Suze School: Revisiting Make A Date With Your Money - Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

Episode: Suze School: Revisiting Make A Date With Your Money
Release Date: April 20, 2025
Host/Author: Suze Orman Media

Introduction

In the episode titled "Suze School: Revisiting Make A Date With Your Money," Suze Orman delves deep into comprehensive financial management strategies designed to empower listeners to take control of their financial destinies. Building upon her renowned "Make a Date With Your Money" concept, Orman provides actionable steps to secure financial stability and freedom.

1. The Goal of Money: Security Through Savings

Timestamp: [00:00] - [00:33]

Suze Orman opens the discussion by emphasizing that the fundamental goal of money is to ensure personal security. She advocates for establishing an emergency savings account as the cornerstone of financial stability. Orman recommends the Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account at Alliant Credit Union, encouraging listeners to visit myalliant.com for more information.

Suze Orman: "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."

2. Making a Date With Your Money

Timestamp: [01:52] - [15:25]

Orman elaborates on the "Make a Date With Your Money" concept, urging listeners to dedicate an entire day to thoroughly assess their financial situation. This involves evaluating various aspects:

a. Reviewing Insurance Policies

Orman stresses the importance of ensuring comprehensive coverage in insurance policies. She highlights the rising costs of rebuilding homes due to inflation and increased labor charges, urging listeners to verify whether their policies cover replacement costs, natural disasters, and specific assets like garages and tools.

Suze Orman: "You need to check that out. Are you insured for hurricane, for flood, for any of that?"

b. Assessing Retirement Plans and Beneficiaries

Listeners are encouraged to review all retirement and life insurance policies, ensuring that beneficiaries are up-to-date and reflect their current wishes. Orman advises against listing ex-spouses or unintended beneficiaries, emphasizing the need for accuracy to prevent unintended financial distributions.

Suze Orman: "Make sure that all the beneficiaries are the beneficiaries that you want to get the money."

c. Managing Credit Card Debt

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on credit card debt management. Orman outlines a step-by-step approach:

List All Credit Cards: Document each card’s interest rate, balance, and minimum payment.
Prioritize High-Interest Debt: Arrange cards from highest to lowest interest rates.
Consider Balance Transfers: For those with good credit scores (720+), transferring balances to a 0% interest card for 21 months can accelerate debt repayment.
Increase Payments: Add 20% to the total minimum payments to reduce debt faster.
Snowball Method: Once a high-interest card is paid off, redirect its payment amount to the next highest, creating a snowball effect.

Suze Orman: "Debt is bondage. You will never have financial freedom if you're in bondage."

Additionally, Orman advises against closing paid-off credit cards to maintain credit limits and FICO scores.

d. Monitoring Credit Reports and FICO Scores

Orman underscores the necessity of regularly checking credit reports and FICO scores to detect and prevent identity theft. She recommends using annualcreditreport.com for free credit reports and suggests freezing credit as an added security measure.

Suze Orman: "The only way that you're going to catch it before it becomes a really big problem is to be checking your FICO scores as well as your credit reports."

e. Establishing Essential Legal Documents

Finally, Orman highlights the importance of having must-have legal documents in place, including:

Living Trust
Will
Advance Directive
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Financial Affairs

She emphasizes that these documents should be created, signed, notarized, and funded to ensure they are effective in safeguarding one's financial and personal interests.

Suze Orman: "When you know all of those things... then really, you start to own the power to control your own destiny."

3. Empowering Financial Control

Timestamp: [15:25] - [15:54]

The episode reiterates the empowering message that proactive financial management allows individuals to control their destinies. By being knowledgeable and involved in every aspect of their finances, listeners can achieve unparalleled financial freedom.

Suze Orman: "If you stay healthy, you stay knowledgeable, you stay involved with every aspect of your money, well, then I have to tell you, in my opinion, you will be unstoppable."

4. Promotional Segment: Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account

Timestamp: [15:54] - [16:31]

In a brief promotional segment, Orman advertises the Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account, offering a 3.10% interest rate for savers who commit to depositing $100 monthly for 12 consecutive months. As an incentive, participants receive a $100 bonus at the end of the term.

Suze Orman: "Put in at $100 a month, every single month for 12 consecutive months. Earn 3.10% interest on your money right now and get $100 at the end. Are you kidding me? It's the best deal out there."

5. Disclaimer

Timestamp: [16:31] - End

The episode concludes with a standard disclaimer, clarifying that neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman act as certified financial planners, analysts, or legal advisors. The content is intended for informational purposes only, and listeners are advised to consult professional advisors for personalized financial, legal, or tax advice.

Unknown Speaker: "Neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman make any recommendations as to any specific securities or investments... you should consult your own tax, legal and financial advisors regarding your particular situation."

