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Transcript

What is The Point of Life? · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  Suze: May 10th, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money
• 0:12
  Suze: podcast as well as everybody smart enough to listen. And
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  Suze: today is Mommy's Day.
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  KT: Happy Mother's Day, all the mommies out there,
• 0:23
  Suze: And so we're not mommies.
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  Suze: Do you think we're mommies to millions of people, right?
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  KT: You are, you're like the, the godmother of money.
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  Suze: The financial mommy. But, but here's the thing, everybody, as
• 0:36
  Suze: you know, we're recording this before we left for Japan
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  Suze: on May 5th.
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  Suze: Just a few days ago actually, but I thought deeply
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  Suze: about what message, what message do I really want to
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  Suze: give all of you on Mother's Day.
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  Suze: And then I realized that on March 6th of this year,
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  Suze: not that long ago, I got an email from somebody
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  Suze: that really touched my heart, and believe it or not,
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  Suze: it's about her mom. And sometimes it's not just about
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  Suze: us doing a podcast saying how great moms are, how
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  Suze: everything like that goes, but the role that a mom
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  Suze: can really play in our lives.
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  Suze: And the role that if you are a mom, that
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  Suze: you can play in your daughters' lives, because one day
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  Suze: they may be moms as well. So, what we're going
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  Suze: to do right now is, I want you all to
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  Suze: sit down, because this is kind of long, and KT
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  Suze: will be reading the email that this woman sent in.
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  Suze: Then I will be reading you the answer that I
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  Suze: sent to her.
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  Suze: And then we'll go from there. All right, KT, are you ready?
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  KT: OK, are you all ready? So this email is from
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  KT: a woman by the name of Dani Brunello.
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  KT: What is the point of life?
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  Suze: And KT, I have to say, when I saw that
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  Suze: what made me pick this email out of all the
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  Suze: thousands that we get is I thought to myself, now
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  Suze: that is the most profound question I've ever been asked.
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  Suze: What is the point of life?
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  Suze: It's all yours now.
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  KT: OK, so hi, KT and Suze. What is the point
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  KT: of life? I know this is a big question to ask,
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  KT: but if anyone could answer it, I thought Suze could.
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  KT: I would also love your opinion and kindness, KT. I
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  KT: am a 37-year-old woman with a supportive husband, two young girls,
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  KT: 3 and 5, mom, dad, sister, and a large and
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  KT: loving
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  KT: Jersey Italian family. Me and my cousins all grew up
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  KT: in the same small town. My mom is and was
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  KT: always in charge of my family's finances growing up. She
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  KT: worked as a teller in a bank, a bookkeeper, and
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  KT: now as an accountant without a college degree for a
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  KT: large company. When I was a kid, my mom and
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  KT: I would watch Suze on Oprah together. My mom instilled
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  KT: a
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  KT: a lot of the principles Suze taught about money in me,
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  KT: including working hard, paying down my student loan debt, investing
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  KT: and saving into retirement accounts early because time is one
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  KT: of the best assets we have for our money. Yes,
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  KT: I max out contributions to my Roth IRA. My mom
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  KT: is 65 and my dad is about to turn 67.
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  KT: The last two years my mom has been laser focused
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  KT: on maximizing their retirement savings and getting my dad ready
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  KT: to start collecting his Social Security. My dad has worked
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  KT: his whole life in the second and third shift at
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  KT: a print press, a job he's hated.
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  KT: We grew up lower middle class, but even so, my
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  KT: mom always saved for their future, for their retirement, to
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  KT: get those golden years. My dad made it to retirement
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  KT: 10 whole days, and then my mom was diagnosed with
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  KT: stage 4
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  KT: Endometrial cancer. It has been less than a month since
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  KT: her diagnosis, and her health has spiraled downward dramatically. The
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  KT: Saturday before Super Bowl, she was babysitting my children. Now
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  KT: she cannot even walk to the bathroom, navigate stairs, read
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  KT: books or texts. It's been absolutely devastating to me and
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  KT: my whole family.
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  KT: Her prognosis is poor.
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  KT: I'm trying my best to give her everything I can
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  KT: so she can suffer less. My big family has all
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  KT: stepped up. We are coming together to help each other
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  KT: out during this difficult time. Well, give me a minute, everybody.
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  KT: This has rocked my world in so many ways, but
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  KT: truthfully it's disrupted my entire philosophy of life.
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  Suze: You can do it KT. You're just reading somebody's story.
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  Suze: Go on.
