← Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)
Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)
A Mixed Money Bag - Something For Everyone!
00:31:22
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- [00:00]
A
Hi, everybody. Suzio here. Now, what is the goal of money? The goal of money is for you to be secure. And there is no better way for you to be secure than having an emergency savings account. It is essential for your financial foundation. So all of you should be participating in the ultimate opportunity savings account at Alliant Credit Union. Go to myalliant.com to find out more. And be secure. March 5, 2026 welcome, everybody, to the
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B
Women in Money podcast. And everyone's smart enough to listen. And you better listen up today. Everyone.
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A
They better listen up every. You know what's so funny, Katie, is that obviously people send in emails to ask questions. And by the way, if you want to do so, asksusypodcastmail.com if you don't know how to spell my name by now, too bad.
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B
S, U Z, eat.
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A
So anyway, and I read some of them and do you know what so many people say still to this day? Where were you 20 years ago and 40 years ago? Right? People used to say, where were you then as well. So I've actually been here for a long, long time. Longer than many of you are even alive to this day. So don't tell me, where have I been? It's where have you been? And then you write and you go, I should have listened. I didn't listen. You need to listen. So before we get into Ask Katie and Susie anything, which is what today is all about, I just want to say something about this coming Sunday's Susie's school important one.
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B
Everyone listen up.
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A
It's important. And the title of it is Winning Money Moves during Uncertain Times. And if anything, we really are in uncertain times right now. So all of you make sure that you tune in. We have a special guest for you. I'll just let you guess who that is because you really have to know. Are you buying the right things? Are you selling the right things? The wrong things? What moves are you making that these uncertain times are causing you to think you should make? So don't miss it, all right? And also, it's Women's Day. What a great day to be certain about everything that you do.
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B
I love that.
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A
Kt, what do you got for us today?
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B
Okay, Susie, so March 5th, let's begin. This is from Aditi. She said, KT and Susie, I've learned so much from your loving dynamics. Besides the financial aspect. My husband of 29 years broke my trust, but wants us to try and make it work for companionship in our older age. She said, I'm 55 and I'm not nearly as confident as I used to be. I can only imagine why. Right. So Aditi said, susie, I'm trying to craft a postnuptial agreement to separate out my assets from community property here in California. We continue to have our primary home under community ownership and I don't wish to let go of my kid's legacy and I cannot buy him out. We both have lawyers. My question is can I lock in spousal support in case of divorce? I don't know if that's possible. Will it be enforceable? 4,500amonth for 10 years till the age of 65. If we stay married, that's the amount he would pay towards our mortgage. My lawyer says it sounds punitive. Your opinion really matters in my decision.
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A
So Katie, this is one of those emails that I actually answered her directly but I have to tell you. So I told her about it being punitive, what to do about that because $4,500 could be. Could not be. That's not the point of this email though, which is why I'm happy you chose it. So Aditi, I know you were happy with the answer I personally gave you. But I want to tell you what bothered me most about this email was the mere fact that you said that you don't wish to let go of my kid's legacy and cannot buy him out. Aditi, this is not about your kid's Legacy. You are 55 years of age. You have a long way to go for your own legacy. So what are you going to do? You're going to stay in a house with somebody that you don't trust anymore and you probably know that you want to leave after all this time and yet you're making it so that you know that if it doesn't work, maybe it'll be safe, maybe it won't. Maybe the postnut will not hold up in court. All kinds of things. All because you don't want to jeopardize your kids legacy. I don't want you to jeopardize your happiness for the next 30 or 40 years of your life. Do you hear me, Adidi? Your kids can take care of themselves. Do you think they want mommy to stay miserable just so they have a house and money? I don't think so. So therefore this is not about your kids legacy. This is about your happiness. And when trust is broken, it very seldom can ever be repaired. Next question.
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B
KT, I'm glad you said that because I agree 100%. Why be miserable for 10 years for.
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A
Well, she thinks yeah, for her kids? I don't think so.
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B
All right, this is from John.
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A
And wait, wait. The other thing is, if she stays in a situation that she's not happy at all, you know the legacy that she's really leaving to her children.
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B
Misery.
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A
No, that if you're in a relationship, kids that you're miserable in, then just stick in it for your kids. Don't worry about yourself, don't care about your own happiness. Put money first. Are you kidding me? Go on.
