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A Mixed Money Bag - Something For Everyone! · Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

• 0:08
  Suze: March 5th, 2026. Welcome everybody to...
• 0:11
  KT: The Women and Money podcast and everyone's smart enough to listen,
• 0:15
  KT: and you better listen up today, everyone.
• 0:18
  Suze: They better listen up every, you know what's so funny,
• 0:21
  Suze: KT is that obviously people send in emails to ask questions.
• 0:26
  Suze: And by the way, if you want to do so,
• 0:28
  Suze: ask Suze podcast at gmail.com. If you don't know how
• 0:31
  Suze: to spell my name by now, too bad.
• 0:36
  KT: S U Z E S U Z E S U
• 0:36
  KT: Z E.
• 0:37
  Suze: So, so anyway, and I read some of them, and
• 0:41
  Suze: you know what so many people say still to this day?
• 0:45
  Suze: Where were you 20 years ago and 40 years ago.
• 0:51
  Suze: Right, people used to say, Where were you then as well?
• 0:54
  Suze: So I've actually been here for a long, long time,
• 0:59
  Suze: longer than many of you are even alive to this day.
• 1:04
  Suze: So don't tell me, where have I been. It's, where
• 1:08
  Suze: have you been? And then you write and you go,
• 1:10
  Suze: I should have listened. I didn't listen. You need to listen.
• 1:15
  Suze: So before we get into
• 1:17
  Suze: Ask KT and Suze anything, which is what today is
• 1:21
  Suze: all about. I just want to say something about this
• 1:24
  Suze: coming Sunday's Suze School.
• 1:27
  KT: Important one. Everyone listen up.
• 1:29
  Suze: It's important, and the title of it is Winning Money
• 1:33
  Suze: Moves During Uncertain Times. And if anything,
• 1:40
  Suze: we really are in uncertain times right now. So all
• 1:43
  Suze: of you make sure that you tune in. We have
• 1:46
  Suze: a special guest for you. I'll just let you guess
• 1:48
  Suze: who that is, cause you really have to know, are
• 1:52
  Suze: you buying the right things? Are you selling the right things,
• 1:55
  Suze: the wrong things? What moves are you making that these
• 1:58
  Suze: uncertain times are causing you to think you should make?
• 2:02
  Suze: So don't miss it, all right? And also, it's Women's Day.
• 2:07
  Suze: What a great day to be certain about everything that
• 2:10
  Suze: you do, KT. What do you got for us today?
• 2:13
  KT: OK, Suze, so March 5th, let's begin. This is from Adidi.
• 2:20
  KT: She said, KT and Suze, I've learned so much from
• 2:23
  KT: your loving dynamics besides the financial aspect. My husband of
• 2:28
  KT: 29 years broke my trust but wants us to try
• 2:32
  KT: and make it work for companionship in our older age.
• 2:37
  KT: She said, I'm 55 and I'm not nearly as confident
• 2:41
  KT: as I used to be.
• 2:42
  KT: I can only imagine why, right? So Adidi said, Suze,
• 2:46
  KT: I'm trying to craft a postnuptial agreement to separate out
• 2:50
  KT: my assets from community property here in California. We continue
• 2:55
  KT: to have our primary home under community ownership, and I
• 2:59
  KT: don't wish to let go of my kid's legacy, and
• 3:02
  KT: I cannot buy him out. We both have lawyers. My
• 3:06
  KT: question is, can I lock in spousal support in case
• 3:11
  KT: of divorce?
• 3:12
  KT: I don't know if that's possible. Will it be enforceable
• 3:15
  KT: $4,500 a month for 10 years till the age of
• 3:18
  KT: 65 if we stay married, that's the amount he would
• 3:23
  KT: pay towards our mortgage.
• 3:26
  KT: My lawyer says it sounds punitive. Your opinion really matters
• 3:30
  KT: in my decision, Suze.
• 3:31
  Suze: This is one of those emails that I actually answered
• 3:34
  Suze: her directly, but I have to tell you, so I
• 3:38
  Suze: told her about it being punitive, what to do about that,
• 3:41
  Suze: because $4,500 could be, could not be. That's not the
• 3:46
  Suze: point of this email though, which is why I'm happy
• 3:49
  Suze: you chose it.
