Suze: May 22, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
KT: and everyone smart enough to listen.
Suze: And KT, this is the day they all wait for.
Suze: They wait for you for me just like me. I'm
Suze: always waiting for her. She is. Why is that?
KT: Because you don't move and I move, so I'm on
KT: the move. I'm always on the move and you don't move.
KT: You're always in the same spot. I leave her I
KT: leave her sometimes on a chair and she's on her
KT: phone or computer.
KT: And I might be gone like for 6 hours when
KT: I come back in, there she is in the same spot.
KT: The only thing that changed is the amount of water
KT: that's still in her bottle,
Suze: I drink a lot. How much, how much
Suze: water do I drink?
KT: Suze consumes at least 1 gallon and a half a day,
KT: so the bottles are 4 bottles make a gallon, and
KT: you go through like 6 of those big, I don't
KT: know how many ounces are in it,
Suze: I, yeah, I drink. Do you all drink a lot
Suze: of water?
Suze: You should, but anyway, today is, Ask KT and Suze anything. But
Suze: before we begin, I just want to say something. A
Suze: lot of you have been writing in, sending in photos
Suze: that you've been seeing on Facebook and Instagram and so
Suze: forth with me endorsing annuities, and you should do this
Suze: and you should do that. I've told you before.
Suze: That is not legit scams. They're scams. They're using my pictures.
Suze: Some of them aren't even my picture. They're artificial intelligence generated.
Suze: So just be aware of it. But thank you so much.
Suze: But I have to tell you, if I were to
Suze: literally go after all the people.
Suze: People that are trying to scam you, it would cost
Suze: me so much money and they would just go away
Suze: and come right back again.
KT: No, I was gonna say we'd make a whole lot
KT: of lawyers rich because that's what happens. You pay the lawyer,
KT: they send a letter, they stop doing it, take down
KT: the ad next week back up.
Suze: The best way to protect all of you is to
Suze: know if you see something with my picture on it,
Suze: it isn't on my website. It isn't on my Instagram.
Suze: You don't see it where I am, where you would
Suze: expect me on the Women and Money community app, so
Suze: to speak, from me. It is not legit.
Suze: All right, KT.
KT: Are we ready? I have some great questions today. Are you ready?
Suze: You say that every time.
KT: No, but some days are better, and this mix is
KT: really good. I like it a lot. All right, OK,
KT: so the first,
Suze: What makes a better versus not? Come on, I want
Suze: to know why you think that.
KT: Sometimes when they're just about Roth.
KT: They're not my favorite days. This day is a really
KT: nice mix, and some of them, if I get a
KT: question and I have no clue what the answer is,
KT: I really like that because I think I, I...
Suze: Then you like every single
Suze: question
KT: That's not true, right?
KT: For instance, this one's interesting.
Suze: All right.
Suze: All right. It says on last Sunday's podcast, you said
Suze: that MicroStrategy's stock might be a good alternative way to
Suze: invest in Bitcoin. Why is that?
KT: So that to me is a really good question. Like
KT: what does it mean? Why is it?
Suze: Do you remember quite a few years ago when I
Suze: bought a serious number of shares in a stock called
Suze: Micro Strategies and I bought it like at 100 and
Suze: I sold it at 1000.
Suze: And it was all about how I decided that I
Suze: could play Bitcoin or invest in Bitcoin because I didn't
Suze: understand the wallet and then this and that.
KT: You didn't understand for a while.
Suze: Remember that I think it was the Washington Post called
Suze: us and wanting to know.
Suze: Did I have inside information? How did I know it
Suze: was going to go up so much? What was going on?
Suze: And I was just like, no, I just thought it
Suze: was gonna work that way and because I made a
Suze: serious sum of money and they were like, oh, so
Suze: that's the same thing now. Micro Strategies and by the
Suze: way its new name is Strategy.
