all kinds of
• 2:05
  Suze: things that you should really know, very different than the
• 2:09
  Suze: podcasts that I do with Keith, because you're gonna be
• 2:12
  Suze: able to see us and everything in a whole different
• 2:15
  Suze: way and a very, very special announcement. That's all I'm
• 2:19
  Suze: gonna say.
• 2:21
  Suze: That all of you have been waiting for for approximately two,
• 2:26
  Suze: two and a half years. That's it. So anyway, just
• 2:29
  Suze: know it's gonna be a two-part webinar, and that's what's
• 2:33
  Suze: gonna start tonight. And listen, everybody, if you've signed up
• 2:37
  Suze: for the first one, you are automatically enrolled already in
• 2:40
  Suze: the second one, so you don't have to do anything.
• 2:44
  Suze: All right, KT, what do you have for me?
• 2:47
  KT: OK, so...
• 2:49
  Suze: You're not allowed in the room.
• 2:51
  KT: Why?
• 2:52
  Suze: You distract me.
• 2:55
  Suze: Wait, let me tell you.
• 2:56
  KT: I distract her for one reason.
• 2:58
  KT: Her hair constantly falls over her left eye, so I
• 3:03
  KT: sit across from her.
• 3:04
  Suze: My right eye.
• 3:06
  KT: Yeah, you're right. I, I've been sitting across from her
• 3:10
  KT: for years in the TV studio, in the podcast studio,
• 3:14
  KT: you name it, and my action, which I wish you
• 3:17
  KT: could see on video, is I always use my hand
• 3:20
  KT: like sweeping away hair from my face with the hopes
• 3:24
  KT: that she'll do the same on her face.
• 3:27
  KT: I just don't have any hair.
• 3:29
  Suze: Yeah, but here's the problem. I'm in the middle of something,
• 3:32
  Suze: you know. I'm not a scripted talent. I don't know
• 3:34
  Suze: what I'm gonna say. I don't know where I'm gonna go.
• 3:37
  Suze: A lot of it...
• 3:37
  KT: So I distract you.
• 3:38
  Suze: She distracts me, and then I'm like, what was I saying? Oh,
• 3:42
  Suze: my hair, not speaking about hair...
• 3:44
  Suze: I'm speaking about what you need to do right here anyway.
• 3:46
  Suze: That's besides the point, KT. What's your question?
• 3:49
  KT: So this is the subject that made me select this, um, email.
• 3:53
  KT: It said, Is gifting assets the only solution for my
• 3:57
  KT: financially abused mother? This is from Josh. So Suze, Josh
• 4:03
  KT: and his wife have been listening to you for over
• 4:06
  KT: 20 years with, and now the podcast about five years.
• 4:10
  KT: And he said, I finally have a question I really
• 4:13
  KT: want to ask. It's actually from my mother, who has
• 4:17
  KT: stayed in a financially abusive relationship with my father for
• 4:22
  KT: over 50 years, and they're in a, um, community property state.
• 4:28
  KT: That's the problem. So Josh goes on to say...
• 4:31
  Suze: That's not the problem.
• 4:33
  Suze: That's what he thinks the problem is, but anyway.
• 4:35
  KT: He said, mom's 74. She is almost financially illiterate and
• 4:39
  KT: reluctant to get a divorce.
• 4:42
  KT: Mostly because she's afraid that community property law would require
• 4:47
  KT: her to give up half of what she owns, including
• 4:50
  KT: a little family restaurant that she's had for over 30 years.
• 4:54
  KT: So the problem is his dad's 76, he's not worked
• 4:58
  KT: for 30 years. He contributes practically nothing. He doesn't do
• 5:04
  KT: house or yard work, hoards his assets like a miser.
• 5:07
  KT: Obviously Josh is not
• 5:10
  KT: very um... happy about his dad and how he treats
• 5:13
  KT: his mom. So, to make a long story short, um,
• 5:18
  KT: the father does have assets. He's very secretive, he's deceitful,
• 5:23
  KT: he doesn't, um, have anything in the mom's name, and
• 5:28
  KT: Josh blames the father for the family's dysfunctional communication around money.
