transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:11] She's already making me laugh, everybody. Anyway, April 23rd, 2026, welcome everybody to the Women And Money Podcast. And everyone is smart enough to listen. Here we go. Today is the Ask KT & Suze Anything edition. If you have a question, send it in to ask suze podcast at gmail.com. If KT chooses it, we will answer it on the podcast. And as so many of you know, I do answer many of you personally, but that is besides the point. Why are you smiling at me?

Speaker 2:
[00:47] Today is our lucky day. You're not even getting there. Today is our lucky day. It is finally here Suze.

Speaker 1:
[00:53] KT, every day is our lucky day. No, no, no.

Speaker 2:
[00:55] April 23rd. Are you a little nervous?

Speaker 1:
[00:57] I'm not nervous.

Speaker 2:
[00:58] I think she's nervous everyone.

Speaker 1:
[01:00] Why would I be nervous?

Speaker 2:
[01:01] Because it's been three years since you gave a live webinar and tonight is your debut. Webinar time.

Speaker 1:
[01:10] Let me tell you everybody though about this. Hopefully you have registered for the webinar that I will be giving. However, if you're not registered yet, just go to suzeorman.com. There's still time. Over 70,000 of you out there have registered. But KT, I just want to tell people a little bit about the webinar.

Speaker 2:
[01:33] Please do.

Speaker 1:
[01:34] Because I made a decision here. I've decided I want to do a two-part webinar.

Speaker 2:
[01:41] Great.

Speaker 1:
[01:41] So tonight, I'm going to be focusing everybody, just so you know, on the emotional side of money, certain things like that. In about two, three, four weeks from now, Keith Fitzgerald and I will be giving a second webinar, where we will actually be giving you exchange traded funds, all kinds of things that you should really know. Very different than the podcast that I do with Keith, because you're going to be able to see us and everything in a whole different way, and a very, very special announcement, that's all I'm going to say, that all of you have been waiting for, for approximately two, two and a half years. That's it. So anyway, just know it's going to be a two-part webinar, and that's what's going to start tonight. And listen, everybody, if you've signed up for the first one, you are automatically enrolled already in the second one, so you don't have to do anything. All right, KT?

Speaker 2:
[02:46] I can't wait. Okay, so I've got-

Speaker 1:
[02:49] You're not allowed in the room.

Speaker 2:
[02:51] Why?

Speaker 1:
[02:51] You distract me. Wait, let me tell you-

Speaker 2:
[02:56] I distract her for one reason.

Speaker 1:
[02:58] My hair-

Speaker 2:
[02:58] Her hair constantly falls over her left eye. So I sit across from her-

Speaker 1:
[03:04] My right eye.

Speaker 2:
[03:06] Yeah, your right eye.

Speaker 1:
[03:07] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[03:07] I've been sitting across from her for years in the TV studio, in the podcast studio, you name it. And my action, which I wish you could see on video, is I always use my hand like sweeping away hair from my face with the hopes that she'll do the same on her face. I just don't have any hair.

Speaker 1:
[03:29] Yeah, but here's the problem. I'm in the middle of something. You know I'm not a scripted talent. I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't know where I'm going to go. A lot of it.

Speaker 2:
[03:37] So I distract you.

Speaker 1:
[03:38] She distracts me. And then I'm like, what was I saying? Oh, my hair. I'm not speaking about hair. I'm speaking about what you need to do right here. Anyway, that's besides the point, KT. Okay. What's your question?

Speaker 2:
[03:49] So this is the subject that made me select this email. It said, is gifting assets the only solution for my financially abused mother? This is from Josh. So Suze, Josh and his wife have been listening to you for over 20 years with, and now the podcast about five years. And he said, I finally have a question I really want to ask. It's actually from my mother who has stayed in a financially abusive relationship with my father for over 50 years. And they're in a community property state. That's the problem. So Josh goes on to say-

Speaker 1:
[04:30] That's not the problem. That's what he thinks the problem is. But anyway-

Speaker 2:
[04:35] He said, my mom's 74. She is almost financially illiterate and reluctant to get a divorce. Mostly because she's afraid that community property law would require her to give up half of what she owns, including a little family restaurant that she's had for over 30 years. So the problem is his dad's 76. He's not worked for 30 years. He contributes practically nothing. He doesn't do house or yard work, hoards his assets like a miser. Obviously, Josh is not very happy about his dad and how he treats his mom. So to make a long story short, the father does have assets. He's very secretive. He's deceitful. He doesn't have anything in the mom's name. And Josh blames the father for the family's dysfunctional communication around money. Long story short again, Josh wants to move what assets his mother has, which is very little, into his name as a gift so that he's able to provide whatever she needs to take care of her house or whatever. So Suze, what is the best solution that you can give Josh at this time?