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B
Okay, next question is from John. He said, hi, Susie. Several years ago, I created my must have documents using your excellent website and subsequently changed the title of all of my account deeds, etc. To add the suffix revocable trust to my name. I live in North Carolina. This year I became of age for an IRA RMD and my accountant in the field for 20 years believes it's not appropriate to have the RT title on an IRA and better to just have beneficiaries named. Is it okay to keep the IRA with the revocable trust suffix?
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A
So essentially everybody, what this person is asking is very simple. They created a revocable living trust. KT makes all these little noises over there that I can really hear through the microphone and in my ears and then it like jars me. Why do you do that?
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B
I didn't think you could hear a pen move.
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A
I can hear you do everything.
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B
She can hear me drink, gobble my water bottle.
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A
That drives me so crazy it's not even funny. Anyway.
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B
Okay, so answer his question.
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A
But first let me tell everybody what you really asked because he didn't quite write this in an easy to understand way, in my opinion. So when you have a revocable living trust, you have to take the time to fund the trust where you actually have to change the title of things from your individual name to your individual name for the living revocable trust. Just that simple. Something like that. Whatever you name it. Okay. When it comes to an ira, most people, if they have a beneficiary that is of age, they are responsible. They are 20 years old, 50 years old, whatever it may be, but they're responsible. Then I personally think, John, that it is true. You are far better off leaving the beneficiaries of your IRA to people versus the trust. It's just easier for many ways. Obviously, if you are married, you always want your primary beneficiary to be your spouse no matter what. And then the secondary beneficiary can be the trust or personal names of your kids. However, there is one exception to this rule. If you have minors, little ones, three years old, five years old, you cannot leave a minor money outright. So that's when a living, revocable trust as a beneficiary absolutely is appropriate. You just have to make sure that it is a see through trust, which yours happens to be. But if it is, then there's nothing wrong with leaving it as the trust. Just so you know. All right.
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B
Okay. This is another Johnny. Hi, Susie.
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A
I know why you're picking these.
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Because of my brother Johnny. I know I'm missing my brother, my little brother and his name's John and we call him Johnny.
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A
Yeah, who's 60 some odd years old now. Anyway. Gone.
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B
He's 60.
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A
Oh, I see.
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B
Hi, Susie.
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A
Just a baby.
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B
Just a baby. Hi, Susie. I just came back from my accountant at H R Block and when I asked them about the $20,000 Roth conversion that I made in my account, they said it was not reported as earned, raising me closer to the next tax bracket.
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A
What an idiot. Go on.
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So she said I could convert the entire amount from the traditional to Roth all at once with no tax penalty as long as I don't withdraw anything before 59 and a half. Is this true?
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A
So let me explain very quickly.
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B
What?
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A
Are you going to say something?
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B
No. Did I misunderstand? There you go.
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A
All right, so the reason I interrupted you, Katie, is I was so excited to answer this one for Johnny. Listen to me closely. Whenever you convert money pre tax from anything into a Roth, of course it's not earned income at that point, but it is taxed to you as ordinary income. Just that simple. Then you say here, she said I could convert the entire amount from traditional to Roth all at once with no tax penalty as long as I don't withdraw anything before 59 and a half. You absolutely can do that. But a tax penalty is different than tax. There's never a penalty. When you are converting because you're going from one retirement account to another, you're not withdrawing money. A tax penalty only occurs when you withdraw from one of those accounts, even a pre tax retirement account, if you're not 59 and a half. But if you convert everything more than this $20,000 that you converted, let's say you have $60,000 in there, 80,100, simply to avoid a tax penalty that never would have occurred anyway. Do you have any idea what that could do to your tax bracket? So just be careful. Again, big difference between earned income, which is what qualifies you to do a contributory Roth or IRA versus when you convert it's taxed as ordinary income. Just that simple.
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B
Next question, KT okay, next is from Karen. She said, Susie, I'm 52 years old and I'm from Long Island. I contribute $1,600 a month to a 403 and $400 a month to my Roth IRA, which I only recently opened after listening to your podcast.
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A
Good.
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I am focused on contributing as much as possible in an effort to load up those accounts. She said, I only began to contribute to my retirement in my 40s. Should I contribute less to the 403 and more to the Roth IRA? My employer does not match my contributions and I don't believe there is an option for a Roth 403. I can answer that.
