Suze: July 2nd, (can you believe it?) 2025. Welcome everybody to
Suze: the Women and Money podcast, as well as everybody smart
Suze: enough to listen. Suze O here, and I'm coming to
Suze: you early. I know, I know. It's supposed to be
Suze: tomorrow when we drop the podcast, but we're dropping it
Suze: one day early because number one, the holiday is coming up.
Suze: We have guests coming.
Suze: And I have something that I want every single one
Suze: of you to do if it makes sense for you
Suze: to do it. Now, when I started this podcast this year,
Suze: I wanted the theme to be "Make Your Money, Make
Suze: More Money." Do you remember that? Make your money, make
Suze: more money. And what absolutely confuses me...
Suze: Confuses me and kind of keeps me up at night
Suze: sometimes is how so many of you, when I talk
Suze: to you, you're scared to death. You don't know what
Suze: to do with your money. You want to make sure
Suze: that it's making the most. And when I ask you
Suze: where is your money right now, you tell me it's
Suze: in a savings account at a bank.
Suze: And I go, and why is it there? And you
Suze: tell me cause you are afraid to put it anywhere else.
Suze: Like Suze, I used to put it into Treasuries, but
Suze: now I'm afraid that the Treasury's going to go under.
Suze: So I took it all out of Treasuries and I
Suze: put it in my bank account. Or,
Suze: you tell me, like my friend just told me the
Suze: other day who lost his mother, approximately 1 year ago.
Suze: We were talking to him about how is he doing,
Suze: what is he doing with his money, as I talked
Suze: to everybody about, and he said, Well, you know, Suze,
Suze: she left me $100,000.
Suze: And really, you know, I didn't know what to do
Suze: with it, so what did he do with it? He
Suze: left it at a bank and I said, What do
Suze: you mean you left it at a bank? He said,
Suze: I've had it in a savings account at a bank
Suze: down the street from me for the past year.
Suze: And I said, and can you tell me the interest
Suze: rate that you're getting on it?
Suze: And he said, I think it's about 0.60%, something like that.
Suze: I don't remember.
Suze: Right, so let's just say it was .60, but I
Suze: have to tell you, the savings national average in banks...
Suze: 0.38%. So maybe .60%'s a little high, but let's just
Suze: say that's true. So I said wait a minute, are
Suze: you telling me that for one full year, he said, yeah,
Suze: it's a full year now, Suze, maybe even a little longer.
Suze: That you have left that money just sitting in a
Suze: savings account, and he said yes.
Suze: I said, do you realize that if it's true what
Suze: they're paying you is .60%?
Suze: That over that entire year.
Suze: Do you have any idea how much interest you made?
Suze: And he said, maybe a few $1000. He said, I
Suze: don't know. And I said, you're lucky if you made $600.
Suze: And I said, why...
Suze: would you do that? Do you need this money? He said, No.
Suze: I said, Can you lock this money up for a year,
Suze: 2 or 3? He said, Yes.
Suze: I said, so why did you just let it sit there?
Suze: And he said, because it was easy, it was convenient,
Suze: and I thought, why not? And I said, I'll tell
Suze: you why not.
Suze: Because rather than just having made $600 because your money
Suze: was sitting in a bank account, you could have easily
Suze: made in a certificate of deposit $44,500 a year. That
Suze: is a big difference.
Suze: OK, so when we got off the phone with him,
Suze: I started to ask other people just out of curiosity,
Suze: do you have money in a savings account? Do you
Suze: have money at a bank? Do you have money just liquid?
Suze: And people would tell me, absolutely.
Suze: I have anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 to somebody had
Suze: close to $200,000 just sitting in a savings account.
Suze: And I'm like I just can't even believe it.
Suze: So to that end I decided, you know what, how
Suze: many of you out there, and I need you to
Suze: be honest with me right now. You have money sitting
Suze: in a savings account that you do not need. Come on,
Suze: be honest with me.
Suze: But actually more important than being honest with me, you
Suze: need to be honest with yourself.
Suze: Because if you have money that you don't need simply
Suze: sitting in a savings account, making a 0.5% or whatever,
Suze: you are not making your money, make more money. If anything,
Suze: you're actually after taxes, inflation, and everything, you are losing
Suze: money year in and year out.
Suze: And given in times like we have now where inflation
Suze: is still here, the cost of food is still high,
Suze: rents are still high, interest rates on mortgages are still high,
Suze: insurance premiums are still high. Every single one of you
Suze: needs to make your money make more money. You need
Suze: to make your money make the most possible money it
Suze: can make. Do you understand that?
Suze: Now, I understand that so many of you have written
Suze: in and said you don't want to do treasuries.
Suze: And you ask me, Suze, what is a good interest
Suze: rate that I could get on a certificate of deposit,
Suze: and that is why I wanted today to be the
Suze: day that this podcast drops.
Suze: Listen to me closely.
Suze: Alliant Credit Union, which you know has been the sponsor
Suze: of this podcast for a long time.
Suze: After conversing with them and talking with them.
Suze: Just for Suze Orman listeners on this podcast. So you're
Suze: not gonna see this advertised really anywhere else. It's mainly
Suze: for all of you.