• 3:50
  Suze: So Adidi, I know you were happy with the answer
• 3:52
  Suze: I personally gave you, but I want to tell you
• 3:55
  Suze: what bothered me most about this email was the mere
• 4:01
  Suze: fact that you said...
• 4:04
  Suze: That you don't wish to let go of my kid's
• 4:07
  Suze: legacy and cannot buy him out, Adidi. This is not
• 4:13
  Suze: about your kid's legacy. You are 55 years of age.
• 4:19
  Suze: You have a long way to go for your own legacy.
• 4:24
  Suze: So what are you gonna do? You're gonna stay in
• 4:26
  Suze: a house with somebody that you don't trust anymore, and
• 4:28
  Suze: you probably know that you wanna leave after all this time,
• 4:32
  Suze: and yet you're making it so that you know that
• 4:35
  Suze: if it doesn't work, maybe it'll be safe, maybe it won't,
• 4:38
  Suze: maybe the postnup will not hold up in court, all
• 4:41
  Suze: kinds of things, all because you don't want to jeopardize
• 4:46
  Suze: your kid's legacy. I don't want you to
• 4:49
  Suze: jeopardize your happiness for the next 30 or 40 years
• 4:52
  Suze: of your life. Do you hear me, Adidi? Your kids
• 4:55
  Suze: can take care of themselves. Do you think they want
• 4:58
  Suze: Mommy to stay miserable just so they have a house
• 5:02
  Suze: and money? I don't think so. So therefore this is
• 5:05
  Suze: not about your kids' legacy. This is about your happiness.
• 5:12
  Suze: And when trust is broken.
• 5:14
  Suze: It very seldom can ever be repaired. Next question, KT.
• 5:21
  KT: I'm glad you said that because I agree 100%. Why
• 5:24
  KT: be miserable for 10 years for...
• 5:26
  Suze: Well, she thinks, yeah, for, for her kids. I don't think so.
• 5:29
  KT: All right, this is from John.
• 5:31
  Suze: And wait, wait. The other thing is if she stays
• 5:34
  Suze: in a
• 5:35
  Suze: situation that she's not happy at, you know, the legacy
• 5:38
  Suze: that she's really leaving to her children? No, that if
• 5:42
  Suze: you're in a relationship with kids, that you're miserable in,
• 5:46
  Suze: then just stick in it for your kids. Don't worry
• 5:49
  Suze: about yourself. Don't care about your own happiness. Put money first.
• 5:53
  Suze: Are you kidding me? Go on.
• 5:55
  KT: OK, next question is from John. He said, Hi Suze.
• 5:59
  KT: Several years ago I created my must-have documents using your
• 6:03
  KT: excellent website and subsequently changed the title of all of
• 6:08
  KT: my accounts, deeds, etc. to add the suffix revocable trust
• 6:13
  KT: to my name. I live in North Carolina. This year
• 6:17
  KT: I became of age for an IRA RMD and my
• 6:22
  KT: accountant in the field for 20 years
• 6:25
  KT: believes it's not appropriate to have the RT title on
• 6:30
  KT: an IRA and better to just have beneficiaries named. Is
• 6:34
  KT: it OK to keep the IRA with a revocable trust suffix?
• 6:39
  Suze: So essentially, everybody, what this person is asking is very simple.
• 6:44
  Suze: They created a revocable living trust.
• 6:47
  Suze: KT makes all these little noises over there that I
• 6:52
  Suze: can really hear through the microphone and in my ears
• 6:56
  Suze: and then it like jars me. Why do you do that?
• 6:58
  KT: I didn't think you could hear a pen move.
• 7:01
  Suze: I can hear you do everything.
• 7:03
  KT: She can hear me drink... gobble my water.
• 7:05
  Suze: That drives me so crazy. It's not even funny anyway, OK,
• 7:08
  KT: So answer his question.
• 7:10
  Suze: But first, let me tell everybody what you really asked
• 7:12
  Suze: because he didn't quite write this in an easy to
• 7:16
  Suze: understand way in my opinion. So when you have a
• 7:19
  Suze: revocable living trust, you have to take the time to
• 7:23
  Suze: fund the trust.