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  KT: I read too many of these stories.
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  Suze: OK.
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  KT: Work hard, save hard, love hard, be a good person,
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  KT: then ride off into the sunset during your golden years.
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  KT: I saw my mom and my whole life live by
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  KT: this principle, and I can't help to think she had
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  KT: it all wrong. What is the point of life? Why
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  KT: am I saving for a future that may never come?
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  KT: It is easy to say live for the now, but
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  KT: I know in my heart you will need to save
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  KT: for your future. I don't have the money to travel
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  KT: to all the places I want to. I need to
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  KT: save for that.
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  KT: I don't have the money for the pool, literally and metaphorically, KT.
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  KT: She knows me and my pool that I always wanted.
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  KT: I would blow through all my savings right now to
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  KT: do that, but what if that future never comes for me,
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  KT: my family? I may never get my pool. I love
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  KT: my mom so much. I thought she would help me
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  KT: raise my kids and had all those plans for her.
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  KT: With me and my kids during her retirement, I wanted
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  KT: her Grammy years to be her best years, and now
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  KT: my youngest daughter won't even remember her. If you have
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  KT: any perspective, wise words, or even just a kind word
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  KT: to give me, Suze, I could use all or any
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  KT: of that right now.
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  KT: Danny.
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  KT: So Suze, you already answered her, didn't you? You wrote
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  KT: to her?
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  Suze: Of course I did.
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  KT: Will you share that with everyone?
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  Suze: Yeah, so that's what I had planned to do today.
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  Suze: That's what I was saying at the beginning of the podcast, KT,
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  Suze: that I would have you read it. I know that
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  Suze: wasn't easy for you because of how much you loved
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  Suze: your mother, and you know, for us, everybody, I just
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  Suze: want to say this when we read emails like this
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  Suze: and you have no idea.
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  Suze: How many emails like this very similar to loss we
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  Suze: read and they're devastating, which is why we actually do
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  Suze: this podcast, believe it or not, not necessarily just to
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  Suze: tell all of you about money and things like that.
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  KT: But we, we wanna share life. We wanna share life.
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  Suze: ... Life, and that's what we're doing here. So now
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  Suze: I will read to all of you what I wrote
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  Suze: back to Dani. First, I wanna say something very clearly.
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  Suze: What you are feeling right now is completely normal. When
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  Suze: something this unfair and painful happens, it shakes the very
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  Suze: foundation of how we think life is supposed to work.
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  Suze: There is nothing wrong with you for asking this question.
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  Suze: In fact, the question, what is the point of life?
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  Suze: usually comes when someone loves deeply.
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  Suze: And has just been reminded how fragile everything really is.
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  Suze: Your mother sounds like an extraordinary woman, a woman who
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  Suze: worked hard, took care of her family, saved, planned, and
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  Suze: taught you values that are now living inside of you.
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  Suze: And the cruel part, the part that feels impossible to accept,
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  Suze: is that life sometimes does not follow the timeline we
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  Suze: thought we were building towards. But here is something very
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  Suze: important to understand. Your mom did not get it wrong.
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  Suze: The purpose of saving, working, planning for the future is
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  Suze: not just about reaching some magical golden years. It's about
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  Suze: creating stability.
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  Suze: Dignity and freedom for the people you love because of
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  Suze: the choices she made. Your parents likely have more security
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  Suze: now than they would have had otherwise, even in this
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  Suze: painful moment that matters more than you may realize.
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  Suze: But here's the other truth that your mom's story is
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  Suze: revealing to you.
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  Suze: Life is not meant to be lived only for some day.
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  Suze: It is meant to be lived in both directions at
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  Suze: the same time responsibly towards the future, gratefully in the present,
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  Suze: not one or the other, but both.
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  Suze: Saving for retirement isn't a bet that the future is guaranteed.
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  Suze: It's simply an act of protection, a way of giving
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  Suze: your future self options if life allows it.
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  Suze: But the meaning of life is never found in the
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  Suze: retirement account at the end of the road. It's found
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  Suze: in what you already described your village, your daughters, your
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  Suze: Jersey Italian family around the table, your mom babysitting your
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  Suze: girls the week before the Super Bowl. Those moments were
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  Suze: the point, not the someday.
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  Suze: Your mom already lived a full life of meaning because
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  Suze: she raised you.
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  Suze: She taught you values. She created a family that is
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  Suze: now surrounding her with love, that is not a life
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  Suze: wasted waiting for retirement. This is a life that worked
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  Suze: exactly the way a meaningful life is supposed to work,
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  Suze: and there is one more thing I want you to
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  Suze: think about.