Suze: They are willing to offer starting today, and you better
Suze: take them up on this.
Suze: A 12 month certificate for 4.30 APY and for those
Suze: of you who don't know, APY stands for annual percentage yield.
Suze: So if you hold your funds in that 12 month
Suze: certificate for the entire term, you will get 4.30 APY
Suze: on it. Now if you compare that rate
Suze: to other things that are out there right now, you
Suze: will see it is a great, great rate, especially because
Suze: it's at a safe institution. It's safe everybody, whether you're
Suze: already a member at Alliant Credit Union or not, just
Suze: go to myalliant.com. That's my M Y A L L
Suze: I A N T.com.
Suze: There you'll find all the terms you need to open
Suze: either an Alliant certificate with that interest rate of 4.30
Suze: APY or you will become a member there and it
Suze: doesn't cost you anything to do so.
Suze: You need to know that I do not make a penny.
Suze: If you decide to do it or you decide not
Suze: to do it, so many of you think I get
Suze: paid to say these things, and if you do it,
Suze: I make more money. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That's true for
Suze: this as well as any stock I have ever mentioned.
Suze: I don't get paid to say something like that. However,
Suze: I do want you to get paid to make your money,
Suze: make more money by if you have money in a
Suze: savings account at a bank, wherever it may be making
Suze: 0.5% interest or whatever you're not going to need it
Suze: for at least a year. Why would you not immediately
Suze: go to My Alliant A L L I A N T.com?
Suze: And sign up for the one year certificate for 4.30 APY.
Suze: It's something I'm serious that all of you should be
Suze: taking advantage of. I'm waiting for my certificate to mature
Suze: this month sometime later on at Alliant Credit Union, and
Suze: I'm only hoping
Suze: that this will still be available. So what you have
Suze: to understand is I don't know how long they can
Suze: stay at this interest rate. Again, this was a special
Suze: for the Women and Money podcast listeners.
Suze: And so therefore I'm asking all of you
Suze: to take advantage of it now when you buy a
Suze: certificate at Alliant Credit Union, the minimum is $1000. So
Suze: it's not like you have to put in $10,000 50,000 dollars.
Suze: You have $1000 that's just been sitting. All right, do
Suze: it with $1000. If you have more that has just
Suze: been sitting, do it with more.
Suze: But it is really, really important to everybody that you
Suze: take advantage of this.
Suze: So that is essentially what I wanted to tell you
Suze: all today. So again, when it comes to your money,
Suze: it is really, really important that you make your money
Suze: make more money.
Suze: Now another way that you need to make your money
Suze: make more money is too many of you when I
Suze: am talking to you again or you are writing me,
Suze: you are still investing your money in traditional 401ks or
Suze: traditional IRAs. Have you all lost your mind.
Suze: And when I ask you why, you tell me because
Suze: you want the tax write off. April 21st of 2024,
Suze: I did a podcast. Don't bears with Uncle Sam, which
Suze: I explain in that podcast that it does not matter.
Suze: If you're making 300,000 a year, 500,000 a year, I
Suze: don't care how much money you're making a year. You
Suze: are making the absolute biggest mistake in life if you
Suze: don't take advantage of your Roth retirement accounts at work.
Suze: And if you qualify, your Roth retirements that you can
Suze: open up as an individual, an IRA Roth, and if
Suze: you are making too much money of modified adjusted gross income,
Suze: if you don't have a traditional IRA or a SEP
Suze: IRA right now, OK.
Suze: Then you can do a back door Roth. Do you
Suze: hear me? What's so upsetting to me is I was
Suze: talking to another friend. So this is going to be
Suze: a podcast about Suze talking to her friends who drive
Suze: her crazy anyway, but it's only because they don't get it,
Suze: and maybe it's my fault they don't get it, but
Suze: they should get it by now.
Suze: But then KT doesn't get it, so what can I
Suze: tell you when it comes to Roth? And she was
Suze: telling me how she has money in a SEP IRA
Suze: cause she makes too much money to qualify for a
Suze: Roth IRA. Remember, for 2025, if you're a single person,
Suze: you can make up to $150,000 a year of modified
Suze: adjusted gross income.
Suze: To do what contribute the full $7000 a year to
Suze: a Roth, if you are under 50.
Suze: Or $8000 a year if you are 50 or older.
Suze: Once you're at $150 and you go to 165, after
Suze: $165 you no longer qualify. If you're married finally and jointly,
Suze: it's up to 236,000. So if you make just below that.
Suze: You can then qualify for a Roth. Once it goes
Suze: to 246,000 or above, you no longer qualify. That's when
Suze: you could do a backdoor Roth as long as you
Suze: don't have a traditional,
Suze: or even a SEP IRA back to my friend. So
Suze: she tells me how she has a SEP IRA, and
Suze: that's exactly what her accountant wants her to do because
Suze: her accountant told her she makes too much money, which
Suze: she does.