Suze: Is a company that did a lot with the cloud
Suze: and things like that and their CEO decided to take
Suze: most of their cash reserves and to buy Bitcoin with
Suze: it like just the other day I think it was
Suze: on Monday, KT, Michael bought another like 7400 Bitcoin, you know,
Suze: and that was like another $764 million of Bitcoin. So
Suze: to answer all of your questions about that.
Suze: Strategy.
Suze: Is a stock symbol MSTR that does invest big time
Suze: in bitcoins and therefore when bitcoin goes up supposedly... now
Suze: listen to the word supposedly.
Suze: The price of strategy, the stock should also go up,
Suze: but I'm telling you it doesn't always work that way.
Suze: Like yesterday, for instance, Bitcoin was up at 1.35%, but
Suze: Strategy at the exact same time, the stock was down 2%.
Suze: So it doesn't always follow Bitcoin directly. I think today,
Suze: people really are far better off if they are going
Suze: to invest in Bitcoin that they just buy bitcoin directly.
Suze: They can do it in Coinbase, PayPal, all different kinds
Suze: of ways, or they could buy the Ibit IBIT, which
Suze: is the ETF.
Suze: Or Bitcoin, so that's probably what I would be doing.
Suze: But remember back then when we did it KT and MicroStrategy,
Suze: there really wasn't any ETFs of Bitcoin, and it was
Suze: more complicated. But today Strategy really is an alternative.
Suze: If people are looking for even more ways to invest
Suze: that way, but there now are maybe even better ways,
Suze: like I said, buying it directly or through IBIT, the ETF,
Suze: you might be better off just doing it that way.
KT: Is it
KT: safer? Not really.
Suze: Well, I have to tell you, I always felt safer.
KT: You always felt safer. Thats' why you did it.
Suze: I
Suze: felt safer because it was a stock. I could sell it.
Suze: It was in the days when, you
Suze: know...
KT: Remember in the beginning it was complicated because everyone bought
KT: into these bitcoins but didn't know how to get the
KT: money out, things like that
KT: that's what you didn't like.
Suze: KT, do you remember?
Suze: I think it was like 2017. It was somewhere we
Suze: were in Texas and this woman met with us and
Suze: had this whole plan of what she wanted me to
Suze: do with Bitcoin and do you remember all this?
KT: Yeah, I do remember and you were very, very cautious
KT: because it was really complicated.
Suze: Yes, but remember we had decided that we were going
Suze: to risk $100,000 for
KT: about 20...
Suze: 20 Bitcoin
KT: for about $5000.
Suze: And we were all set to do it.
KT: Still nervous because we didn't know how it
Suze: worked, but we couldn't figure out how to do it.
Suze: They kept talking to us about this wallet and you
Suze: needed this, and I said, Well, where do you keep
Suze: the wallet? And in the end we decided, I'm just
Suze: not doing it. Do you know how much that 100,000
Suze: would be worth today, KT?
KT: Like maybe a million?
Suze: Maybe 2,100,000, really? Yeah. Do you regret it?
KT: Yeah, yeah, I do.
Suze: I actually don't.
KT: $2 million with a $100,000 investment.
Suze: Yes, but I don't regret it because during those years
Suze: it went up, down, it was, it may... now the
Suze: goal of money is to be secure. I...
KT: We were never secure in that.
Suze: So I don't care if it was $20 billion.
Suze: I'm still glad we didn't do it.
KT: Ok, this next question is from Roz, and this next
KT: question is something that is very simple, but I think that...
Suze: Roz is very, very active on the Woman and Money Community app.
KT: Yeah, so wait, so listen to what Ro Roz is
KT: relatively young. I'm looking at her photo, and she's relatively young.
KT: She said, Suze, sometimes I struggle with people first, then money.
KT: It's not always a straightforward decision or an easy thing
KT: to balance. I'm looking at taking some time off from
KT: work to join my friend for her birthday. I also
KT: have financial goals, and working helps me meet those goals
KT: little by little.
