Suze: May 29, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women of Money
Suze: podcast as well as everybody, and I oh so mean
Suze: everybody smart enough to listen. Today is Ask KT and
Suze: Suze Anything, and this is where you can write in
Suze: to ask Suze podcast@gmail.com. Ask a question if Ms. Travis
Suze: chooses it,
Suze: Oh, we'll answer it on the podcast, and you just
Suze: never know when I will answer you personally. How are
Suze: you this morning, Miss Travis?
KT: I'm great. And, and to Suze's point about whether or
KT: not she answers you personally, listen to this first comment
KT: from Anne.
Suze: Oh well,
Suze: there you go.
KT: Suze, wow
Suze: You didn't know what I was going to say. So
Suze: how'd you have that in order?
KT: Suze, wow, thanks so much for responding to my email.
KT: You made my day when I saw your response. My
KT: husband was sure that someone answered it for you.
Suze: Figures. Men.
KT: And I loved it at the end when you identified
KT: that it was you answering. More importantly, you are helping
KT: me to feel more confident with interviewing and selecting a
KT: financial advisor with your response. Thanks again for all of
KT: your advice over the years. I love how it makes
KT: common sense, and trying to make smart, informed decisions with
KT: money can be confusing and costly.
KT: Take care, wishing you well. Keep up the great work, Suze! Anne.
Suze: Thank you, Anne.
KT: See, her husband doubted that you're the one, and let
KT: me tell all of you, no one responds to any
KT: of you except Suze. No one.
Suze: We don't even have anyone to do it.
KT: Well,
KT: no,
KT: she has her editor Carla that she's worked with for
KT: 25 years. You all heard about Carla's birthday on Sunday
KT: if you listened last week.
Suze: But that's for books.
KT: that's editors,
Suze: But not for financial advice.
KT: Yeah, even when I try...
Suze: And why do you try?
KT: But, but let's tell everyone if they're looking for the
KT: same answer that you gave to Anne, why don't you
KT: post it?
Suze: Oh my God, it's so long.
KT: So
KT: what? They
KT: want it.
Suze: I sent you Anne a list of every she wanted
Suze: to know how you check out a financial advisor and
Suze: make sure that they're OK.
Suze: And I talk about it. I think it's in Chapter
Suze: 8 of the Ultimate Retirement Guide, which, by the way,
Suze: is out in soft back now, and the audio is
Suze: coming out in June sometime, so you might want to
Suze: check that out with all the changes because there were
Suze: so many changes from when the book first came out
Suze: a few years ago, But, Anne
Suze: wanted to know more ways to check out a financial
Suze: adviser and oh, I gave them to her. So in
Suze: honor of Anne, because I'll post it for all of
Suze: you the resources that I sent to Anne. All right, KT, next.
KT: OK, and this next one is kind of the same.
KT: This subject was called Truth Hurts. Ready?
KT: Suze, my friend group calls you our selected mentor.
Suze: Thank you.
KT: We love your financial advice, but your thoughts on relationships
KT: have been at the forefront of our conversations. I wouldn't
KT: do it again. Letting fear and shame control my actions
KT: kept me in a relationship that
KT: was emotionally abusive and manipulative. I mean, I've heard that before.
KT: So then, then she goes on to say, thinking there
KT: might be a KT just around the corner gave me
KT: the strength to leave, and I love you both for it.
Suze: Let me tell you what's so great about that, right?
Suze: The truth is.
Suze: Obviously I've been in many relationships over the years. I
Suze: met KT when I was 50, but I stayed in
Suze: these horrific, in my opinion, relationships where on some level
Suze: I wasn't, how, what would you say was I, I
Suze: was just they weren't healthy, but
KT: no, they, they were.
KT: They were just there. They were there. They actually had,
KT: they didn't contribute anything.
Suze: But I just stayed because I thought it was easier
Suze: to stay than to leave and I didn't know that
Suze: there was a KT out there. I didn't know what
Suze: a true relationship, an honest relationship, an equal relationship was
Suze: because I had never had one.
Suze: I'm so touched, KT, that people are sensing that there
Suze: can be a KT out there for them because I stayed,
Suze: especially in the last relationship, 8 years in a relationship
Suze: that after 6 months I knew was going nowhere.
Suze: And so because it was just easier to stay, but
Suze: it's never easier to stay. It's never easier to insult yourself.
Suze: It's so always stand in your truth and move on.
KT: That's why I thought that title was Truth hurts.
Suze: It does hurt.
KT: All right, now this next one's even better.
Suze: So before we go into questions like...
KT: These are, these are all important because it's kind of
KT: just I'm just in that mood to share great things,
KT: great news with everybody.