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A
All right, go on.
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Go for the Roth. Contribute more for the Roth.
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A
Why?
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Because it's going to serve her better. She's only 52. Yeah, and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Come on, Susie. Susie's staring at me, not giving me satisfaction of did I get it right or wrong? Go for the Roth.
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A
Go for the Roth. And do what with the 403?
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Convert it.
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A
I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her. All right, everybody. There you go. All right, listen to me, Karen. The big mistake here is with your employer plan because your employer does not match. Shame on your employer. Shame on your employer for not offering a 403 that is a Roth. Shame on your employer. So what you should really be doing is marching yourself into the HR office and saying, why doesn't the employer offer a Roth 403 that could really benefit their employees? What's wrong with them? Maybe don't say it so sarcastically like Susie Orman would, but you should think about that, Karen. Here's what I would be doing if I were you. Currently, you are contributing $1,600 per month to your 403 pre tax. 400amonth to your Roth IRA after tax because your employer does not match. I want you to forget for the moment anyway, your pre tax contributions totally to your 403be. Now, listen to me closely. We are still only in March. You have till April 15th of this year to fully fund your Roth IRA for 2025. The maximum limit for 2025 at your age is 8,000 a year. If you put in one $400 a month for all of last year, you only put in $4,800. That allows you to put in another $3,200 of after tax money into that Roth IRA for 2025, bringing it to a total of $8,000 for that year. Because your goal is to get as much money as you possibly can and into a Roth. All right, next, the maximum that you can put into a Roth for 2026 at your age is $8,600 a year. You have already put in $800 for January and February because $400 a month. That leaves you 10 months to be able to get in a total of $8,600 or $780 a month for the next 10 months. Then you will have fully funded your Roth IRA for 2026. Now you're on the right path. If you have any extra money other than that, if you want to put it into a 403 plan, okay, but do you have a 12 month emergency fund? Do you have all your bills paid? Are you out of debt? All of those things. A 403 plan that does not match, I have to tell you is not high on my priority list. It's just not. So do those two things that I just told you and I'm telling you you will be Rothin and Roland.
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B
That's good. Rothin and Rowland.
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A
Now you did not expect that answer at all, did you?
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B
I did not. No, I didn't. That's a great answer. Yeah, because Rothin and Rowland.
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A
No, that's. You would have expected that, right? But what you wouldn't have expected is that that would be the answer that I would give. Karen. Everybody, I want you to think about this. A typical financial advisor would just say, oh Karen, do this or that. You know, first fund your Roth to the max, then go to your 403B. A very simplistic in most case answer. That's not how my mind thinks. My mind thinks exactly like this. How can all of you make your money, make more money? So I see everything like a chess move. No, do this, do that. Just not a blanket answer, but especially for this person. Do you see how the answers have to be individualized? Kt, what's next?
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B
This is from Peggy. She said, hi, Susie, my daughter is about to head off to college and will be 18 soon. What advice would you give us as to where she can start investing now with about $50 each month as a starting point? I hear that indexed mutual funds are good but would love to hear your advice. So there you go. She said she works now but won't be working for her first year of college most likely.
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A
So Peggy, if she's not going to be working her first year in college, she will not have earned income and as you heard me say a few questions ago, you need earned income to put money into a Roth ira, which eventually she will do. Her number one thing she needs to do is, is build a savings account for herself. She needs to be able to have access to money. When you have kids and they're young like this, and you lock up their money and they can't touch it, believe it or not, they end up saying, I'm not going to save. If I save and I do this, I can't touch it. Why would I do that? So I would make a deal with her. If all she has is $50 a month right now, I would say, listen, here's what I want you to do. Let's open up for you the ultimate Opportunity Savings account at Alliant Credit Union. You put in 50, I'll put in 50. You have to put in $100 a month, every month for 12 consecutive months, and Alliant will give you $100 bonus. But in the meantime, your money is earning some 3.01 APY. Think about it for liquid money and everything. Great. And if she needs that money anytime during the year, she can take it out without any penalty. It's not a big deal. But give her an incentive to save.
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The habit of saving.