KT: So I'm wondering, is anyone else out there struggling with this? Suze,
KT: do you have any advice on how to balance financial
KT: planning with life living?
Suze: Roz, listen to me.
Suze: People first, then money, then things, and every one of
Suze: us is different. Every one of us has a different
Suze: comfort level, and we know if we simply learn to
Suze: trust our gut when we are doing something that we
Suze: should not be doing and when we are doing something
Suze: that we should be doing.
Suze: The mere fact that you are asking this question that
Suze: you want to stop working and you want to go
Suze: spend a little time with your friend for her birthday,
Suze: you already know the answer to that, or you would
Suze: not be asking it. You would not be asking it.
Suze: You would be just going and doing it. So when
Suze: it feels right.
Suze: And you do it when it doesn't feel right, you don't,
Suze: and it's really just that simple if you were to
Suze: put yourself first, meaning you are in touch with how
Suze: you feel, you are in touch with how you think.
Suze: You are in touch with what makes you feel secure.
Suze: And you stick by that. You'll always do what's right
Suze: when it comes to people first, then money, then things.
Suze: Next question, KT.
KT: So Suze, this question is from someone in their late 50s,
KT: whereas Roz is relatively young, but it's kind of the
KT: same idea, the same question, says Suze, I'm, I'm in
KT: my late 50s following your advice almost obsessively.
KT: And after my annual physical, it was pointing to high
KT: cardiovascular risk. I have been reflecting on how to differentiate
KT: between a savings and a scarcity mindset. Yes, how to
KT: follow your advice, but still have an abundance of energy
KT: that attracts abundance instead of scarcity,
KT: and suck the joy out of one's life, right? I
KT: think that that getting this cardiovascular risk news put her
KT: in a tizzy. So I would appreciate so much your
KT: secret on this balance which you and KT have obviously mastered.
Suze: Well, KT, have you mastered it?
KT: No, never, never. You never master something that's an unexpected.
KT: You have to face it.
KT: And then you make adjustments and you move on, but I,
KT: you don't master it.
Suze: Huh... That's an interesting answer, KT. Yeah, we're going to
Suze: have to have a talk about that. So the question here...
KT: No, but you see what I mean, she, she freaked
KT: out because she had a physicall.
Suze: I get that, right? So it be the same question
Suze: is that how does she keep an abundance energy,
Suze: when she feels like possibly her life is in danger
Suze: and that energy is what attracts more abundance versus coming
Suze: from a fearful place which attracts scarcity, so my answer
Suze: to that would be you have to stay in a
Suze: realistic place. You have to stay in how you really feel.
Suze: And if you are feeling that you are in a
Suze: scarcity place, a fearful place, you have to ask yourself
Suze: the question, what is making you afraid? Now if it's
Suze: your diagnosis that you have cardiovascular risks, OK, what do
Suze: you do?
Suze: You take that fear and you turn it into action
Suze: and you eat right, you exercise, you make sure that
Suze: you stay healthy and you take it right on and
Suze: that energy tackling it brings this abundance to your life
Suze: and who you are and what you can create, and
Suze: you can change that risk and and do something about it.
Suze: So action is what is needed in order to change
Suze: from scarcity to abundance and your thoughts and your feelings,
Suze: so don't get yourself down every time I am down.
Suze: I need to do something to get myself up because
Suze: there are plenty of times that I get down, right, KT?
KT: Oh yeah, you
KT: know, especially if it's a health struggle, but one of
KT: the things Suze and I have absolutely mastered, and I
KT: can tell you with great conviction, we have mastered something
KT: so simple. It's called the what ifs of life, and
KT: we know that at our age we've mastered it, we've
KT: seen so much of it.
KT: That we're not afraid. I don't think you and I
KT: have fear for the what ifs. We just know that
KT: they can happen and we can take
KT: them on.