• 5:34
  KT: Long story short again,
• 5:36
  KT: Josh wants to move what assets his mother has, which
• 5:39
  KT: is very little, into his name as a gift so
• 5:44
  KT: that he's able to provide whatever she needs to take
• 5:49
  KT: care of her house or
• 5:51
  KT: you know, whatever. So Suze, what is the best solution
• 5:54
  KT: that you can give Josh at this time?
• 5:57
  Suze: KT, this is one of those emails that I answered directly,
• 6:01
  Suze: just so you know.
• 6:02
  KT: What advice did you give Josh?
• 6:05
  Suze: So first of all...
• 6:05
  KT: This is sad.
• 6:06
  Suze: So everybody, what you need to know, and this is
• 6:09
  Suze: what
• 6:09
  Suze: I'd love because KT doesn't know when I answer all
• 6:12
  Suze: of you and I play this little game. Is she
• 6:16
  Suze: going to pick a question that I already answered and
• 6:20
  Suze: she did in this particular case. You all need to
• 6:23
  Suze: know that Josh and his family live in Louisiana, which
• 6:28
  Suze: is a community property law state.
• 6:31
  Suze: So what I told Josh, and I'm telling all of you,
• 6:34
  Suze: is that just giving away her assets could very easily
• 6:39
  Suze: be challenged in court, the whole thing, and blah blah
• 6:42
  Suze: blah blah, but that's not the problem.
• 6:46
  Suze: The problem is his mother needs to sit down in
• 6:51
  Suze: my opinion, with a qualified Louisiana family law attorney, not
• 6:56
  Suze: a general law, not a friend, but someone who deals
• 7:00
  Suze: specifically with divorce, separation.
• 7:02
  Suze: And asset protection in community property states so she needs
• 7:08
  Suze: to understand that even though the husband has had money
• 7:13
  Suze: in his individual name, he's secretive about it and everything
• 7:17
  Suze: doesn't matter it's still hers unless she signed a prenup
• 7:21
  Suze: for it, unless there was something about it which I
• 7:24
  Suze: doubt that she did.
• 7:25
  Suze: So she needs to explore, if you ask me, a
• 7:28
  Suze: legal separation if she refuses to divorce. The real problem
• 7:33
  Suze: here is why has she stayed for so long, Josh? Why?
• 7:41
  Suze: And that's what needs to be dealt with. So what
• 7:45
  Suze: you need to understand is that you can support her.
• 7:48
  Suze: You can guide her. You can even pay for the attorneys,
• 7:52
  Suze: but you cannot be the solution by taking ownership of
• 7:56
  Suze: the assets. That is not protection. Now listen, if she
• 8:01
  Suze: refuses to act after getting proper legal advice, then you
• 8:05
  Suze: need to accept a very hard truth.
• 8:08
  Suze: You cannot save someone financially who will not participate in
• 8:13
  Suze: their own rescue, and that is KT probably the best advice,
• 8:19
  Suze: you know, as kids we wanna sometimes save our parents.
• 8:25
  Suze: As parents, we sometimes want to save our kids.
• 8:29
  Suze: But the truth is we can't save anybody if they
• 8:34
  Suze: are not willing to participate and save themselves. The main thing, Josh,
• 8:40
  Suze: you need to do is set up this meeting, confront
• 8:43
  Suze: your father, tell him how it has upset you, and again,
• 8:49
  Suze: if mom doesn't want to do anything, you can't do
• 8:51
  Suze: anything about it either, but get her to see
• 8:55
  Suze: a true divorce lawyer in Louisiana. All right, KT, it's sad,
• 9:01
  Suze: isn't it?
• 9:02
  KT: Yeah, I really felt for that email. It looked like
• 9:05
  KT: Josh was struggling of whether or not to send it
• 9:08
  KT: to you.
• 9:09
  Suze: But here's what...
• 9:09
  KT: He's at his wits' ends with this.
• 9:11
  Suze: But how did it come it took so long? I
• 9:13
  Suze: don't know how old Josh is, but what made her
• 9:17
  Suze: stay for about 50 years.
• 9:22
  Suze: Right, she's been in this relationship for 50 years.