Speaker 1:
[05:57] KT, this is one of those emails that I answered directly, just so you know.

Speaker 2:
[06:02] What advice did you give Josh?

Speaker 1:
[06:04] So first of all, so everybody what you need to know, and this is what I'd love, because KT doesn't know when I answer all of you. And I play this little game. Is she going to pick a question that I already answered and she did in this particular case? You all need to know that Josh and his family live in Louisiana, which is a community property law state. So what I told Josh and I'm telling all of you is that just giving away her assets could very easily be challenged in court, the whole thing and blah, blah, blah, blah. But that's not the problem. The problem is his mother needs to sit down, in my opinion, with a qualified Louisiana family law attorney, not a general law, not a friend, but someone who deals specifically with divorce, separation, and asset protection in community property states. So she needs to understand that even though the husband has had money in his individual name, he's secretive about it and everything, doesn't matter. It's still hers unless she signed a prenup for it, unless there was something about it, which I doubt that she did. So she needs to explore, if you ask me, a legal separation if she refuses to divorce. The real problem here is why has she stayed for so long, Josh? Why? And that's what needs to be dealt with. So what you need to understand is that you can support her, you can guide her, you can even pay for the attorneys, but you cannot be the solution by taking ownership of the assets. That is not protection. Now listen, if she refuses to act after getting proper legal advice, then you need to accept a very hard truth. You cannot save someone financially who will not participate in their own rescue. And that is, KT, probably the best advice. You know, as kids, we want to sometimes save our parents. As parents, we sometimes want to save our kids. But the truth is we can't save anybody if they are not willing to participate and save themselves. The main thing, Josh, you need to do is set up this meeting, confront your father, tell him how it has upset you. And again, if mom doesn't want to do anything, you can't do anything about it either, but get her to see a true divorce lawyer in Louisiana. All right, KT, it's sad, isn't it?

Speaker 2:
[09:02] Yeah, I really felt for that e-mail, it looked like Josh was struggling of whether or not to send it to you. But here's what he said is what's ends with this.

Speaker 1:
[09:11] But how did it come? It took so long. I don't know how old Josh is, but what made her stay for about 50 years? Right. She's been in this relationship for 50 years.

Speaker 2:
[09:25] I think people are just afraid. Afraid of change.

Speaker 1:
[09:29] Right. So fear. I'm glad you said that because I'm going to address fear tonight on the webinar. How it's fear that keeps us from the wealth we should have, the relationship we should have, the help we should have, everything. So maybe I'm going to focus on fear tonight. Let's see what happens. All right.

Speaker 2:
[09:51] Go on. So next is from Chrissy. Hi, Suze and KT. This one is this one kind of put a smile on my face, although it's not funny at all. She said, I'm writing this on behalf of my dear friend, Liz, who also happens to be my neighbor. She's OK with me writing this letter and she is copied here. Chrissy wrote, Suze, I think Liz needs a Suze Smackdown. All right. So in a nutshell, Suze, like so many Americans, Liz and her husband have relatively high incomes and low savings. They both take home about $14,000 a month and their regular expenses are about 8,000. Liz works for the federal government and he works in tech. Now, they both feel very secure in their jobs. Their savings has dwindled from 50,000 to 30,000 after a big Disney trip they just had. Instead of rebuilding the savings, she wants to open a zero-interest credit card so they can purchase tickets to the Olympics, which is going to be a very expensive trip.

Speaker 1:
[11:02] What a loser.

Speaker 2:
[11:04] It's not a loser.

Speaker 1:
[11:05] No, this is a loser situation.

Speaker 2:
[11:08] Can you give her some advice, Suze? She's not taking it from me. And do you want to know what they have?

Speaker 1:
[11:15] Go on.

Speaker 2:
[11:15] All right. So they have $350,000 in retirement. They're in their late 30s, early 40s. They have an eight-year-old daughter, $8,000 in a 529 plan, and they have a mortgage with 26 years left on it, a car loan and a small amount of student loans. Both of them are not carrying any credit card debt.

Speaker 1:
[11:39] Oh, well, good for them. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[11:41] So, Chris is asking you, please give her friend Liz a Suze slap down, or at least let her see the writing on the wall.

Speaker 1:
[11:50] Chris, and this is another situation, KT, where I wrote her back directly, just so you know. So, what I want everybody to know since you chose this email, when you find yourself in a situation that you need a 0% interest rate card so you can go do something because you don't have the cash for it, when you find yourself in a situation that you are making more than what you are spending every month, and in this case, it's like 8,000 a month they have for expenses, that means she needs a $96,000 emergency fund.