Suze: Because it's one week before my birthday.
KT: Oh, her birthday is next Thursday, everybody.
KT: What are we doing? How are we celebrating?
Suze: I have two gifts
Suze: for you.
KT: What about, what about my gift to you?
Suze: I don't want any gifts on birthdays.
KT: We don't exchange gifts any...
Suze: Not physical gifts, right? Written gifts, things like that. But
Suze: there's something that you've been wanting me to do now
Suze: for many.
Suze: Many years.
KT: Oh, don't
KT: make me cry,
Suze: Right? And
KT: I know, I know what she's gonna do, but let's
KT: not reveal it. We're gonna reveal it next week. And
KT: if she's, yeah, if it's what I think it is,
KT: I'm gonna post a photo for all of you, and
KT: then you'll
KT: cry.
Suze: So I'm gonna try. OK,
KT: Suze, this next one is one of your all-time favorites ready.
KT: It's from Manson.
Suze: I remember Manson.
KT: So Manson wrote, but wait,
Suze: Tell everybody about Manson.
KT: I
KT: want you to tell them, but let me read what
KT: he sent you. He just sent this. He just sent this.
KT: Hi Suze and KT. I was on the podcast about
KT: a year ago. Everything worked out just as you and
KT: KT said it would.
KT: Regarding coming out to my family, right? I graduated from
KT: law school last week with my mother and partner Justin
KT: taking the photo watching so proudly. I, I can we
KT: post this photo? Manson is here in his UC Davis gown.
KT: It's such a great photo, and he's with his, um,
KT: mom and sister, I think, with him.
KT: And his partner Justin is taking the photo. You should
KT: see the smiles on the three faces.
Suze: Yeah, what's interesting, everybody, is this is a man, and
Suze: if you listen back, I don't know which podcast it is, right,
Suze: but it's obviously about a year ago.
Suze: Where he wrote in and he was scared to death
Suze: because he had a year or so left on his
Suze: he had law school law school and obviously his mother
Suze: was helping him financially and had property or something like
Suze: that that she might leave him.
Suze: And he was scared to death that she would cut
Suze: him off, that she would cut him out of that
Suze: whole will and trust later on if he came out
Suze: to her and said, Mom, I'm gay, and I wrote
Suze: him back essentially saying to him,
Suze: the money will never matter. What matters is when you
Suze: stand in your truth and on and on and on,
Suze: and it was fabulous. And here we are a little
Suze: bit later, he told his mom, obviously she is fine
Suze: with it and he's doing great. I just love that one.
Suze: So anyway, all right.
KT: All right. Next is from Kim. Hi
KT: there, Suze.
Suze: Are we at questions yet?
KT: Um,
KT: Yes, this is a question...
Suze: Finally, finally, 9 minutes into it, we're at the Ask
Suze: KT and Suze anything podcast. All
KT: right, go on. So this is from Kim. Hi there, Suze.
KT: My parents and I and my older brother are trying
KT: to piece together what we should obtain in addition to
KT: my parents' will that they made a long while ago.
KT: I know that they want a durable power of attorney
KT: over financial and health, but they also want to get
KT: an irrevocable trust and a revocable trust as well. Everyone's
KT: confused right now here, Suze. One of the main reasons
KT: why they want a revocable trust,
KT: is that they can be in control of the money
KT: or assets they put into it in conjunction with that,
KT: they would also like to have an irrevocable living trust
KT: so that in the rare case that they have to
KT: go to a nursing home.
KT: And they put the house, cars, and maybe some money
KT: in it that the state won't go after that. They're
KT: very confused here. I said, I want to know if
KT: this is something that you think is a wise choice,
KT: and if so, are the assets protected from day one
KT: in an irrevocable living trust and revocable
KT: trust.
Suze: So obviously KT you have a family theme.
Suze: And a personal and a personal truth-telling theme going on
Suze: here in this podcast. Kim, I want you to listen
Suze: to me.
Suze: People first, then money, then things.
Suze: Been my motto now for 20 some odd years or
Suze: longer actually, and the truth of the matter is your
Suze: parents and even possibly you seem to be putting money,
Suze: believe it or not, before themselves. It's true if they
Suze: put things in an irrevocable trust and everybody an irrevocable
Suze: trust means you can touch it. It no longer is
Suze: part of your estate.
Suze: It's now out of your hands. Somebody else is in
Suze: control of it. You are not. So that's a big deal,
Suze: cause a lot of times you think things are, oh,
Suze: I'll just put it in an irrevocable trust. I can
Suze: then go into a nursing home. The estate will pay
Suze: for it. Everything will be great, da da da da.