• 7:24
  Suze: Where you actually have to change the title of things
• 7:27
  Suze: from your individual name to your individual name for the
• 7:31
  Suze: living revocable trust, just that simple, something like that, whatever
• 7:34
  Suze: you name it. OK.
• 7:36
  Suze: When it comes to an IRA.
• 7:39
  Suze: Most people, if they have a beneficiary that is of age,
• 7:45
  Suze: they are responsible. They are 20 years old, 50 years old,
• 7:49
  Suze: whatever it may be, but they're responsible. Then I personally think, John,
• 7:54
  Suze: that it is true you are far better off leaving
• 7:58
  Suze: the beneficiaries of your IRA to people versus the trust.
• 8:04
  Suze: It's just easier for many ways. Obviously, if you are married,
• 8:09
  Suze: you always want your primary beneficiary to be your spouse
• 8:13
  Suze: no matter what.
• 8:15
  Suze: And then the secondary beneficiary can be the trust or
• 8:20
  Suze: personal names of your kids. However, there is one exception
• 8:24
  Suze: to this rule. If you have minors.
• 8:29
  Suze: Little ones three years old, five years old, you cannot
• 8:33
  Suze: leave a minor money outright. So that's when a living
• 8:38
  Suze: revocable trust as a beneficiary absolutely is appropriate. You just
• 8:45
  Suze: have to make sure that it is a see-through trust,
• 8:48
  Suze: which yours happens to be. But if it is, then
• 8:52
  Suze: there's nothing wrong with leaving it as the trust, just
• 8:57
  Suze: so you know, all right.
• 8:59
  KT: OK, this is another Johnny.
• 9:02
  KT: Hi Suze...
• 9:03
  Suze: I know why you're picking these.
• 9:05
  KT: Because of my brother Johnny. I know I'm missing my brother,
• 9:08
  KT: my little brother, and his name's John, and we call
• 9:11
  KT: him Johnny.
• 9:11
  Suze: Yeah, who's 60 some odd years old now anyway. Go on.
• 9:14
  KT: He's 60.
• 9:15
  Suze: Oh, I see.
• 9:16
  KT: Hi Suze, just a baby, just a baby. Hi Suze.
• 9:20
  KT: I just came back from my accountant at H&R Block,
• 9:23
  KT: and when I asked them about the $20,000 Roth conversion,
• 9:28
  KT: that I made in my account, they said it was
• 9:31
  KT: not reported as earned income, raising me closer to the
• 9:35
  KT: next tax bracket.
• 9:37
  Suze: What an idiot. Go on.
• 9:38
  KT: So she said I could convert the entire amount from
• 9:42
  KT: the traditional to Roth all at once with no tax
• 9:47
  KT: penalty as long as I don't withdraw anything before 59
• 9:52
  KT: and a half. Is this true?
• 9:54
  Suze: So let me explain very quickly.
• 9:57
  Suze: Were you gonna say something?
• 9:59
  KT: No. Did I misunderstand? There you go.
• 10:01
  Suze: All right, so.
• 10:04
  Suze: The reason I interrupted you, KT, is I was so
• 10:06
  Suze: excited to answer this one for Johnny. Listen to me closely.
• 10:11
  Suze: Whenever you convert money pre-tax from anything into a Roth,
• 10:17
  Suze: of course it's not earned income at that point, but
• 10:21
  Suze: it is taxed to you as ordinary income, just that simple.
• 10:27
  Suze: Then you say here she said I could convert the
• 10:30
  Suze: entire amount from traditional to Roth all at once with
• 10:34
  Suze: no tax penalty as long as I don't withdraw anything
• 10:37
  Suze: before 59 and a half. You absolutely can do that,
• 10:42
  Suze: but a tax penalty is different than tax.
• 10:47
  Suze: There's never a penalty when you are converting because you're
• 10:51
  Suze: going from one retirement account to another. You're not withdrawing money.
• 10:55
  Suze: A tax penalty only occurs when you withdraw from one
• 11:00
  Suze: of those accounts, even a pre-tax retirement account, if you're
• 11:04
  Suze: not 59 and a half.
• 11:07
  Suze: But if you convert everything more than this $20,000 that
• 11:12
  Suze: you converted, let's say you have $60,000 in there, $80,000, $100,000,
• 11:17
  Suze: simply to avoid a tax penalty that never would have
• 11:20
  Suze: incurred anyway.