Speaker 2:
[12:29] Which Liz doesn't have.

Speaker 1:
[12:31] And all she has is $30,000. It shows you that something emotionally is going wrong, either within you, your relationship, something is wrong. When you don't have money, and you're making money, and you're spending more than you're making, you have to go within to see why you are doing without. You are not going to be in your 30s and 40s forever. You're going to be in your 50s, in your 60s, in your 80s. And who knows what's going to change because of artificial intelligence? Maybe I'll talk about that again tonight. But whatever, you have got to get a reality check. So use this as an example of what you make does not determine what you get to spend. It's how you're investing it, what you make after your 12-month emergency fund is covered. You're out of student loan debt. You're putting more towards your mortgage possibly. But to look at a 0% interest rate on a credit card, so you can go to the Olympics, stupid, stupid, stupid Liz, you have to be smarter than this. All right, KT.

Speaker 2:
[13:45] That's good. I think Chris will like that.

Speaker 1:
[13:47] I think I gave her a hard slap down. No, I gave her a hard slap down in my email, but that's besides the point. All right, go on.

Speaker 2:
[13:54] All right. This is from Yvonne.

Speaker 1:
[13:56] Isn't this funny? Once again, you're picking ones that I have answered. I love that.

Speaker 2:
[14:02] Okay. Next one's from Yvonne. Hi, Suze. Hope you and KT are doing great back in Florida.

Speaker 1:
[14:07] We are.

Speaker 2:
[14:08] Can you please remind me when someone passes away, is it correct that if you sell the home they left you within one year, you don't have to pay additional taxes?

Speaker 1:
[14:20] That is not correct. Not correct at any level. It's not about when you sell the home. It has nothing to do with timing anymore. It has to do with this. You were left the home. You have to know that when you inherit a house from somebody, you get a step up in cost basis as to what it was valued at, either the day they died or within six months. So let's just say the house you just got is worth $800,000. Just let's say that's true. That then is your cost basis. You turn around and you sell it for $800,000. And guess what? No tax, right? If you live in it as your primary residency for two out of the past five years, then you get to take another $250,000. So even if it goes up from $800,000 to a million, and it's been your primary residency for two out of the past five years, and then you sell it, you're still not going to owe anything in taxes because KT $800,000 plus 250 is like $150,000, $1,050,000. She sells it for $1,000,000, no capital gains tax. Just that simple. All right.

Speaker 2:
[15:37] Okay. That's great. And Yvonne also lives here in Florida.

Speaker 1:
[15:41] Yeah. Well, what's wrong with this weather? What's up with the weather? We haven't been able to take our boat out. It's been three or four solid months of wind and waves. What's up? All right. Next question, KT.

Speaker 2:
[15:55] Okay. From Amber. She said, Hi, Suze, I'm in the process of moving my IRA into a Roth IRA. Yeah, through my financial advisor. I was wondering if this is a wise thing to do. I'm 59 and I make about $100,000 a year. I was thinking, what if taxes go down? I'm actually then going to lose money. I'm ending up paying about $4,000 a year when I file my taxes. Should I keep moving forward with this or should I just leave everything where it is?

Speaker 1:
[16:26] Are you crazy? Listen, this is another topic that I hope I'm asked on the webinar tonight, because there is a host of the webinar and they ask me questions. So if not, I'm going to answer this anyway overall. But listen to me, stop thinking so small. Start thinking large where what is the big picture, not this little stupid picture that you're paying $4,000 a year in taxes. You're 59 years of age. You have many, many years yet for this money to compound. You want it to compound tax-free. You absolutely little by little should be converting to a Roth. Next question, Katie.

Speaker 2:
[17:05] Okay. Next question is from Barb. She said, Hi, Suzy and Katie.

Speaker 1:
[17:10] Hello, Barb.

Speaker 2:
[17:11] Hi, Barb.

Speaker 1:
[17:12] Does that remind you of your sister, Barb?

Speaker 2:
[17:14] So I have a question regarding when to take social security. My ex-spouse's social will be larger than mine. I would like to take half of his when I start taking social security.

Speaker 1:
[17:26] So that means, Katie, if she wants half of his, she has to wait till she's at least 67, full social security age to get 50% of his, half of his, or she's going to get less than half of his. So go on, keep going.

Speaker 2:
[17:45] Okay. So she just said she's 63 this year, he's 60.

Speaker 1:
[17:50] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[17:50] All right. So, you know, she's going to have to wait quite some time.