Suze: But that's because we also, KT, which is a very
Suze: difficult thing to do, is we both have faith that
Suze: everything happens for the best.
Suze: So when you can have faith that everything happens for
Suze: the best and everything you can tackle then with an
Suze: abundant energy versus a scarcity one. Now is that easy? No,
KT: No way.
Suze: is it but is it possible and is.
Suze: Probable and is it necessary? Oh, you bet it is.
Suze: All right, next KT.
KT: OK, so this next question is a good question. It says, hey,
KT: KT and Suze, I recently got all of my must
KT: have documents signed and notarized, but I'm wondering if I
KT: did something wrong.
KT: My name on all the documents is my full name
KT: spelled out. I signed my name, but I used an
KT: initial for my middle name on all of my documents.
KT: Will these documents be valid or do I need to
KT: resign my full name on the documents and go through
KT: getting
KT: everything notarized all over again?
Suze: Truthfully, you're fine. It's really the signature is there in
Suze: front of a notary just to really verify that it
Suze: is you who signed it and that's what is important.
Suze: So truthfully, I think you're absolutely fine no matter what.
Suze: If it's freaking you out, you can always do an
Suze: affidavit or something that says this is my full name,
Suze: sign it again, but I think you're absolutely fine. Next question, my KT.
KT: OK, this is from Portia. Love this question. You have
KT: to listen to why I love it so much at
KT: the end. OK, listen up, everyone. Hi, Suze and KT.
KT: I have transferred $85,000 from my previous employer's 401k into
KT: my variable annuity at Fidelity in September 2022. Here's my question:
KT: Is there a way to calculate whether it makes more
KT: sense to roll over the remaining
KT: funds in my Fidelity IRA now and pay the surrender
KT: charge or wait it out. I'm currently paying about $380
KT: per quarter in fees. The surrender schedule right now is 7%
KT: in 3 and a half months, and then it drops
KT: to 6% in the ninth year it goes to 0.
Suze: What she wants to know is that should she surrender
Suze: this variable annuity.
Suze: Or stay in it until 9 years is up, and
Suze: how do you figure that out? OK, go on.
Suze: Anything else you want to say? Yeah,
KT: OK, so wait. So, so here's what she said. One
KT: last fun note, my name is pronounced like the car Porsche.
KT: My husband overheard the Unstoppable song while I was listening
KT: to your podcast. Since he knows I go full speed
KT: at Disney and that my name is Portia, he made
KT: a shirt for our family Disney trip that said, I'm Unstoppable.
KT: I'm a Porsche with no brakes. So she said, thanks
KT: for your wisdom and confidence. Suze, there's a photo of
KT: her and we've got to try to post this.
Suze: In the women and money community app.
KT: I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get her to give us
KT: permission to do.
Suze: I don't need her permission. I'm posting it. All right,
Suze: remember you send in something to me and I like it.
Suze: I'm just gonna post it just that simple. So what's funny, KT,
Suze: is that I actually wrote Portia because I saw the
Suze: picture and I just cute, so cute. That's why I
Suze: know I'm gonna post it. Here's the bottom line, Portia,
Suze: very easy.
Suze: If you keep this policy all the way until the
Suze: 9th year when there are no longer any surrender fees
Suze: whatsoever for you, you will have paid approximately $9120 in fees.
Suze: Depending on what year you happen to really be in,
Suze: in terms of this policy because I don't have the
Suze: exact numbers here.
Suze: But your surrender fee will really could be anywhere from
Suze: $6300 to $6900 whatever it may be, you'll have to
Suze: figure it out exactly. Whatever it is, absolutely surrender it.
Suze: It makes no sense for you to be in it
Suze: and really invest that money within the IRA and something
Suze: that makes sense. You might even want to look at
Suze: converting it little by little to a Roth IRA
Suze: and really save money in the long run. So that
Suze: is the answer there. All right, next KT.