• 11:22
  Suze: Do you have any idea what that could do to
• 11:24
  Suze: your tax bracket? So just be careful. Again, big difference
• 11:30
  Suze: between earned income, which is what qualifies you to do
• 11:34
  Suze: a contributory Roth or IRA, versus when you convert it's
• 11:41
  Suze: taxed as ordinary income, just that simple.
• 11:46
  Suze: Next question, KT.
• 11:47
  KT: OK. Next is from Karen. She said, Suze, I'm 52
• 11:51
  KT: years old and I'm from Long Island. I contribute $1,600
• 11:56
  KT: a month to a 403B and $400 a month to
• 12:00
  KT: my Roth IRA, which I only recently opened after listening
• 12:05
  KT: to your podcast. I am focused on contributing as much
• 12:09
  KT: as possible in an effort to load up those accounts.
• 12:13
  KT: She said, I only began to contribute to my retirement
• 12:16
  KT: in my forties. Should I contribute less to the 403B
• 12:21
  KT: and more to the Roth IRA? My employer does not
• 12:25
  KT: match my contributions, and I don't believe there is an
• 12:29
  KT: option for a Roth 403B. I can answer that.
• 12:34
  Suze: All right, go on.
• 12:34
  KT: Go for the Roth.
• 12:36
  KT: Contribute more for the Roth.
• 12:38
  Suze: Why?
• 12:39
  KT: Because it's gonna serve her better. She's only 52, yeah,
• 12:43
  KT: and ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Come on, Suze.
• 12:48
  KT: Suze's staring at me, not giving me satisfaction of did
• 12:52
  KT: I get it right or wrong? Go for the Roth.
• 12:54
  Suze: Go for the Roth and do what with the 403b.
• 13:00
  KT: Convert it.
• 13:01
  Suze: I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill her. All right, everybody,
• 13:04
  Suze: there you go. All right, listen to me, Karen.
• 13:08
  Suze: The big mistake here is with your employer plan.
• 13:13
  Suze: Because your employer does not match. Shame on your employer.
• 13:20
  Suze: Shame on your employer for not offering a 403B. That
• 13:25
  Suze: is a Roth. Shame on your employer. So what you
• 13:29
  Suze: should really be doing is marching yourself into the HR
• 13:33
  Suze: office and saying, why doesn't the employer offer a Roth
• 13:36
  Suze: 403B that could really benefit their employees? What's wrong with them? Well,
• 13:41
  Suze: maybe you don't say it so sarcastically like Suze Orman would,
• 13:44
  Suze: but you should think about that.
• 13:47
  Suze: Karen, here's what I would be doing if I were you.
• 13:52
  Suze: Currently, you are contributing 1,600 per month to your 403B pre-tax,
• 13:58
  Suze: $400 a month to your Roth IRA after tax. Because
• 14:03
  Suze: your employer does not match, I want you to forget
• 14:06
  Suze: for the moment anyway.
• 14:09
  Suze: Your pre-tax contributions totally to your 403B. Now listen to
• 14:15
  Suze: me closely. We are still only in March. You have
• 14:21
  Suze: till April 15th of this year to fully fund
• 14:27
  Suze: your Roth IRA for 2025. The maximum limit for 2025
• 14:35
  Suze: at your age is 8,000 a year.
• 14:39
  Suze: If you put in $400 a month for all of
• 14:43
  Suze: last year, you only put in $4,800. That allows you
• 14:49
  Suze: to put in another $3,200 of after-tax money into that
• 14:55
  Suze: Roth IRA for 2025, bringing it to a total of
• 15:01
  Suze: $8,000 for that year.
• 15:04
  Suze: 'Cause your goal is to get as much money as
• 15:07
  Suze: you possibly can into a Roth, all right? Next, the
• 15:13
  Suze: maximum that you can put into a Roth for 2026,
• 15:18
  Suze: at your age is $8,600 a year.
• 15:24
  Suze: You have already put in $800 for January and February,
• 15:31
  Suze: because $400 a month. That leaves you 10 months to
• 15:37
  Suze: be able to get in a total of $8,600 or
• 15:43
  Suze: $780 a month for the next 10 months.