Speaker 1:
[17:54] So let me tell you the laws of how it actually works, everybody. So you get this right. First of all, if you were married to somebody and now you are divorced and you want to claim their social security, half of it, you have to have been married for at least 10 years. Just know that, everybody. You have to wait for at least two years after you have been divorced and you can't be remarried. Just know that as well. Now, if you are 63, he is 60, you have to wait till he's at least 62 before you can claim on his social security. In two years, you're going to be 65. So, what that means is if you claim his social security or a portion of his social security at 65, you're only going to be getting about 41 to 42% of what his full retirement age social security would be, not 50% because you are not 67. So, here's the thing. Wait till you're 67 and just make sure, I'm telling you to make sure that half of his is more than 100% of yours. So, just do that calculation because you just never know. Next question, KT.

Speaker 2:
[19:21] This is from Ann and Tony in California. Suze, can you help us with investing in tax-free investments or any other suggestions to reduce our taxable income? Our tax preparers suggested muni bonds, municipal bonds, but since we may need the money relatively quickly, is there a way to buy municipal bonds without making long-term commitments?

Speaker 1:
[19:47] So, here's the thing, everybody. When you get a municipal bond, a bond always has a beginning date and an ending date. And for you to get an interest rate that's even equal after taxes to like a CD or something, even a money market account, you would have to go out a lot longer. And you say you need the money right away. You can do short-term muni bond funds and things like that, as long as they're from California. But it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Remember, muni bonds, because they are tax-free, they don't give as high as an interest rate as CDs and things. So, you always have to do the calculation. Don't be afraid to pay the taxes. Don't look at a way around it. And also, I'm just going to say this, I personally would not be taking investment advice from a CPA unless he was also a CFP or a financial advisor that told people what to do with money and did not participate in the commissions from it. I think you're looking for trouble here, just to save a few pennies here or there, or a few dollars here or there. You need liquidity? Fine. Do a money market account at the highest interest rate that you can find, and they are out there. Yes, KT.

Speaker 2:
[21:14] Okay. From Jennifer, I opened a 529 a couple of years ago and have $7,000 in there. My son will be going to college in January 2027.

Speaker 1:
[21:27] So just a few months from now.

Speaker 2:
[21:29] Next year, I also have about $4,000 in a personal savings account for him. Was wondering if it's wise to add it to the 529 now. Given the state of the current market and the fact that we will need access in about nine months. What should we do? Do you think it's worth it?

Speaker 1:
[21:47] So here's the thing. You have to know, are you going to be applying for financial aid or not? Because if you have $7,000 in his name, in possibly a uniform gift to Miners Act or trust account, that's his money that will count against him in financial aid. So if you're not doing financial aid, then it doesn't matter. But if you are, you might want to put it then in the 529 plan so he doesn't have anything in his name anymore and then you apply for financial aid. But this is not money that belongs in the stock market because you are going to need it in 9 months. Remember, you need 5 years or longer for money that's in the stock market. That includes money with the 529 plans as well, or you stage it. Because 4 years from now when you may have enough for the last year, their senior year, all right, maybe you leave that there. But if they need it within 9 months, that's money that's in a money market account within the 529 plan. KT, have another one for me?

Speaker 2:
[22:54] I do. This is from Rebecca.

Speaker 1:
[22:56] Let's make this our last one. So I say my voice for tonight.

Speaker 2:
[22:58] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[22:59] You know, I can get very energetic.

Speaker 2:
[23:01] She gets feisty on her webinars.

Speaker 1:
[23:03] I get feisty and especially, so you can see, I can already feel it.

Speaker 2:
[23:08] She's hyping up.

Speaker 1:
[23:08] She's getting ready. I'm hyping up, so I better start saving my voice. All right, go on.

Speaker 2:
[23:12] So Rebecca said, Suze, I'm the oldest of four siblings ranging in the age from 54 to 62. We all live in different states. I am in New Jersey. My father passed in February at the age of 91, and my 89-year-old mother survives him. She has inherited his retirement accounts, which are with TIAA, and we've been advised to invest them in a new IRA in her name. Here's my question. Who should be named as the beneficiaries for the new IRA? Now, this is a good question. She said, if the four of us are named as beneficiaries, and do each of us have to take minimum distributions over the next 10 years and pay tax on the portion we inherit? If just one of us is named as the beneficiary with the intention that they share the funds equally, how would that change anything?