KT: OK, next question. I love this is from Dottie.
KT: When's the last time you met anyone named Dottie? I
KT: love that. Reminds me of my teachers and everything.
Suze: You had teachers by the name of Dottie?
KT: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a name from the
KT: 50s and
KT: 60s.
Suze: Was there like a comic book?
KT: Not that I remember with Dottie?
Suze: Dottie kind of like that name though. All right, anyway,
Suze: Hi Dottie.
KT: Hi Dottie. Hi Suze and KT. I love listening to
KT: you both. Thank you for your wisdom and heart you
KT: share every week.
Suze: KT, who has a bigger heart?
KT: Oh, KT, I do. All right, you know I do. OK,
KT: so ready. Dottie
KT: said, I am a newly single 65 year old healthy
KT: woman still working part time.
KT: I bring home $3000 a month from work and receive
KT: $1600 in Social Security. I hope to keep working for
KT: another 3 to 4 years with about the same income
KT: during that time.
KT: Financially I have 350,000 in CDs, 250,000 in my IRA,
KT: no debt. I own my own car. I rent, but
KT: my living expenses are very low, and I still make
KT: sure I have fun.
KT: So here's the question. I'm wondering how far behind am
KT: I in retirement savings at this stage, and will I
KT: realistically be able to retire in a few years, like
KT: in 3 or 4 years? So Dottie wants to know
KT: how am I doing, Suze?
Suze: Oh, Dottie, I have to tell you it's not how
Suze: far behind you are in retirement savings at this stage.
Suze: It's how far you're behind in your thoughts about who
Suze: you are. It's how far behind you happen to be
Suze: in comparing yourself to others, because others may be making
Suze: so much more money than you, have so much more
Suze: money than you, and have 10 times more bills than you.
Suze: I've always said it's not how much money you have.
Suze: It's going to determine if you can retire or not.
Suze: It's what are your bills? What does that money have
Suze: to go to pay for? You, my dear, are so
Suze: far ahead.
Suze: Are you listening to me, Dottie? You are not behind.
Suze: You are ahead of most everybody out there. This isn't
Suze: about your age. This isn't about the amount of money
Suze: you have. It's what you did with the money during
Suze: your working years, and you have no debt. You own
Suze: your car outright. You have 250,000 in your IRA. You
Suze: have 350,000 in CDs, and you're going to get Social Security.
Suze: Are you kidding me? You are.
Suze: going to be just fine as long as your expenses
Suze: are always less than the money that you have coming in. KT, next.
KT: Yeah, good, good on you, Dottie.
Suze: You know
Suze: what? It makes me sad. I know what makes me
Suze: sad because so many times people are out there and
Suze: they look at people driving fancy cars or living in
Suze: big homes or whatever and they go, Oh, I'm just
Suze: so far behind. This is all I have.
Suze: And I know I've told this story before, but I'm
Suze: going to just briefly tell it. For years I did
Suze: the retirement planning, as you know, for Pacific Gas and Electric,
Suze: which is the utility company for Northern California, and hundreds
Suze: of people would come see me. Those people that worked
Suze: on the gas lines and that had $2000 a month
Suze: pensions that had maybe $200,000 in their 401ks and everything.
Suze: They were so able to retire it's not even funny.
Suze: They spent maybe $600 a year on clothes. They owned
Suze: everything outright, and their dream was a Fifth wheel. That
Suze: was it. And then those people that were in the
Suze: executive section of BG&E $13,000 a month pensions, hundreds of
Suze: thousands if not millions, in their 401k plan.
Suze: And everything they could not afford to retire cause it
Suze: wouldn't support their 3 homes, their 3 cars, their boat,
Suze: their this and that. So all the people that look
Suze: at those people who make a lot of money and
Suze: everything and they judge themselves against them, trust me, most
Suze: of you are so much better off financially speaking, bottom
Suze: line wise than the people that you see out there.