• 9:25
  KT: I think people are just afraid, yeah, but afraid of change.
• 9:29
  Suze: So fear, I'm glad you said that because I'm gonna
• 9:33
  Suze: address fear tonight on the webinar, how it's fear that
• 9:38
  Suze: keeps us from the wealth we should have, the relationship
• 9:42
  Suze: we should have, the health we should have, everything. So
• 9:47
  Suze: maybe I'm gonna focus on fear tonight. Let's see what happens.
• 9:50
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 9:52
  KT: So, next is from Chrissy. Hi, Suze and KT. This,
• 9:57
  KT: this one is, this one kind of put a smile
• 9:59
  KT: on my face, although it's not funny at all. She said,
• 10:02
  KT: I'm writing this on behalf of my dear friend Liz,
• 10:06
  KT: who also happens to be my neighbor. She's OK with
• 10:09
  KT: me writing this letter and she is copied here.
• 10:13
  KT: Chrissy wrote, Suze, I think Liz needs a Suze Smackdown.
• 10:18
  KT: All right, so, in a nutshell, Suze, like so many Americans,
• 10:22
  KT: Liz and her husband have relatively high incomes and low savings.
• 10:28
  KT: They both take home about $14,000 a month and their
• 10:33
  KT: regular expenses are about $8,000.
• 10:36
  KT: Liz works for the federal government and he works in tech. Now,
• 10:41
  KT: they both feel very secure in their jobs.
• 10:44
  KT: Their savings has dwindled from 50,000 to 30,000 after a
• 10:48
  KT: big Disney trip they just had. Instead of rebuilding the savings,
• 10:53
  KT: she wants to open a zero interest credit card so
• 10:57
  KT: they can purchase tickets to the Olympics, which is gonna
• 11:01
  KT: be a very expensive trip.
• 11:03
  Suze: What a loser, alright, go on.
• 11:03
  KT: So it's not a loser.
• 11:05
  Suze: No, this is a loser situation.
• 11:08
  KT: Can you give her some advice, Suze? She's not taking
• 11:11
  KT: it from me.
• 11:12
  KT: And at the, do you wanna know what they have?
• 11:15
  KT: All right, so they have 350,000 in retirement. They're in
• 11:20
  KT: their late thirties, early forties. They have an eight year
• 11:23
  KT: old daughter, 8,000 in a 529 plan.
• 11:28
  KT: And they have a mortgage with 26 years left on it,
• 11:32
  KT: a car loan, and a small amount of student loans.
• 11:36
  KT: Both of them are not carrying any credit card debt,
• 11:40
  KT: good for them. So Chris is asking you, please give
• 11:44
  KT: her friend Liz a Suze Slap Down or at least
• 11:48
  KT: let her see the writing on the wall.
• 11:50
  Suze: Chrissy, and this is another situation, KT where I wrote
• 11:54
  Suze: her back directly, just so you know. So what I
• 11:58
  Suze: want everybody to know since you chose this email, when
• 12:03
  Suze: you find yourself in a situation,
• 12:06
  Suze: that you need a 0% interest rate card, so you
• 12:10
  Suze: can go do something cause you don't have the cash
• 12:12
  Suze: for it. When you find yourself in a situation that
• 12:15
  Suze: you are making more,
• 12:18
  Suze: than what you are spending every month and in this
• 12:21
  Suze: case it's like $8,000 a month they have for expenses
• 12:25
  Suze: that means she needs a $96,000 emergency fund and all
• 12:31
  Suze: she has is $30,000. It shows you that something emotionally
• 12:38
  Suze: is going wrong either within you, your relationship, your something
• 12:44
  Suze: is wrong when you don't have money.