• 15:49
  Suze: Then you will have fully funded your Roth IRA for 2026. Now,
• 15:56
  Suze: you're on the right path. If you have any extra
• 16:00
  Suze: money other than that, if you want to put it
• 16:02
  Suze: into a 403B plan, OK.
• 16:05
  Suze: But do you have a 12 month emergency fund? Do
• 16:09
  Suze: you have all your bills paid? Are you out of debt?
• 16:11
  Suze: All of those things. A 403B plan that does not match,
• 16:16
  Suze: I have to tell you, is not high on my
• 16:20
  Suze: priority list. It's just not. So do those two things
• 16:25
  Suze: that I just told you, and I'm telling you, you
• 16:28
  Suze: will be Rothing and Rolling.
• 16:31
  KT: That's good.
• 16:32
  KT: Rothing and rolling.
• 16:33
  Suze: Now you did not expect that answer at all, did you?
• 16:36
  KT: I did not. No, I didn't. That's a great answer, yeah,
• 16:40
  KT: because Rothing and Rolling.
• 16:42
  Suze: No, that's, you would have expected that, right? But what
• 16:45
  Suze: you wouldn't have expected is that that would be the
• 16:48
  Suze: answer that I would give Karen. Everybody, I want you
• 16:51
  Suze: to think about this.
• 16:53
  Suze: A typical financial advisor would just say, oh, Karen, do
• 16:58
  Suze: this or that, you know, first fund your Roth to
• 17:00
  Suze: the max, then go to your 403B, a very simplistic,
• 17:04
  Suze: in most case answer. That's not how my mind thinks.
• 17:08
  Suze: My mind thinks exactly like this. How can all of
• 17:13
  Suze: you make your money, make more money?
• 17:17
  Suze: So I see everything like a chess move. No, do this,
• 17:20
  Suze: do that. Just not a blanket answer.
• 17:24
  Suze: But especially for this person, do you see how the
• 17:27
  Suze: answers have to be individualized, KT, what's next?
• 17:30
  KT: This is from Peggy. She said, Hi, Suze. My daughter
• 17:34
  KT: is about to head off to college and will be
• 17:36
  KT: 18 soon. What advice would you give us as to
• 17:40
  KT: where she can start investing now with about $50 each
• 17:45
  KT: month as a starting point? I hear that indexed mutual
• 17:49
  KT: funds are good.
• 17:51
  KT: But would love to hear your advice. So there you go.
• 17:54
  KT: She said she works now but won't be working for
• 17:57
  KT: her first year of college, most likely.
• 17:59
  Suze: So Peggy, if she's not gonna be working her first
• 18:03
  Suze: year in college, she will not have earned income. And
• 18:06
  Suze: as you heard me say a few questions ago, you
• 18:09
  Suze: need earned income to put money into a Roth IRA,
• 18:14
  Suze: which eventually she will do. Her number one thing she
• 18:17
  Suze: needs to do is build
• 18:20
  Suze: a savings account for herself. She needs to be able
• 18:24
  Suze: to have access to money. When you have kids and
• 18:27
  Suze: they're young like this and you lock up their money
• 18:30
  Suze: and they can't touch it, believe it or not, they
• 18:33
  Suze: end up saying, I'm not going to save. If I
• 18:35
  Suze: save and I do this, I can't touch it. Why
• 18:38
  Suze: would I do that? So I would make a deal
• 18:40
  Suze: with her if all she has is $50 a month
• 18:44
  Suze: right now.
• 18:45
  Suze: I would say, listen, here's what I want you to do.
• 18:48
  Suze: Let's open up for you the ultimate opportunity savings account
• 18:53
  Suze: at Alliant Credit Union. You put in 50, I'll put
• 18:57
  Suze: in 50.
• 18:58
  Suze: You have to put in $100 a month every month
• 19:02
  Suze: for 12 consecutive months, and Alliant will give you a
• 19:07
  Suze: $100 bonus. But in the meantime, your money is earning
• 19:12
  Suze: 3.01 APY.
• 19:16
  Suze: Think about it for liquid money and everything, great.
• 19:20
  Suze: And if she needs that money any time during the
• 19:23
  Suze: year she can take it out without any penalty. It's
• 19:26
  Suze: not a big deal, but give her an incentive to
• 19:31
  Suze: save and a habit...