Suze: It's not even funny, so don't ever think you're behind.
Suze: Don't ever insult yourself. You know there's a saying when
Suze: you insult yourself, you insult God. You might all want to,
Suze: you might want to all think about that, all right,
Suze: go on.
KT: I like that saying. So next question is from Robert. Hi, Suze,
KT: I hope you're doing well. I've been with my company
KT: for 12 years, and I don't plan to leave any
KT: time soon.
KT: But I have a question about what to do with
KT: my Roth 401k, if I leave. Would it be best
KT: to leave the money with my current company, roll the
KT: money into a Roth IRA using Fidelity or Vanguard, someone
KT: like that, or roll the money into a Roth 401k
KT: at the new company? So just curious if you tend
KT: to prefer one of these options over the others.
KT: Robert is young still. He's 38, so not close to retirement.
Suze: Robert, here's a few things that I want you to
Suze: think about. The answer to that question isn't what I
Suze: tend to prefer or KT might prefer. It's what you
Suze: feel comfortable with. Years from now.
Suze: Cause you've only been there let's say 12 years and
Suze: you're still so young, so you could obviously still be
Suze: there another 20-30 years or whatever it may be truthfully,
Suze: you could have amassed a great deal of money within
Suze: that 401k, and you might feel secure with the investments
Suze: within that Roth 401k.
Suze: You might like that their fee structure is down and
Suze: what they're offering you to invest in is things that
Suze: you're familiar with. It's very difficult if all of a
Suze: sudden you have a million dollars or $2 million in
Suze: a retirement account, which you could.
Suze: And now you have to liquidate it and transfer it
Suze: over to a Roth IRA.
Suze: Now what are you going to invest in? What are
Suze: you going to do with it? So you're going to
Suze: have to decide what is best for you at the
Suze: time when you actually do it. So you ask, should
Suze: you roll the money into a Roth 401k at a
Suze: new company? No, you would either leave the money with
Suze: your current company or you would roll the money into
Suze: a Roth IRA, either one, whatever you are comfortable with.
Suze: All right, Ms. Travis, it seems like you don't have
Suze: any more paper in front of you.
KT: No, we went through all my questions. Did you like them?
KT: Did everyone listening, did you like this mix?
Suze: Oh, like they're going to talk to you right now.
KT: Do you like it?
Suze: Do you not care if I liked it?
KT: You did like it.
Suze: How do you know?
KT: Because I could tell by the expression on your face.
KT: You're smiling
Suze: I'm smiling. I'll tell you what I liked about it.
Suze: I liked that you brought in the emotional and the
Suze: psychological part of money.
Suze: What really aggravates me is when people treat money just
Suze: like money. They don't recognize the emotions. They don't recognize
Suze: the true pressure that you're under psychologically speaking, especially if
Suze: you're in a relationship and you have disagreements about money
Suze: and all of that. So I love that that's the
Suze: way that you went. Now listen to me. Sunday is
Suze: going to be an interesting Suze School.
Suze: And a little bit of a slap down, right, because
Suze: I've done Suze Schools on annuities over the years and
Suze: I've told you why I like them and why I
Suze: don't like them, but the mere fact that there are
Suze: so many comments on the Women and Money community app
Suze: about annuities and does Suze like them? Does she not?
Suze: Really aggravates me.
Suze: So therefore I'm going to be doing a Suze School
Suze: on it for all of you to understand that you
Suze: yourselves have to learn when an annuity makes sense and
Suze: when an annuity does not make sense.
Suze: And not do things because I'm doing it or I'm
Suze: not doing it. That's just ridiculous. Oh, until Sunday. There's
Suze: really only one thing that we want them to remember,
Suze: isn't it true, KT, when it comes to their money?
Suze: What is it, girlfriend?
KT: People first, then money, then things.
Suze: And Roz, hopefully our answer helped you, but until Sunday,
Suze: all of you stay safe. Bye bye.