• 12:48
  Suze: And you're making money, and you're spending more than you're making,
• 12:52
  Suze: you have to go within to see why you are
• 12:54
  Suze: doing without. You are not going to be in your
• 12:56
  Suze: 30s and 40s forever. You're gonna be in your 50s,
• 12:59
  Suze: in your 60s, in your 80s, and who knows what's
• 13:02
  Suze: going to change because of artificial intelligence. Maybe I'll talk
• 13:05
  Suze: about that again tonight. But whatever, you have got to
• 13:09
  Suze: get a reality check. So, use this as an example
• 13:13
  Suze: of what you make does not determine what you get
• 13:18
  Suze: to spend. It's how you're investing it, what you make
• 13:23
  Suze: after your 12 month emergency fund is covered, you're out
• 13:27
  Suze: of student loan debt, you're, you know, you're putting more
• 13:30
  Suze: towards your mortgage possibly. So, but to look at a 0%
• 13:34
  Suze: interest rate on a credit card just so you can
• 13:36
  Suze: go to the Olympics, stupid, stupid, stupid.
• 13:40
  Suze: Liz, you have to be smarter than this. All right, KT.
• 13:45
  KT: That's good. I think Chris will like that.
• 13:47
  Suze: I think I gave her a harder slap down. No,
• 13:50
  Suze: I gave her a harder slap down in my email,
• 13:52
  Suze: but that's besides the point. All right, go on.
• 13:54
  KT: All right, this is from...
• 13:56
  Suze: Isn't this funny? Once again, you're picking ones that I
• 13:59
  Suze: have answered. I love that.
• 14:02
  KT: OK, next one's from Yvonne. Hi, Suze. Hope you and
• 14:05
  KT: KT are doing great back in Florida.
• 14:08
  Suze: We are.
• 14:08
  KT: Can you please remind me when someone passes away, is
• 14:12
  KT: it correct that if you sell the home they left
• 14:15
  KT: you within one year, you don't have to pay additional taxes?
• 14:20
  Suze: That is not correct. Not correct at any level. It's
• 14:24
  Suze: not about when you sell the home. It has nothing
• 14:27
  Suze: to do with timing anymore. It has to do with this.
• 14:32
  Suze: You were left the home.
• 14:34
  Suze: You have to know that when you inherit a house
• 14:38
  Suze: from somebody, you get a step up in cost bases
• 14:42
  Suze: as to what it was valued at either the day
• 14:45
  Suze: they died or within six months. So let's just say
• 14:47
  Suze: the house you just got is worth $800,000. Just let's
• 14:53
  Suze: say that's true. That then is your cost basis. You
• 14:57
  Suze: turn around and you sell it for $800,000. Guess what?
• 15:01
  Suze: No tax, right? If you live in it as your
• 15:06
  Suze: primary residency for two out of the past five years,
• 15:09
  Suze: then you get to take another $250,000. So even if
• 15:14
  Suze: it goes up from $800,000 to a million dollars and
• 15:18
  Suze: it's been your primary residency for two out of the
• 15:21
  Suze: past five years and then you sell it, you're still
• 15:24
  Suze: not gonna owe anything in taxes because KT
• 15:26
  Suze: $800,000 plus $250 is like 150 $1,000,500. She sells it
• 15:33
  Suze: for $1 million. No capital gains tax, just that simple.
• 15:37
  Suze: All right/
• 15:37
  KT: OK, that's great. And, and Yvonne also lives here in Florida.
• 15:41
  Suze: Yeah, well, what's wrong with this weather? What's up with
• 15:44
  Suze: the weather? We haven't been able to take our boat out.
• 15:47
  Suze: It's been three or four solid months of wind
• 15:52
  Suze: and waves. What's up? All right, next question.
• 15:55
  KT: OK, from Amber. She said, Hi, Suze. I'm in the
• 15:58
  KT: process of moving my IRA into a Roth IRA through
• 16:03
  KT: my financial advisor. I was wondering if this is a
• 16:07
  KT: wise thing to do. I'm 59 and I make about
• 16:10
  KT: $100,000 a year. I was thinking, what if taxes go down?
• 16:15
  KT: I'm actually then gonna lose
• 16:17
  KT: money. I'm ending up paying about 4000 a year when
• 16:21
  KT: I file my taxes. Should I keep moving forward with this,
• 16:24
  KT: or should I just leave everything where it is?
• 16:27
  Suze: Are you crazy? Listen, this is another topic that I
• 16:30
  Suze: hope I'm asked on the webinar tonight because there is
• 16:32
  Suze: a host of the webinar, and they ask me questions.