Suze: She makes too much money to qualify for a Roth,
Suze: so I said, Did your accountant tell you that you
Suze: could convert whatever money you have in a SEP IRA
Suze: and you could convert it to a Roth cause there
Suze: are no income limitations on it whatsoever when you're converting
Suze: and of course you said no, he never told me
Suze: that I could convert it.
Suze: So now she's on a plan of converting to a
Suze: Roth IRA.
Suze: Just that simple. And in fact for those of you
Suze: who qualify for a SEP IRA, all right, so you
Suze: put money in a SEP, you get a tax write
Suze: off for it, no problem, and let's say you put
Suze: 30 or $40,000 into it.
Suze: Right after you've done that, if you want, you could
Suze: convert it to a Roth, and yes, now you're going
Suze: to pay taxes on it, but it evens itself out.
Suze: But that's how you actually get more money into a
Suze: Roth IRA than if you were able to do a
Suze: Roth IRA on its own.
Suze: So this is another way of your money making more money.
Suze: And why does that make your money make more money
Suze: to convert and use a Roth? Again, I'm asking all
Suze: of you to listen to the April 21st, 2024 podcast
Suze: that I did.
Suze: Don't be partners with Uncle Sam, and I promise you
Suze: you will get it.
Suze: And then you will hopefully never do a traditional IRA
Suze: or 401k again. However, don't make the mistake if you
Suze: happen to have a large amount of money already in
Suze: a traditional 401k retirement plan, do not convert it all
Suze: at once to a Roth because you will owe ordinary
Suze: income taxes on it in the year that you convert.
Suze: So do it little by little and see a CPA.
Suze: Next, the way that you make your money, make more
Suze: money is that you understand the tax laws and how
Suze: things work. What's recently upset me is that I've gotten
Suze: a few emails saying, Suzy, I owe money on my mortgage.
Suze: I owe $70,000. I have $100,000 in my IRA.
Suze: And I'm going to take out that $100,000.
Suze: And I'm going to pay taxes on that and get
Suze: out of debt.
Suze: Now the reason they have to take out 100,000 in
Suze: their tax bracket.
Suze: And the penalty they're going to have to pay to
Suze: take it out, it's going to cost them $30,000 to
Suze: do so. But they felt that that was a fine
Suze: thing to do because they have a half a million
Suze: dollars in their IRA.
Suze: That is not making your money make more money. That
Suze: is actually losing money because when you lose $30,000 and
Suze: that money is no longer there to grow for you
Suze: and in fact that other $70,000 isn't there to grow
Suze: for you.
Suze: In the long run you lose out and you make
Suze: less money, so I tell you that because you are
Suze: never to take money out of a pre-taxed retirement account
Suze: to pay off your debt, to pay off a mortgage,
Suze: you are not to do it. It will never, ever,
Suze: ever make sense. However, I can tell you this if
Suze: you had had that money in a Roth retirement account.
Suze: Then possibly you could have taken out $70,000 income tax free,
Suze: especially if the account had been opened at least 5
Suze: years and you were over 59 and a half. Hey,
Suze: you could have taken it out totally tax free.
Suze: So a Roth IRA is the way to go, but
Suze: do not make the mistake.
Suze: Of taking money out of a pre-taxed retirement account to
Suze: pay off any kind of debt, do you hear me?
Suze: You should always know that any of your retirement accounts
Suze: are essentially protected against bankruptcy, so just don't do it now.
Suze: I could go on and on with this.
Suze: But I really wanted this to be a short podcast
Suze: and truthfully because today in its own right is Financial
Suze: Independence Day by the offer that Alliant Credit Union is
Suze: putting out there to all of you, we don't know
Suze: how long it will last. So.
Suze: Don't assume it's going to be there, but again, it's
Suze: 4.30 APY for a 12 month certificate, as long as
Suze: you hold it for all 12 months. Go to myalliant
Suze: A L L I A N T.com.
Suze: And take advantage of it right now. And just remember
Suze: you don't need to call Alliant to open up an
Suze: account there. You can easily open a certificate by simply
Suze: going directly to again myalliant.com and just follow the prompts
Suze: just that easy.
Suze: Cause if you don't I take advantage of it next
Suze: time I go and I say, Can you do something
Suze: for these people? Can you give them something that only
Suze: the listeners can have and things like that, they'll say, Why?
Suze: They don't do it anyway. You need to take advantage
Suze: of it if it makes sense for you. But bottom line,
Suze: every one of you
Suze: really needs to make your money, make more money. All right, everybody,
Suze: until Sunday when it will be Suze School again and
Suze: we'll get back on a regular schedule, there's only one
Suze: thing that I want you to remember when it comes
Suze: to your money.
Suze: Normally I would say people first, then money, then things.
Suze: Now you stay safe, but what am I going to
Suze: say today? You need to make your money, make more money.
Suze: All right, everybody, bye bye and happy July 4th. You
Suze: stay safe.
Robert: Regarding the certificates Suze just talked about, exclusions and restrictions apply.
Robert: Early withdrawal penalties do apply. Fees may reduce earnings on
Robert: the account, and any monthly withdrawals or transfers reduce earnings.
Robert: Alliant is federally insured by NCUA. Visit myalliant.com for full disclosures.