• 19:33
  Suze: Let her set that goal of an extra $100 because
• 19:38
  Suze: $100 is a big deal when all you've put in
• 19:42
  Suze: is $100 a month and for her $50 a month
• 19:46
  Suze: gets
• 19:46
  Suze: her $100. If she did the math on that, it's
• 19:49
  Suze: almost like a 30% return on her money, believe it
• 19:51
  Suze: or not. That's how I would start. Go to my alliant.com.
• 19:58
  Suze: That's A L L I A N T.com. All right, yes, KT.
• 20:02
  KT: OK, next question is from Kelly.
• 20:05
  KT: I like this question, Suze. It said, Hey, Suze, this
• 20:08
  KT: is a new one for me. Decreasing my credit limit
• 20:12
  KT: for not spending enough on my credit card? If this
• 20:16
  KT: is a new trend, maybe address it on the podcast.
• 20:20
  Suze: Right? So what's funny, KT, is I addressed this question
• 20:23
  Suze: to Kelly directly, and I told her because she had
• 20:26
  Suze: gotten an email from Capital One telling her that I
• 20:30
  Suze: said just call them up and tell them da da
• 20:33
  Suze: da da da da da.
• 20:34
  Suze: Or whatever and she wrote me back and she said,
• 20:38
  Suze: I called them up and all I had to do
• 20:40
  Suze: was push one and get out of the review process.
• 20:44
  Suze: So it, everybody, if you start to get an email
• 20:47
  Suze: or a letter from somebody that you have credit with
• 20:51
  Suze: a credit card, Walmart, whoever it may be, they send
• 20:55
  Suze: you that in the hopes, seriously, that you'll start to
• 21:00
  Suze: use their credit card.
• 21:03
  Suze: Just that simple. And maybe if you want to keep
• 21:07
  Suze: that credit card and you go on and charge something
• 21:09
  Suze: little once a month, OK, but never charge more. Then
• 21:13
  Suze: you can't pay off when that bill comes in. But
• 21:17
  Suze: it is a trick to get you to charge money
• 21:19
  Suze: in the hopes that you won't be able to pay
• 21:22
  Suze: it off at the end of the month. You'll only
• 21:24
  Suze: pay the minimum payment due, and you'll pay interest, and
• 21:28
  Suze: that's how they make money. Go on,
• 21:30
  KT: Scare tactic.
• 21:33
  KT: Scare tactics. All right, this one is from Paul.
• 21:38
  KT: A man smart enough to listen, he calls himself, he said, Hey,
• 21:42
  KT: Suze and KT love the podcast. My wife and I
• 21:45
  KT: have both Roth IRAs. I was thinking we should both
• 21:50
  KT: have a different mix of stocks and ETFs in our
• 21:53
  KT: accounts so we do not have all of our eggs
• 21:56
  KT: in one basket. We currently overlap on several stocks and ETFs,
• 22:01
  KT: but should I maybe have SPY and my wife have VTI.
• 22:06
  KT: So that's what he's asking.
• 22:09
  Suze: It's really a personal choice, and it has a lot
• 22:12
  Suze: to do with as well if you're talking about like
• 22:15
  Suze: you are with money in a Roth IRA or outside
• 22:20
  Suze: of a Roth or a retirement account. I would not
• 22:24
  Suze: be duplicating something like SPY or whatever it may be,
• 22:29
  Suze: which is a 500 index fund, and VTI, which is
• 22:33
  Suze: even bigger, it's the total stock market index fund.
• 22:36
  Suze: I would be doing different things cause there's a lot
• 22:39
  Suze: of overlap even with spy and VTI. I might be
• 22:45
  Suze: doing XBI biotechnology, in one.
• 22:49
  Suze: I might be doing different things in each one, but
• 22:53
  Suze: that gives you broad diversification but not in the exact
• 22:59
  Suze: same things, so I would be doing it, but I
• 23:03
  Suze: would be doing it very carefully and an area.
• 23:07
  Suze: That are good for you just so you know. All right,
• 23:10
  Suze: go on.
• 23:11
  KT: Suze. What if his picks outperform hers?
• 23:15
  Suze: Good, because it's their money. It's their money and what
• 23:21
  Suze: it might be doing is outperforming hers right now.