Suze: Listen to me and listen to me closely. You can
Suze: put it in an irrevocable trust, and somebody else will
Suze: have control over it.
Suze: But what happens if something happens to the person who
Suze: has control over it. What happens if all of a
Suze: sudden they die and the next it can become very,
Suze: very complicated, Number 1. Number 2,
Suze: you do not want to put money before your own benefit.
Suze: To go in a nursing home where a state pays
Suze: for it on Medicaid, if you think the care in
Suze: a nursing home on Medicaid is going to be as
Suze: good as when you are a private pay patient, I
Suze: am here to tell you you are going to make
Suze: one of the biggest mistakes out there. It does not
Suze: work that way. Are you at all listening
Suze: to the news about how certain bills that are being
Suze: passed could cut down on Medicaid, could cut down on Medicare,
Suze: can make it very, very hard. There are many, many
Suze: nursing homes for many reasons now that are starting to
Suze: actually close down because they don't have the money anymore
Suze: to continue to run.
Suze: So to put this money, your parents' money, in front
Suze: of their care just so you could be OK and
Suze: have the money, the house can be protected is not
Suze: something that I advise. Their money is there to take
Suze: care of them, to make sure that when they get older.
Suze: They have the care that they deserve in a respectful
Suze: way if they go through the money, OK.
Suze: Then you just have to figure that out, but your parents'
Suze: well-being should come first, so I would never ever do
Suze: something like that. Obviously a revocable trust absolutely makes sense
Suze: because they can change it any time they want, and
Suze: they're in control of it. But if something happens to
Suze: them in case of an incapacity, whatever it may be,
Suze: because they end up in a nursing home, let's say
Suze: with Alzheimer's.
Suze: You can sign for them. People can take care of
Suze: them while their money is still in trust, and if
Suze: anything did happen to them, they die. It can pass
Suze: without probate. So therefore, I have a problem with the
Suze: revocable trust. That's why the must have documents exist.
Suze: The four must have documents which happen to be a will,
Suze: a revocable trust, an advanced directive, durable power of attorney
Suze: for healthcare, and a financial power of attorney. Go to musthavedocs.com.
Suze: $99 there are
Suze: $2500 state of the art documents if you went to
Suze: a lawyer, that's what they would cost you. So this
Suze: is something that you should look into and you can
Suze: change them any time you want and on and on.
Suze: It's must have docs.com that you should do. But the
Suze: rest of it isn't wise. I can go on and
Suze: on and on, but that's my opinion. KT, go on.
KT: OK, next question, Suze, from Yvonne.
KT: Hi
Suze: It's kind of mysterious with this one.
KT: Well, this one is interesting.
Suze: And I aren't they all?
KT: yeah, but this one ready, this reminds me of someone
KT: we know. I want to create a trust and put
KT: our parents' house into it. My wife and I have
KT: our own trust thanks to you. I have 3 siblings.
KT: My mother wants the house to be split among the
KT: 4 kids after she transitions into whatever is next.
KT: Now ready, Suze, listen carefully. The risk is if she
KT: moves on first. My father has a girlfriend, and we're
KT: not quite sure what he would do. This is the
KT: worst part. Ready, they're from the state of California. My
KT: mother and father are still legally married. My mother has
KT: been living in the house all her life with one
KT: of my brothers. My father lives in a nearby city.
KT: The house is in the state of California...
Suze: Community property state.
KT: So Yvonne goes on, Suze, to ask all these what ifs.
KT: What if my father does this and what if my
KT: father dies?
Suze: Well here's the real question at hand, Yvonne, how is
Suze: title to this house held?
Suze: Because if the title to this house is held as
Suze: joint tenants with right of survivorship and mamma dies, it
Suze: does not matter if she has a will. It does
Suze: not matter if she has a trust, cause listen to
Suze: me closely, everybody, how you hold title to an asset
Suze: overrides the wishes of any will or trust.
Suze: So if the house is held in joint tenancy with
Suze: right of survivorship, it will immediately go to your father.
Suze: Now it's in his name, and if his will says hey,
Suze: it's to go to my girlfriend or whatever it is,
Suze: guess what you have just been disinherited. Now if Mommy
Suze: is living in that house with your brother.
Suze: Your father is not living in that house. Obviously has
Suze: another girlfriend, yet they are still married. The proper way
Suze: for Mommy to do it after she's divorced is to
Suze: get the title to that house in just her name,
Suze: number one.
Suze: Number 2, then transfer it to the title of a
Suze: trust held for her benefit while she's alive, and upon
Suze: her death it goes to all the four kids divided
Suze: however she wants to do so, but she needs to
Suze: deal with it now because otherwise your greatest nightmare.