Key Takeaways

Establish an Emergency Fund: Prioritize building a savings cushion to ensure financial security.
Comprehensive Financial Review: Regularly assess insurance coverage, retirement plans, beneficiaries, and debt management strategies.
Aggressive Debt Repayment: Tackle high-interest credit card debt using methods like balance transfers and increased payments.
Protect Your Credit: Vigilantly monitor credit reports and FICO scores to prevent identity theft and maintain financial health.
Legal Preparedness: Ensure all essential legal documents are properly established and funded to safeguard personal and financial interests.
Empowerment Through Knowledge: Active and informed financial management is key to achieving financial freedom and controlling one's destiny.

Conclusion

In "Suze School: Revisiting Make A Date With Your Money," Suze Orman provides a comprehensive guide to financial management, emphasizing the importance of proactive planning and regular financial health assessments. By following Orman's actionable advice, listeners can secure their financial futures, eliminate debt, and achieve greater financial freedom.

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Transcript7 lines

[00:00]
Suzy Orman
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.
[00:33]
Unknown
We are strong, we are wise we will not apologize we are here we will thrive Together we will rise With a little bit of faith and everything it takes we are strong, we are wise Together we will rise.
[01:01]
Robert
April 20, 2025 welcome to the Women and Money podcast as well as everyone smart enough to listen. Hi there Robert, the producer here again. So before I set up what we're going to hear today, Susie as she posted on the Women and Money community app, which you can all get for free by the way by going to Apple Apps or Google Play. Anyway, Susie posted there that she thanks you for your patience and love and she'll be back with a brand new episode this coming Thursday. But today we're going to play the main part of an episode from last fall called Make a date with your money, which as we're closing in on the midway part of the year, is a good thing to hear again. Oh, and one more thing for those of you who celebrate, Susie and Katie, as well as Colu and myself, wish you a happy Easter.
[01:52]
Suzy Orman
And now Susie, make a date with your money. Make a date. Get out your calendars everybody, and make a date. When you or your spouse or your life partner or your children, I don't care who your parents, you sit down and you make a date. And that date is the entire day is devoted to dealing with every aspect of your money. Not so much what you're invested in, but is everything in place? Are you protected in case something happens? Check all your home or rental insurance policies as to what they cover and what they you don't cover. And also, have you increased the coverage, really everybody, since you bought the home? Given that, maybe it's worth a whole lot more than it was 10 years ago when you originally got that insurance. And the fact of the matter is it costs a lot more to replace that home today because of inflation as it did a long time ago. Next, what's really important about what I just said is this. When you have as many homes that have been destroyed by hurricanes by the hundred and some odd tornadoes that happened in the Florida area, by all the things that are happening around the United States that Makes lumber, materials, the cost of building, because all the workers, what do they do? They go to those areas because they know they're going to get jobs. Which leaves these workers who are in your area possibly charging more. So it's going to cost more to replace your home than it did 10 years ago, than it did five years ago. And I want you on this date with your money to make sure as you're looking at your insurance policy, what are you covered for? Are they going to allow you to rebuild your house and pay for all of it? So is it replacement costs or do you just get the insurance value? Does it pay for trees and does it pay for your garage and the tools in your garage and all of those things? You need to check that out. Are you insured for hurricane, for flood, for any of that? Now, your normal insurance policy is not going to cover you for flood unless you've added hurricane insurance on or earthquake insurance on. It's not going to be there either. But you have to know. So you have to look at your insurance policies and answer all of those questions. Am I insured for X, Y and Z? Is everything in my house insured and how much is it insured for? Are my structures on my property insured? My garage? Is everything in my garage insured? Are my trees insured? You have to ask every possible question and what is the answer to that question? Only you will know. So that's the first thing you're going to do when you have a date with your money. Also, what I want you to do is I really want you to look at every retirement plan and insurance policy, life insurance policy that you have. I also want you to look at the beneficiaries of your health savings accounts because you have got to make sure that all the beneficiaries are the beneficiaries that you want to get the money. You don't want to have had a retirement account where you left an ex spouse or whoever it may be that money and now you're not even talking to that person and doesn't even matter if you're not remarried, but you don't want that person to get it. And so you have to look at the beneficiaries and make sure that they are absolutely up to date. If you happen to be married. I want you to double check that a trust is not the primary beneficiary of any of your retirement accounts or your HSA account. I want you to make sure that your spouse's name is the primary beneficiary of those retirement accounts. If it's not your spouse because you're not married, I don't care, then whatever you want to do. But it is not to be anything other than your spouse as the primary beneficiary, if in fact you are married. Next, I want you to check all the interest rates that you are paying on the unpaid balances on your credit cards. Yep, a lot of you have credit card debt. You just do. It's been very difficult, possibly because of inflation, maybe you've been ill, maybe you lost a job, who knows what? But you've