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A
Let her set that goal of an extra hundred dollars, because $100 is a big deal when all you've put in is $100 a month. And for her, $50 a month gets her $100. If she did the math on that, it's almost like a 30% return on her money. Believe it or not, that's how I would start. Go to myalliant.com that's a L L I a N T dot com. All right. Yes, Katie.
- [20:34]
B
Okay, next question is from Kelly. I like this question, Susie. It said, hey, Susie, this is a new one for me. Decreasing my credit limit for not spending enough on my credit card. If this is a new trend, maybe address it on the podcast.
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A
So what's funny, kt, is I addressed this question to Kelly directly and I told her, because she had gotten an email from Capital One telling her dad, I said, just call them up and tell them or whatever. And she wrote me back and she said, I called them up and all I had to do is push one and get out of the review process. So everybody, if you start to get an email or a letter from somebody that you have credit with, a credit card, Walmart, whoever it may be, they send you that in the hopes, seriously, that you'll start to Use their credit card. Just that simple. And maybe if you want to keep that credit card and you go out and charge something little once a month, okay, but never charge more. Then you can't pay off when that bill comes in. But it is a trick to get you to charge money in the hopes that you won't be able to pay it off at the end of the month. You'll only pay the minimum payment due and you'll pay interest. And that's how they make money. Go on.
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B
Scare tactic. Scare tactics. All right, this one is from Paul, a man smart enough to listen. He calls himself He Said. Hey, Susie and KT love the podcast. My wife and I have both Roth IRAs. I was thinking we should both have a different mix of stocks and ETFs in our accounts, so we do not have all of our eggs in one basket. We currently overlap on several stocks and ETFs. But should I maybe have SPY and my wife have VTI? So that's what he's asking.
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A
It's really a personal choice and it has a lot to do with as well. If you're talking about like you are with money in a Roth IRA or outside of a Roth or a retirement account, I would not be duplicating something like SPY or whatever it may be, which is a 500 index fund, and VTI, which is even bigger. It's the Total Stock Market Index Fund. I would be doing different things because there's a lot of overlap, even with SPY and vti. I might be doing XBI Biotechnology in one. I might be doing different things in each one, but that gives you broad diversification, but not in the exact same things. So I would be doing it, but I would be doing it very carefully and in areas that are good for you, just so you know.
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B
All right, go on, Susie. What if his picks outperform hers?
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A
Good, because it's their money. It's their money. And what it might be doing is outperforming hers right now. But maybe down the road, hers might be outperforming his, and then it all averages together. But there's so many different ways that one can invest truthfully and in different ETFs and things like that. And truthfully, KT, things are changing, I have to tell you, things are changing from index funds to managed funds. And I know everybody says that you'll never outperform an index fund and everything, and that's actually not true if you pick the right managed fund. And I could give you an example of that right now. But I won't, because that's not what we're doing on Ask KT and Suzie anything. But that's one of the reasons that Keith is also bringing out the ETF that's managed for you so that you really can, with the right manager, make your money, make more money. Next question. Kt.
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B
So this is from Lori. She said, hi, Susie and kt, thank you so much for your amazing advice and support. And she said, love you both. There is an unsolicited order on my transactions in January. What does that mean? I emailed my broker that I want to take the money in the money market account out the day before this was done. All right, Sherlock Holmes, what do you say to that one?
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A
Do you not know what that means?
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B
Yeah, it sounds like that she. She asked to take the money out and someone placed an order that didn't allow her to do that.
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A
No.
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B
The day before.
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A
No.
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B
Okay, what does it mean?
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A
Unsolicited means she didn't give permission. No.
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B
Okay. What?
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A
Right. Unsolicited means that it wasn't recommended by the broker, that she called or emailed the broker and said he didn't solicit her to buy this stock. He didn't solicit her to take money out of the money market account. She wrote him that she wanted a withdrawal from her money market account. No big deal. So it went into cash. That's all that it did. She didn't lose the money, but he didn't solicit it. It's just how protocol works for a broker. Sometimes we'll call up John, who works with me truthfully on money, and I'll say, I want to buy this. And I'll say, you do. And then he'll say, after a month or two, God, I should have listened to you. But that's besides the point.
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That's what he always says.