Suze: If she dies first is absolutely going to happen. So
Suze: the only way to prevent that is to stand in
Suze: your truth right now and deal with this. Now, I'm
Suze: not exactly sure why she hasn't divorced him, but maybe
Suze: it's an amicable relationship, and maybe he's willing to say,
Suze: Oh yeah, I'll take the house out of my name
Suze: and just put it in your name right now, and
Suze: that's it. But you have to make sure
Suze: that she has a trust and it goes to you
Suze: guys because otherwise what's going to happen if she doesn't
Suze: have a will, she doesn't have a trust and it's
Suze: just in her name and she dies intestate in the
Suze: state of California, the next beneficiary will be her husband.
Suze: So bottom line, you have got to get, she's got
Suze: to get divorced and somehow figure that out.
KT: So step one, get a divorce. Put the title only
KT: in her name and put the house in a trust
KT: in her
KT: name.
Suze: That's what I would be doing. But they might have
Suze: reasons why they haven't gotten a divorce. Like, is she
Suze: getting his Social Security? Is he, I don't know why.
KT: She should just ask him to put the house title
KT: in her name.
Suze: Yo start with,
KT: Yes.
Suze: A nd then make sure that she has.
Suze: It so that her will, her trust leaves it to
Suze: the kids or if she's really freaked about it, put
Suze: all four kids on the title and have them all
Suze: be joint tenants with the right of survivorship, but that
Suze: would be a serious mistake if she did that because
Suze: they wouldn't get a step up in basis and on
Suze: and on. All right, OK, see how complicated things can
Suze: absolutely be.
KT: Yeah, all right, so here's one more family matter ready.
KT: My siblings and I inherited my aunt's IRA in 2020.
KT: Am I able to roll it over to my IRA
KT: I have with RBC? That's the Royal Bank of Canada, everyone, good,
KT: good bank. So I don't have to withdraw within 10
KT: years and not be able to reinvest the large sum,
KT: which is about $100,000. That would give me 5 more
KT: years of investment before I have to start withdrawing.
KT: So what should Kathleen do?
Suze: Here's the thing, Kathleen.
Suze: The question you're asking is your siblings and you inherited
Suze: your aunt's IRA in 2020. The date 2020 is important
Suze: because the Secure Act now is in effect. So then
Suze: your question is, am I able to roll it over
Suze: to my IRA I have with RBC? And the answer
Suze: to that is no, you are not.
Suze: Because you are inheriting this IRA, so you have got
Suze: to open up what's called an inherited IRA. You cannot
Suze: mix this money with your IRA that you already have,
Suze: and you're saying, can you do that?
Suze: So you don't have to withdraw the money within 10
Suze: years and not be able to reinvest the large sum.
Suze: You are going to have to withdraw the money within
Suze: 10 years, and my advice to you would be do
Suze: not wait till the 10th year to withdraw it because
Suze: it will be taxed to you as ordinary income, and
Suze: that will be a big deal. You should be taking
Suze: out a tenth every single year,
Suze: and pay taxes on it at that point, so you
Suze: can't outsmart this one, my friend. All right.
KT: Suze, just one more question since we're talking about RMDs,
KT: this one's really a good one from Janet. She said,
KT: I've got a problem with not starting to take my
KT: RMDs at age 73. I was misinformed on when to start.
KT: Having been told as long as I am working full time,
KT: I don't have to start taking RMDs. I recently turned 76,
KT: and I'm considering retiring very soon. Suze, can you advise
KT: me on what I need to understand and do?
Suze: Funny because I...
KT: A lot of people don't know anything about this.
Suze: A lot of people don't know anything about a lot
Suze: when it comes to RMDs, but I actually wrote Janet
Suze: back and told her exactly what to do, which is
Suze: what I don't know is, is she talking about RMDs
Suze: from an IRA,
Suze: or is she talking about RMDs from an employer sponsored
Suze: plan such as a 401K, 403B or TSB. Because KT,
Suze: the truth is, as long as she is working full time,
Suze: which obviously she is right, because that's what it says,
Suze: that you don't have to take RMDs from a 401k
Suze: or a 403B or a TSP.
Suze: However, that is not true for IRAs. So if you're
Suze: still working, everybody and you are working full time, which
Suze: again Janet is.
Suze: If you're working and the RMDs are from your employer's plan,
Suze: your 401K, 403 or TSP, you do not have to
Suze: start taking them at 73.
Suze: So it is important that you understand that's the rule
Suze: for retirement accounts from employers. However, if you have any
Suze: IRAs or you only have IRAs or whatever it may be,
Suze: then that doesn't apply. So if you have an SEP IRA,
Suze: a simple IRA, and any of that.