been putting your everyday living or vacations or gifts on your credit cards. You've been paying the minimum payment due. And maybe if you look at the interest rates on there, you'll find that they're at 13%, 20%, 28%, and you're only paying the minimum payment due. You are never going to get ahead. And how many times have I said debt is bondage? You will never have financial freedom if you're in bondage. So therefore, I want you to sit down on this date. Make sure you have pencil and paper for all this. Get out all your credit card receipts, and I want you to write down, in order, your credit card, the interest rate that you are currently paying, the balance due and the minimum payment due. And I want you to do that on every single one of your cards. And then I want you to arrange them from the highest interest rate to the lowest. Now, if you in fact have a good fico score, maybe 720 or above, sometimes even 680 or above credit cards will take it. But you might want to consider, if you have a really high interest rate on these cards, to do a balance transfer to a credit card that will lock in a 0% interest rate for about 21 months, a credit card that won't charge you an annual fee, and a credit card that will not charge more than 3% of a balance transfer fee. If you could do that, then pay as much as you possibly can during those 20 or 21 months at 0% interest. Hopefully your card will be paid off or many of your cards will be paid off by the time that interest rate is up. Beware, once that 21 months is up, your interest rate is going to go back up probably to 28%. So currently, if you look at your credit cards, you total up the minimum payments that you are paying right now. And whatever those minimum payments are, I want you to add 20% to that amount. So let's say you have five credit cards and the minimum that you're paying every single month on all five is, let's just say $500, $100 on each. If you're paying $500 a month, I want you to pay 20% more or another hundred dollars, and I want you to pay at least $600 or more on the ones with the 0% if you're able to do a balance transfer. If you are not, then what you are to do is put those credit cards in the freezer, just get rid of them for now. You are to continue to pay the minimum payment due that you are paying now. You are not going to pay the minimum payment due that they're going to say is due next month or the month after that. If you can afford to pay that this month, you can afford to pay it every month. And you're going to pay the minimum payment due on every credit card and add that extra $100 that I was just saying to the one with the highest interest rate. When that credit card is totally paid off, you're going to take that amount plus that $100 that you were paying, roll it down to the next highest. When that's paid off, you're going to take the hundred, the first credit card payment, the second credit card payment, and roll it down to the third, and you're going to keep doing that till you are out of credit card debt. Once you pay off a credit card, please do not close down your credit cards because if you do, you are closing down your credit limit and that will affect your FICO score. So talking about FICO scores and your date with money, I want you to check all of your credit reports and FICO scores to make sure all is as it should be. And it's important because now with so many people being able to steal your identity to do all kinds of things, the only way that you're going to catch it before it becomes a really big problem is to be checking your FICO scores as well as your credit reports. You can get your credit reports for free by going to annualcreditreport.com but just check and see what's on there. If anything looks suspicious, contact the credit bureau. And by the way, while you're at it, if you really want to make sure that you stay safe and sound, then freeze your credit reports. Last but not least, it's really important that you make sure that you have created and signed and notarized and funded. Obviously what I talk about all the time, the must have documents, a living trust, a will, an advance directive, and a durable power of attorney for health care and a financial power and funding, by the way, simply means changing the titles on your accounts and real estate from your individual name to the name of the trust. When something goes wrong, when you are injured, when all of a sudden you have unexpectedly lost your life, think about all the people who have unexpectedly lost their lives and now what's happening. They're beneficiaries. They're people you know, they probably don't even have paperwork. Who knows? So it's really important that you have all of these things together. You know about your insurance, you know about your FICO score, you know about your beneficiaries, you know about what your insurance covers, doesn't cover. You know that you have the must have documents in order order. You know all of those things. And when you know all of those things and there's so many more, but I won't overwhelm you today, then really, you start to own the power to control your own destiny versus lack of knowledge, lack of wanting to have a date with your money. And then something happens and then you lack that power to control your destiny. And that's not what I want for you. So if you can do all that and remember that there's only one thing that matters when it comes to your money, and it is this. People first, then money, then things. And if you stay healthy, you stay knowledgeable, you stay involved with every aspect of your money, well, then I have to tell you, in my opinion, you will be unstoppable.
[15:25]
Unknown
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 all wise Together we will rise.
[15:55]
Suzy Orman
Hi everybody. Suzy O here now. If you are looking for a way to start saving to get the most out of your money, I want you to go to myalliant.com that's my a l l I a n t dot com and look into opening an ultimate opportunity savings account. Put in at $100 a month, every single month for 12 consecutive months. Earn 3.10% interest on your money right now and get $100 at the end. Are you kidding me? It's the best deal out there. Start saving right now.
[16:32]
Unknown
Neither Susie Orman Media nor Susie 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.