• 16:35
  Suze: So if not, I'm gonna answer this anyway overall. But
• 16:38
  Suze: listen to me. Stop thinking so small.
• 16:43
  Suze: Start thinking large where what is the big picture, not
• 16:47
  Suze: this little stupid picture that you're paying $4,000 a year
• 16:51
  Suze: in taxes. You're 59 years of age. You have many,
• 16:55
  Suze: many years yet for this money to compound. You want it
• 16:58
  Suze: to compound tax free, you absolutely little by little should
• 17:02
  Suze: be converting to a Roth. Next question, KT.
• 17:05
  KT: OK. Next question is from Barb. She said, Hi, Suze
• 17:09
  KT: and KT.
• 17:10
  Suze: Hello Barb.
• 17:11
  KT: Hi Barb.
• 17:12
  Suze: Does that remind you of your sister Barb?
• 17:15
  KT: So I have a question regarding when to take Social Security.
• 17:18
  KT: My ex-spouse's social will be larger than mine.
• 17:22
  KT: I would like to take half of his when I
• 17:25
  KT: start taking Social Security.
• 17:26
  Suze: So that means KT, if she wants half of his,
• 17:31
  Suze: she has to wait till she's at least 67, full
• 17:35
  Suze: Social Security age to get 50% of his half of his,
• 17:41
  Suze: or she's gonna get less than half of his. So
• 17:43
  Suze: go on, keep going,
• 17:45
  KT: OK, so she just said she's 63 this year. He's 60.
• 17:50
  KT: All right, so you know she's gonna have to wait
• 17:53
  KT: quite some time.
• 17:54
  Suze: So let me tell you the laws of how it
• 17:56
  Suze: actually works, everybody, so you get this right. First of all,
• 18:01
  Suze: if you were married to somebody and now you are
• 18:03
  Suze: divorced and you want to claim their Social Security, half
• 18:07
  Suze: of it, you have to have been married for at
• 18:09
  Suze: least 10 years. Just know that, everybody.
• 18:13
  Suze: You have to wait for at least two years after
• 18:16
  Suze: you have been divorced and you can't be remarried. Just
• 18:21
  Suze: know that as well. Now if you are 63, he
• 18:27
  Suze: is 60.
• 18:29
  Suze: You have to wait till he's at least 62 before
• 18:33
  Suze: you can claim on his Social Security. In two years,
• 18:38
  Suze: you're gonna be 65. So what that means is if
• 18:42
  Suze: you claim his Social Security or a portion of his
• 18:46
  Suze: Social Security at 65, you're only going to be getting
• 18:50
  Suze: about 41 to 42%
• 18:53
  Suze: of what his full retirement age Social Security would be,
• 18:59
  Suze: not 50% because you are not 67. So here's the thing,
• 19:05
  Suze: wait till you're 67 and just make sure, I'm telling
• 19:08
  Suze: you to make sure that half of his
• 19:13
  Suze: is more than 100% of yours, so just do that
• 19:17
  Suze: calculation because you just never know. Next question, KT.
• 19:22
  KT: This is from Anne and Tony in California. Suze, can you
• 19:25
  KT: help us with investing in tax-free investments or any other
• 19:29
  KT: suggestions to reduce
• 19:31
  KT: our taxable income. Our tax preparers suggested muni bonds, municipal bonds,
• 19:38
  KT: but since we may need the money relatively quickly, is
• 19:42
  KT: there a way to buy municipal bonds without making long
• 19:45
  KT: term commitments?
• 19:47
  Suze: So here's the thing, everybody.
• 19:50
  Suze: When you get a municipal bond.
• 19:54
  Suze: A bond always has a beginning date and an ending date,
• 19:59
  Suze: and for you to get an interest rate that's even
• 20:02
  Suze: equal after taxes to like a CD or something or
• 20:06
  Suze: even a money market account, you would have to go
• 20:09
  Suze: out a lot longer and you say you need the
• 20:12
  Suze: money right away. You can do short term muni bond
• 20:16
  Suze: funds and things like that as long as they're from California,
• 20:18
  Suze: but it's not worth it.