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A
So I want to buy this and buy me this many shares. If you look at the slip that comes, it says unsolicited because it tells his firm that he didn't tell me to buy that. I did it on my own. That way, if it went belly up, when it comes to a stock, he's not held responsible for it. I don't have any recourse back at him. This is fine. Not a big deal. It's all right. The broker, it was unsolicited. That's all that happened. One more, kt. One more.
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B
Okay, Susie, my last email is from Kayla.
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A
Yeah.
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B
She said, I love listening to you.
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A
You both are so love listening to Me after my answer.
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B
Wait. You are both just adorable. There are many more accolades to give, but I'm trying to keep this short a little about us. My husband and I are both 58 years old. We have a first mortgage of approximately 450,000 and a HELOC of approximately 175,000 to build a pool and fun backyard for our kids and grandkids to enjoy with us. Our combined retirement accounts are just under $1 million. All right, we have one car payment and no credit card debt. We both work full time and combined make a little under 200,000 a year. Unfortunately, I was just laid off, so for a while, we will be a one income family. Now, are you ready for this part? Okay, hold. Hold tight. Susie. Three or so years ago, we didn't file our income taxes. We were just buried in daily life. Now that things have calmed down, we have had our taxes done and we owe thousands. Initially, for the past four years, the total was approximately $30,000. But with penalties, it is well over $50,000. My question is, does it make sense to borrow from one of our retirement accounts to pay this off? Or is there another way that I'm unaware of? Thanks for all the time to help us.
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A
So, Kayla, listen to me. Did you just not say you have a HELOC of approximately 175,000? To do what? To build a pool and fun backyard for our kids and grandkids to enjoy with us. Listen, if you want to get rid of this debt, you obviously could work out a payment plan with the IRS and all of that. That is one possibility. However, you are not to take a loan from a 401k or 403 or whatever retirement account you have like that. If all you have is IRAs and things like that, there's no such thing as a loan. No such thing. You're only 58 years of age. So if you just withdraw money, hardship withdrawal or whatever, you're going to pay taxes on that money. No matter what. You're going to end up owing more taxes. You don't want to take a loan because you just said you were laid off. If you had taken a loan from your retirement account at work, now you're laid off. That loan is due and payable in most cases in like one month. If you can't pay it back, which obviously you wouldn't be able to, you're going to owe ordinary income tax on that. So no, you are not to take a loan from your retirement account. So what are you to do? You are to postpone building a fun playground for your kids, because it's no fun knowing that you owe $50,000 to the IRS when they're having a good time. Okay? And you're paying for it. Number one priority. Talk to the irs. Possibly get yourself a tax attorney that can negotiate with them, whatever it may be. But bottom line here, it makes absolutely no sense to borrow from one of your retirement accounts to pay this off. I would go for the HELOC if I were you.
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B
Me, too.
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A
All right, Is that the last one, kt?
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B
That's a wrap, Susie. And listen, everyone, don't miss Sunday's podcast. Susie and Keith Fitzgerald have a lot to say. It's important. And during these uncertain times, you want to listen up?
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A
Oh, that was good, kt.
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B
Yes, it was.
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A
She's so proud of herself right now. All right, so until Sunday, there's only one thing we want you to remember. When it comes to your money, it
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B
is people first, then money, then things.
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A
Now, you stay safe, all right? We are strong we are wise we will not apologize we are here, we will thrive Together we will rise we're the little bit of faith and everything it takes we are strong, we are
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B
wise Together we will rise.
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A
Hi, everybody. Suzy O here. And I have to tell all of you, there is one benefit that I know all of you need and your corporations need to offer, and it comes from a company that I helped co found over 5 years ago by the name of Secure Save. So whether you're an employee or an employer, I want you to go to Securesave.com Suzie S U Z E and take a look at what I have for you there. I promise you you're gonna like it.
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C
All right, now, neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman is acting as a certified financial planner advisor, a certified financial analyst, an economist, cpa, accountant or lawyer. Neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman make any recommendations as to any specific securities or investments. All content contained in this podcast is for informational and general purposes only and does not constitute financial, accounting or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and financial advisors regarding your particular situation. Neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman accepts any responsibility for any losses which may arise from accessing or reliance on information in this podcast. And to the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all liability for loss, damages, direct or indirect, arising from the use of this information. The must have documents discussed in this podcast are legal documents created by a lawyer and distributed by Hay House. Thanks for listening.