Suze: You have to take RMDs from the IRAs even if
Suze: you are working full time. Let's just say she had
Suze: some
Suze: IRAs and she missed her RMDs. Then she has to
Suze: take those as soon as possible. She needs to fill
Suze: out forms with the IRS, which she really should do
Suze: go see a CPA and have them straighten this out,
Suze: and the IRS may waive the penalties entirely if she
Suze: can show reasonable cause and everything. But yes, you look
Suze: at me, you have a question.
KT: Yeah, I do have a question.
Suze: Uh oh.
KT: Should I still be contributing
KT: to my SEP IRA?
Suze: You could be if you want to be.
KT: You think it's worth it?
Suze: Listen, everybody, just because you have to take out RMDs
Suze: once you turn 73 and soon to be 75, they'll
Suze: change that, doesn't mean that if you have earned income
Suze: like both of us do, KT, that we can contribute
Suze: to your SEP IRA. You could put $70,000 in there
Suze: if you wanted to.
Suze: And all and take it as a tax write off
Suze: and then you could convert it to a Roth IRA
Suze: if you wanted to. That might be a strategy that
Suze: we look at however, and I've talked about this, everybody
Suze: on the podcast before, sometimes maybe you're just as well
Suze: off if rather than taking a tax write off and
Suze: putting it into something that's going to compound for you
Suze: over the years and then you go to take it
Suze: out and you pay even more in taxes.
Suze: You might be better off just paying the taxes now
Suze: and then investing that money in an individual brokerage account
Suze: like you have KT.
Suze: And you don't pay taxes on that while it's in
Suze: that stock, let's say that you bought and when you
Suze: go to sell it, if it is held over a year,
Suze: you pay capital gains tax on it, but it's still
Suze: compounding as if it could be making more money in
Suze: the long run it could be making more money after taxes.
KT: I'm not gonna put any more in.
Suze: I, well, you know, we should look at everything and just...
KT: I need to find an advisor.
Suze: You think that's cute, don't you? You think that's cute, right?
Suze: It's like, but I don't...
KT: Suze, what should I do?
Suze: The only thing we could contemplate really is putting in
Suze: a lot of money in our SEP IRA, converting it,
Suze: paying taxes now, and letting it compound forever tax free.
Suze: However, I just thought I don't wanna do
Suze: that, but we can, we can play around with that.
Suze: But notice I said the word play around. So anyway,
Suze: all right, now what are we going to do today?
KT: Well, we could make birthday plans.
Suze: No, I've already planned it out. So many people having
Suze: birthdays this month,
KT: It's a good month.
Suze: Yeah. So, all right.
KT: Wait, it's going to be a good month. June, June
KT: are a lot of birthdays,
Suze: So many.
KT: Remember when we were in New York working with Anderson
KT: birthday Anderson Anderson Cooper's birthday is
KT: on the 3rd.
Suze: Right, and Kathy Griffin and I'll never forget this one.
Suze: CNN is live television, absolutely live, and Kathy, don't even
Suze: ask me how she talked me into this. I like,
Suze: let's go bust into his set live live and I said,
Suze: how we gonna get in? And they go, You're Suze Orman.
Suze: I'm Kathy Griffin. They're not gonna stop us, right? And
Suze: so we got there and we walked right through and
Suze: they said, Oh hi Suze, hi Kathy... Anderson, yeah, and
Suze: go and Cathy goes, we're going up to see Anderson, OK.
Suze: Bam, we go up, we walk in, we have balloons,
Suze: we have flowers and a cake, and boy, you know,
KT: and
KT: they surprised and shocked him and Anderson's a rather shy guy,
KT: shy guy.
Suze: He's a shy guy. He's very shy and very private
Suze: all the years that we would sit in the, um,
Suze: makeup room before we went on. I did the Anderson
Suze: show a lot back in 2007 and 2008 and 2009.
Suze: And we had the same makeup room. It was one
Suze: big makeup room. Never said a word, not, not a
Suze: word ever. And it was like, OK, this is very
Suze: serious time, but he's so great. I love him alot.
KT: Yeah, he was always quiet before.
KT: He went on.
Suze: Unlike us, huh, KT?
KT: And we would be chatting and say nice tie, Anderson. No response.
Suze: Anyway, all right, so until Sunday when I have no
Suze: idea what I'm going to do for Suze School, there's
Suze: really only one thing that we want you to remember
Suze: when it comes to your money. What is it, Miss Travis?
KT: People first...
Suze: then money...
KT: then things.
KT: Now you stay safe...
KT: And happy.
Suze: All right, bye bye, everybody.