• 23:26
  Suze: But maybe down the road hers might be outperforming his
• 23:31
  Suze: and then it all averages together, but there's so many
• 23:35
  Suze: different ways that one can invest truthfully and in different
• 23:41
  Suze: ETFs and things like that. And truthfully, KT, things are changing.
• 23:46
  Suze: I have to tell you, things are changing from index
• 23:50
  Suze: funds to managed funds, and I know everybody says that
• 23:54
  Suze: you'll never outperform an index fund and everything, and that's
• 23:58
  Suze: actually not true if you pick the right managed fund.
• 24:04
  Suze: And I could give you an example of that right now,
• 24:06
  Suze: but I won't cause that's not what we're doing on
• 24:08
  Suze: Ask KT and Suze Anything, but that's one of the
• 24:12
  Suze: reasons that Keith is also bringing out the ETF that's
• 24:16
  Suze: managed for you so that you really can with the
• 24:20
  Suze: right manager, make your money, make more money. Next question, KT.
• 24:25
  KT: So this is from Laurie. She said, hi, Suze and KT.
• 24:29
  KT: Thank you so much for your amazing advice and support.
• 24:33
  KT: And she said, love you both. There is an unsolicited
• 24:37
  KT: order on my transactions in January. What does that mean?
• 24:43
  KT: I emailed my broker that I want to take the
• 24:45
  KT: money in the money market account out the day before
• 24:50
  KT: this was done. Mhm. All right, Sherlock Holmes, what do
• 24:54
  KT: you say to that one?
• 24:56
  Suze: Do you not know what that means?
• 24:58
  KT: Yeah, it sounds like that she, she asked to take
• 25:01
  KT: the money out and someone placed an order that didn't
• 25:04
  KT: allow her to do that the day before.
• 25:07
  Suze: No,
• 25:08
  KT: Ok, what does it mean?
• 25:09
  Suze: Unsolicited means...
• 25:11
  KT: She didn't give permission.
• 25:12
  Suze: No.
• 25:12
  KT: OK, what?
• 25:13
  Suze: Unsolicited means that it wasn't recommended by the broker that
• 25:20
  Suze: she called or emailed the broker.
• 25:23
  Suze: And said he didn't solicit her to buy this stock.
• 25:27
  Suze: He didn't solicit her to take money out of the
• 25:30
  Suze: money market account. She wrote him that she wanted a
• 25:35
  Suze: withdrawal from her money market account. No big deal. So
• 25:39
  Suze: it went into cash. That's all that it did. She
• 25:42
  Suze: didn't lose the money.
• 25:43
  Suze: But he didn't solicit it. It's just how protocol works
• 25:48
  Suze: for a broker. Sometimes we'll call up John, who works
• 25:53
  Suze: with me truthfully, um, on money, and I'll say, I
• 25:56
  Suze: wanna buy this, and I'll say, You do. And then
• 26:00
  Suze: he'll say after a month or two, God, I should
• 26:02
  Suze: have listened to you, but that's besides the point.
• 26:04
  KT: It's what he always says.
• 26:05
  Suze: So I wanna buy this and buy me this many shares.
• 26:09
  Suze: If you look at the slip that comes, it says unsolicited.
• 26:13
  Suze: Because it tells his firm that he didn't tell me
• 26:17
  Suze: to buy that. I did it on my own that
• 26:20
  Suze: way if it went belly up.
• 26:23
  Suze: When it comes to a stock, he's not held responsible
• 26:26
  Suze: for it. I don't have any recourse back at him.
• 26:29
  Suze: This is fine, not a big deal. It's all right.
• 26:31
  Suze: The broker, it was unsolicited.
• 26:34
  Suze: That's all that happened. One more, KT. One more.
• 26:37
  KT: OK, Suze. My last email is from Kayla. She said,
• 26:42
  KT: I love listening to you. You both...
• 26:45
  Suze: I hope you love listening to me after my answer.
• 26:49
  KT: Wait. You are both just adorable. There are many more
• 26:52
  KT: accolades to give, but I'm trying to keep this short.