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  Suze: Your daughters may be 3 and 5. They may not
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  Suze: remember every detail about their grandmother, but they will grow
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  Suze: up inside the culture your mother created. They will hear
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  Suze: stories about her. They will see the way you handle money.
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  Suze: They will feel the way your family shows up for
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  Suze: each other.
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  Suze: Your mom is already living on through that. That is
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  Suze: her legacy, not the retirement years. It's love that keeps
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  Suze: echoing through generations. Right now you are in the middle
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  Suze: of grief, anticipatory grief, fear, and heartbreak all at once.
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  Suze: I get it. It's overwhelming. But if there is one
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  Suze: gentle perspective I would like to offer you, it's this.
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  Suze: Life is not about reaching the pool.
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  Suze: Life is about the people who would jump in it
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  Suze: with you.
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  Suze: So keep saving for the future because protecting your family matters.
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  Suze: But also hold your girls tighter. Sit with your mom.
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  Suze: Take pictures. Ask her stories. Let her tell you things
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  Suze: about her childhood you never asked before. Those moments are
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  Suze: the answers to your question, What is the point of life?
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  Suze: And let me tell you something. Your mom did something beautiful.
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  Suze: She raised a daughter who cares enough about life to
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  Suze: ask this question.
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  Suze: That alone tells me she succeeded. You and your family
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  Suze: are in my heart.
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  Suze: So, that's what I wrote to her. Now, many of you,
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  Suze: I'm sure, are like, OK, how did that sit with her?
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  Suze: How did she take it? What did she think about that?
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  Suze: Because what we don't always do on the podcast is
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  Suze: do a follow up of what somebody responded, but Dani
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  Suze: happened to respond to me. So I would just like
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  Suze: KT now to read
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  Suze: the email that she sent back and this is actually
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  Suze: dated remember I got her original email on March 6th.
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  Suze: I wrote her back on March 6th and the date
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  Suze: of this email back was March 10th so this is
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  Suze: in a four day period of time. All right, this
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  Suze: is easier to read, KT.
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  KT: OK, again she responds with Suze,
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  KT: Thank you deeply for this incredible thoughtful response.
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  KT: And it was, it was Suze. I thank you too.
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  KT: It is clear to me you took time to format
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  KT: such a beautifully written and helpful answer to my question.
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  KT: I read your response to my sister tearfully and sent
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  KT: it to friends and clients that have all become part
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  KT: of my mother's care and my own care during this time.
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  KT: Everyone is impressed by how insightful and kind you were
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  KT: to me.
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  KT: You truly gave me tangible advice that I will reference
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  KT: now and when I need a reminder in the future.
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  KT: I'm sure you hear this all the time by the
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  KT: thousands of people you have helped individually, like in my
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  KT: case or generally throughout your career and now with your podcast.
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  KT: I appreciate you and this so much. Please don't ever
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  KT: become numb
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  KT: to how much you have helped people.
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  KT: Real people helped me.
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  Suze: Why are you crying?
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  KT: Because that's all you do.
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  KT: That's all Suze does, everybody.
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  KT: She helps so many people. Wait, let me finish this.
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  Suze: All right.
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  KT: My sister and I agree this will be something we
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  KT: share with my mom. It will be something that I
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  KT: can do for her that is special. We all have
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  KT: looked up to you, and it will mean a lot
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  KT: to her.
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  Suze: Now, I just want to say something.
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  Suze: I wrote Dani and I told her that on Mother's Day,
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  Suze: we would be doing this podcast.
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  Suze: And Dani wrote back and said, Oh, Suze, my mother
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  Suze: Lynn will love this. Let me just say from my heart,
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  Suze: from KT's heart to hers.
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  Suze: Lynn, you are a great mother.
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  Suze: And we wish you a very happy Mother's Day because
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  Suze: you should be happy because you raised a daughter, a
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  Suze: family that loves you more than life itself. So to
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  Suze: all the mothers out there.
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  Suze: I hope you take this Mother's Day message with heart.
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  Suze: To know that the point of life is really about
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  Suze: loving one another, respecting one another, always being honest with
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  Suze: one another and supporting each other in the best way possible.
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  Suze: So until next time, there's only one thing that we
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  Suze: want you to remember, and it's this people first, then money,
• 17:03
  Suze: then things, and once again.
• 17:05
  Suze: Happy happy Mother's Day.