• 20:21
  Suze: It's not worth it. Remember, Muni bonds, because they are tax-free,
• 20:26
  Suze: they don't give as high as an interest rate as
• 20:30
  Suze: CDs and things, so you always have to do the calculation.
• 20:34
  Suze: Don't be afraid to pay the taxes. Don't look at
• 20:38
  Suze: a way around it. And also, I'm just going to
• 20:41
  Suze: say this. I personally would not be taking investment advice
• 20:45
  Suze: from a CPA unless he was also a CFP or
• 20:49
  Suze: a financial adviser that told people what to do with
• 20:53
  Suze: money and did not participate
• 20:55
  Suze: in the commissions from it, I think you're looking for
• 20:59
  Suze: trouble here just to save a few pennies here or
• 21:02
  Suze: there or a few dollars here or there. You need liquidity, Fine,
• 21:07
  Suze: do a money market account at the highest interest rate
• 21:10
  Suze: that you can find, and they are out there. Yes, KT.
• 21:14
  KT: OK, from Jennifer.
• 21:16
  KT: I opened a 529 a couple of years ago and
• 21:20
  KT: have $7,000 in there. My son will be going to
• 21:24
  KT: college in January 2027.
• 21:27
  KT: So just a few months from now.
• 21:29
  KT: Yea, next year. I also have about $4,000 in a
• 21:32
  KT: personal savings account for him. Was wondering if it's wise
• 21:36
  KT: to add it to the 529 now, given the state
• 21:40
  KT: of the current market and the fact that we will
• 21:42
  KT: need access in about nine months,
• 21:45
  KT: what should we do? Do you think it's worth it?
• 21:47
  Suze: So here's the thing, you have to know, are you
• 21:50
  Suze: going to be applying for financial aid or not? Because
• 21:53
  Suze: if you have $7,000 in his name.
• 21:56
  Suze: In possibly a uniform gift to minors act or trust
• 22:00
  Suze: account that's his money that will count against him in
• 22:04
  Suze: financial aid. So if you're not doing financial aid, then
• 22:08
  Suze: it doesn't matter. But if you are, you might want
• 22:11
  Suze: to put it then in the 529 plan so he
• 22:14
  Suze: doesn't have anything in his name anymore.
• 22:17
  Suze: And then you apply for financial aid, but this is
• 22:20
  Suze: not money that belongs in the stock market, 'cause you
• 22:24
  Suze: are going to need it in nine months. Remember, you
• 22:28
  Suze: need 5 years or longer for money that's in the
• 22:30
  Suze: stock market, that includes money with the 529 plans as well,
• 22:36
  Suze: or you stage it...
• 22:38
  Suze: Right, because four years from now when you may have
• 22:40
  Suze: enough for the last year, their senior year, all right,
• 22:43
  Suze: maybe you leave that there. But if they need it
• 22:46
  Suze: within 9 months, that's money that's in a money market
• 22:49
  Suze: account within the 529 plan. KT, you have another one
• 22:53
  Suze: for me?
• 22:54
  KT: I do. This is from Rebecca.
• 22:56
  Suze: Let's make this our last one so I say my
• 22:57
  Suze: voice for tonight. You know, I can get very energetic.
• 23:02
  KT: She gets feisty on her webinars.
• 23:03
  Suze: I get feisty and, uh, and especially I, so I can,
• 23:06
  Suze: you can see.
• 23:07
  Suze: I can already feel...
• 23:08
  Suze: She's hyping up.
• 23:09
  Suze: I'm hyping up, so I better start saving my voice.
• 23:11
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 23:12
  KT: So Rebecca said, Suze, I'm the oldest of four siblings
• 23:16
  KT: ranging in the age from 54 to 62. We all
• 23:19
  KT: live in different states. I am in New Jersey. My
• 23:23
  KT: father passed in February at the age of 91, and
• 23:27
  KT: my 89-year-old mother survives him.
• 23:30
  KT: She has inherited his retirement accounts which are with TIAA
• 23:34
  KT: and we've been advised to invest them in a new
• 23:37
  KT: IRA in her name. Here's my question, who should be
• 23:41
  KT: named as the beneficiaries for the new IRA?