• 26:56
  KT: A little about us. My husband and I are both
• 26:58
  KT: 58 years old. We have a first mortgage of approximately
• 27:02
  KT: 450,000 and a HELOC of approximately 175,000,
• 27:08
  KT: to build a pool and fun backyard for our kids
• 27:12
  KT: and grandkids to enjoy with us, our combined retirement accounts
• 27:17
  KT: are just under $1 million. We have one car payment
• 27:21
  KT: and no credit card debt. We both work full time
• 27:25
  KT: and combined make a little under $200,000 a year. Unfortunately,
• 27:30
  KT: I was just laid off, so for a while, we
• 27:33
  KT: will be a one income family.
• 27:37
  KT: Now are you ready for this part? OK, hold, hold tight, Suze.
• 27:42
  KT: Three or so years ago we didn't file our income taxes.
• 27:47
  KT: We were just buried in daily life. Now that things
• 27:51
  KT: have calmed down, we have had our taxes done and
• 27:54
  KT: we owe thousands.
• 27:56
  KT: Initially for the past four years the total was approximately 30,000,
• 28:01
  KT: but with penalties it is well over 50,000. My question is,
• 28:07
  KT: does it make sense to borrow from one of our
• 28:10
  KT: retirement accounts to pay this off, or is there another
• 28:14
  KT: way that I'm unaware of? Thanks for all the time
• 28:17
  KT: to help us.
• 28:18
  Suze: So Kayla, listen to me.
• 28:21
  Suze: Did you just not say you have a HELOC of
• 28:25
  Suze: approximately 175,000 to do what to build a pool and
• 28:31
  Suze: fun backyard for our kids and grandkids to enjoy with us.
• 28:37
  Suze: Listen, if you want to get rid of this debt,
• 28:39
  Suze: you obviously could work out a payment plan with the
• 28:41
  Suze: IRS and all of that. That is one possibility. However,
• 28:46
  Suze: you are not to take a loan from a 401k
• 28:51
  Suze: or a 403B or whatever retirement account you have like that.
• 28:55
  Suze: If all you have is IRAs and things like that,
• 28:58
  Suze: there's no such thing as a loan, no such thing.
• 29:02
  Suze: You're only 58 years of age.
• 29:06
  Suze: So if you just withdraw money, hardship withdrawal or whatever,
• 29:11
  Suze: you're gonna pay taxes on that money no matter what
• 29:13
  Suze: you're gonna end up owing more taxes. You don't wanna
• 29:16
  Suze: take a loan because you just said you were laid off.
• 29:20
  Suze: If you had taken a loan from your retirement account
• 29:23
  Suze: at work.
• 29:25
  Suze: Now you're laid off. That loan is due and payable
• 29:28
  Suze: in most cases in like one month. If you can't
• 29:32
  Suze: pay it back, which obviously you wouldn't be able to.
• 29:35
  Suze: You're gonna owe ordinary income tax on that, so no,
• 29:39
  Suze: you are not to take a loan from your retirement account.
• 29:44
  Suze: So what are you to do? You are to postpone
• 29:48
  Suze: building a fun playground for your kids because it's no
• 29:53
  Suze: fun knowing that you owe $50,000 to the IRS when
• 29:58
  Suze: they're having a good time, OK, and you're paying for it.
• 30:02
  Suze: Number one priority, talk to the IRS possibly get yourself
• 30:06
  Suze: a tax attorney that can negotiate with them, whatever it
• 30:09
  Suze: may be, but bottom line here, it makes absolutely no
• 30:13
  Suze: sense to borrow from one of your retirement accounts to
• 30:18
  Suze: pay this off.
• 30:20
  Suze: I would go for the HELOC if I were you.
• 30:24
  Suze: All right, is that the last one, KT?
• 30:27
  KT: That's a wrap, Suze, and listen, everyone, don't miss Sunday's podcast.
• 30:32
  KT: Suze and Keith Fitz-Gerald have a lot to say. It's
• 30:36
  KT: important and during these uncertain times you want to listen up.
• 30:41
  Suze: Oh, that was good, KT.
• 30:43
  KT: Yes it was.
• 30:43
  Suze: She's so proud of herself right now. All right, so
• 30:46
  Suze: until Sunday there's only one thing we want you to
• 30:48
  Suze: remember when it comes to your money.
• 30:50
  KT: It is people first, then money, then things. Now you
• 30:54
  KT: stay safe.
• 30:55
  Suze: All right.