Speaker 1:
[24:09] That is a good question, one that I did not answer back, just so you know. So it must have come in recently. Anyway, here's what you need to know, Rebecca. Yes, daddy died, leaves his retirement account to mommy because she is an eligible designated beneficiary, which means as a spouse, she gets to take his retirement account over as her own. It's not an inherited one, it becomes her own. However, now she has an IRA rollover in her own name, or it's in her own IRA account, whatever she had to begin with. And now she needs to name beneficiaries. When she names the beneficiaries, you all will be designated as non eligible designated beneficiaries. And these are all terms everybody that you need to know. And what that says is that when you inherit this money, you will then have an inherited IRA, not your own IRA, an inherited IRA. You will have 10 years to wipe it clean. Now listen closely to me. You have till September 30th, after the year mommy dies, to open up inherited IRAs in your own name. There are four of you. I'm telling you, you each should do it in your individual names. You should not have one person do it. You should have all four of you do it because when you're taking out required minimum distributions, which you're gonna have to do if you don't wipe the whole thing clean at once, if you're gonna continue to take out required minimum distributions, which you all have to do based on your life expectancy, but over a 10 year period of time, so your age, the amounts are gonna be different. You're each in different tax brackets. So that is how you should do it. If you just have one person do it, that one person is gonna have to take out a large amount taxed at their tax bracket that may increase their taxes, blah, blah, blah. So beneficiaries should be individual. Now, here's what you have to decide. If one of you dies before mommy, where does that portion go? Does it go to your children? If you have children, or does it go because I see that she has grandchildren on here, but I don't know if they all have children, right? Maybe only three out of four of them do. Does it go to your children, or does your portion, your quarter, go to the remaining three, or possibly the remaining two? You have to make that decision. If, in fact, you want it, and mommy decides she wants it this way, you want it to go to your children, then it has to be per Sturpeys. So you have to check with, and she opens up an IRA in her individual name, and she names beneficiaries. Can you do it in something called your name, but per Sturpeys, which means that it goes to your children in case you die.

Speaker 2:
[27:50] Before her.

Speaker 1:
[27:50] Before her. So just something to think about. Now listen, if you get flaky on me here, and you don't open up your inherited IRAs by September 30th, after the year she has died, guess what? It's automatically going to be based on the oldest beneficiary's life. So you don't want that to happen to you. That is not good. So this is something you need to sit down with everybody, make decisions, and then name just the four of you as the beneficiaries. Just that simple. Why are you looking so confused?

Speaker 2:
[28:30] I'm not confused. I'm just thinking that that is a really important step the family needs to take with mom while she's alive.

Speaker 1:
[28:39] While she's alive and how she wants that. Listen everybody, this is a hard topic because we automatically assume, because mommy's older, that what's going to happen, she's going to die before us. That doesn't always happen that way. It just doesn't. I'm so sorry to say. So go into this little meaning with her, talk about it, but say mom, if I were to die before you, what do you want to happen with the portion that would come to me? So let's see what she says and then you go from there. All right KT, I think that brings us to the end.

Speaker 2:
[29:18] That is a wrap. You better rest today. Rest your voice.

Speaker 1:
[29:21] I'm not going to rest today.

Speaker 2:
[29:23] Are you excited? What are you going to wear?

Speaker 1:
[29:26] Probably my little black jacket like I always wear.

Speaker 2:
[29:29] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[29:30] I don't know. Will I wear it? Yeah, maybe, yes, maybe no. I don't know. I always feel better everybody when I'm on TV or anything, when I'm dressed in black. I'm not sure why that is, but that's just my most comfortable color. Is that a color KT?

Speaker 2:
[29:47] Yeah, well, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[29:50] Not on the color chart, is it?

Speaker 2:
[29:52] Black is the combination of all colors as is white.

Speaker 1:
[29:56] No wonder why I like to, everything's either black or white because it contains everything. Anyway, everybody. So until Sunday when we will be having another Suze School, I didn't mean to say we, I meant to say I will be having another Suze School. There's only one thing that I want you to remember and it's this, go to suzeorman.com and register for the webinar for tonight. If you have not done so, it is free. Listen, if you can't make it tonight, don't worry. Just register anyway because there will be replays of this webinar over the weekend. So register away. And remember, this is a two part webinar. Part one is tonight, part two will be with me and Fitzy in a few weeks, sometime probably the first week of June. So therefore, just stay tuned for the second part because I'm telling you, the second part, oh.

Speaker 2:
[30:54] Sexy.

Speaker 1:
[30:55] It's not sexy, but you're going to want to hear what we have to tell you. All right, but until then, there's only one thing that we want you to remember when it comes to your money and what is it, KT?

Speaker 2:
[31:04] People first, then money, then things. Now you.

Speaker 1:
[31:08] Stay safe.

Speaker 2:
[31:10] See you tonight, everyone.

Speaker 1:
[31:11] All right, bye bye.