• 23:45
  KT: And now this is, this is a good question. She said,
• 23:48
  KT: if the four of us are named as beneficiaries, then
• 23:51
  KT: do each of us have to take minimum distributions over
• 23:55
  KT: the next 10 years and pay tax on the portion
• 23:59
  KT: we inherit. If just one of us is named as
• 24:02
  KT: the beneficiary with the intention that they share the funds equally,
• 24:07
  KT: how would that change anything?
• 24:09
  Suze: That is a good question, one that I did not
• 24:11
  Suze: answer back, just so you know. So it must have
• 24:14
  Suze: come in recently. Anyway, here's what you need to know, Rebecca. Yes.
• 24:21
  Suze: Daddy died. Leaves his retirement account to Mommy because she
• 24:26
  Suze: is an eligible designated beneficiary, which means as a spouse
• 24:33
  Suze: she gets to take his retirement account over as her own.
• 24:38
  Suze: It's not an inherited one. It becomes her own.
• 24:43
  Suze: However, now she has an IRA rollover in her own name,
• 24:47
  Suze: or it's in her own IRA account, whatever she had
• 24:51
  Suze: to begin with, and now she needs to name beneficiaries.
• 24:57
  Suze: When she names the beneficiaries, you all will be designated
• 25:01
  Suze: as non-eligible designated beneficiaries, and these are all terms, everybody,
• 25:07
  Suze: that you need to know.
• 25:09
  Suze: And what that says is that when you inherit this money,
• 25:15
  Suze: you will then have an inherited IRA, not your own IRA,
• 25:20
  Suze: an inherited IRA. You will have 10 years to wipe
• 25:24
  Suze: it clean. Now, listen closely to me. You have till
• 25:29
  Suze: September 30th.
• 25:31
  Suze: after the year mommy dies to open up inherited IRAs
• 25:38
  Suze: in your own name. There are four of you. I'm
• 25:42
  Suze: telling you, you each should do it in your individual names.
• 25:47
  Suze: You should not have one person do it. You should
• 25:50
  Suze: have all four of you do it because when you're
• 25:54
  Suze: taking out required minimum distributions, which you're
• 25:57
  Suze: gonna have to do if you don't wipe the whole
• 25:59
  Suze: thing clean at once. If you're gonna continue to take
• 26:02
  Suze: out required minimum distributions, which you all have to do
• 26:06
  Suze: based on your life expectancy, but over a 10 year
• 26:10
  Suze: period of time, so your age, the amounts are gonna
• 26:14
  Suze: be different. You're each in different tax brackets. So that
• 26:18
  Suze: is how you should do it. If you just have
• 26:21
  Suze: one person do it.
• 26:23
  Suze: That one person is gonna have to take out a
• 26:26
  Suze: large amount taxed at their tax bracket that may increase
• 26:30
  Suze: their taxes, blah blah blah. So, beneficiaries should be individual. Now,
• 26:38
  Suze: here's what you have to decide.
• 26:41
  Suze: If one of you dies before mommy, where does that
• 26:48
  Suze: portion go? Does it go to your children?
• 26:52
  Suze: If you have children, or does it go because I
• 26:56
  Suze: see that she has grandchildren on here, but I don't
• 26:59
  Suze: know if they all have children, right? Maybe only three
• 27:04
  Suze: out of four of them do. Does it go to
• 27:06
  Suze: your children or does your portion, your quarter, go to
• 27:11
  Suze: the remaining three, or possibly the remaining two? You have
• 27:16
  Suze: to make that decision.
• 27:18
  Suze: If in fact you want it and Mommy decides she
• 27:22
  Suze: wants it this way, you want it to go to
• 27:24
  Suze: your children.
• 27:26
  Suze: Then it has to be per stirpes, so you have
• 27:29
  Suze: to check with when she opens up an IRA in
• 27:34
  Suze: her individual name and she names beneficiaries. Can you do
• 27:40
  Suze: it in something called your name but per stirpes, which
• 27:44
  Suze: means that it goes to your children in case you
• 27:49
  Suze: die before her. So just something to think about now listen.
• 27:54
  Suze: If you get flaky on me here and you don't
• 27:58
  Suze: open up your inherited IRAs by September 30th after the
• 28:03
  Suze: year she has died, guess what, it's automatically going to
• 28:07
  Suze: be based on the oldest beneficiary's life.
• 28:12
  Suze: So, you don't want that to happen to you. That
• 28:16
  Suze: is not good. So, this is something you need to
• 28:19
  Suze: sit down with everybody, make decisions, and then name just
• 28:24
  Suze: the four of you as the beneficiaries. Just that simple.
• 28:29
  Suze: Why are you looking so confused?
• 28:30
  KT: I'm not confused. I'm just thinking that that is a
• 28:33
  KT: really important step the family needs to take with mom
• 28:38
  KT: while she's alive.
• 28:39
  Suze: While she's alive, and how she wants that. Listen, everybody,
• 28:42
  Suze: this is a hard topic because we automatically assume, because
• 28:46
  Suze: Mommy's older, that what's gonna happen, she's gonna die before us.
• 28:53
  Suze: That doesn't always happen that way. It just doesn't. I'm
• 28:57
  Suze: so sorry to say. So go into this little meeting
• 29:01
  Suze: with her, talk about it, but say, Mom, if I
• 29:04
  Suze: were to die before you, what do you want to
• 29:07
  Suze: happen with the portion that would come to me?
• 29:11
  Suze: So let's see what she says and then you go
• 29:13
  Suze: from there, all right, KT, I think that brings us
• 29:17
  Suze: to the end.
• 29:18
  KT: That is a wrap. You better rest today. Rest your voice.
• 29:21
  Suze: I'm not gonna rest today.
• 29:23
  KT: Are you excited? What are you gonna wear?
• 29:27
  Suze: Probably my little black jacket like I always wear. I
• 29:30
  Suze: don't know. Will I wear it? Yeah, maybe yes, maybe no.
• 29:34
  Suze: I don't know. I always feel better, everybody, when I'm
• 29:37
  Suze: on TV or anything, when I'm dressed in black. I'm
• 29:41
  Suze: not sure why that is, but that's just my most
• 29:44
  Suze: comfortable color. Is that a color, KT?
• 29:47
  KT: Yeah, well, yeah.
• 29:50
  Suze: Not on the color chart, is it?
• 29:51
  KT: Um, black is the combination of all colors, as is white.
• 29:56
  Suze: No wonder why I liked it. Everything's either black or
• 30:00
  Suze: white because it contains everything anyway, everybody, so until Sunday
• 30:06
  Suze: when we will be having another Suze School, I didn't
• 30:10
  Suze: mean to say we.
• 30:11
  Suze: I meant to say I will be having another Suze School.
• 30:15
  Suze: There's only one thing that I want you to remember,
• 30:17
  Suze: and it's this. Go to Suzeorman.com and register for the
• 30:21
  Suze: webinar for tonight. If you have not done so, it
• 30:24
  Suze: is free. Listen, if you can't make it tonight, don't worry.
• 30:28
  Suze: Just register anyway cause there will be replays of this
• 30:32
  Suze: webinar over the weekend. So register away. And remember, this
• 30:37
  Suze: is a two-part webinar. Part one is tonight. Part II
• 30:41
  Suze: will be with me and Fitzy in a few weeks,
• 30:44
  Suze: sometime probably the first week of June. So, therefore, just
• 30:48
  Suze: stay tuned for the second part, cause I'm telling you,
• 30:52
  Suze: the second part...
• 30:54
  KT: Sexy.
• 30:55
  Suze: It's not sexy, but you're gonna wanna hear what we
• 30:58
  Suze: have to tell you, all right. But until then there's
• 31:01
  Suze: only one thing that we want you to remember when
• 31:03
  Suze: it comes to your money, and what is it, KT?
• 31:05
  KT: People first, then money, then things. Now you..
• 31:09
  Suze: Stay safe.
• 31:10
  KT: See you tonight, everyone.
• 31:12
  Suze: All right, bye-bye.