Suze: March 30th, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
Suze: as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Suze O here.
Suze: Now before I begin today's Suze School, can all of
Suze: you just tell me what was I thinking when I
Suze: decided to move to a private island many, many years ago?
Suze: Can you just all tell me that?
Suze: Did it ever dawn on me that when you move
Suze: to a private island that you have to make your
Suze: own electricity, you have to make your own water, you
Suze: have to just like bring in everything that there's absolutely
Suze: nothing here but water and trees. Did it ever dawn
Suze: on you, Suze Orman?
Suze: Anyway, this is my way of saying I apologize for
Suze: not being able to send a podcast on Thursday, but
Suze: don't even ask me what happened because I don't even
Suze: know what happened. But there was a major, major electrical
Suze: outage on the island. One of our transformers went down.
Suze: It was bad and it took forever, forever to put
Suze: it back up again.
Suze: The great thing about it was truthfully is that the
Suze: weather was beautiful. It was cool, so we had our
Suze: windows open and the wind was blowing and everything was
Suze: beautiful and it was so incredibly quiet.
Suze: It was quiet. Nothing was going on. You didn't hear
Suze: any ringing of anything or nothing. It was silent.
Suze: And for those few days it made me really appreciate
Suze: how wonderful silence can be, because it's in silence that
Suze: you can hear your own thoughts and you can really
Suze: focus on important things in life. I don't even know
Suze: what they are right at this moment, but you can.
Suze: It is what it is, everybody, but we are up
Suze: and running again, and the island is as noisy as ever.
Suze: The other noise that's happening in this world.
Suze: Is obviously what's happening with inflation. What's about to happen
Suze: in 3 days from now when the tariffs take effect,
Suze: and the stock market is not liking it on any level.
Suze: It's going down and it's going down and it's going
Suze: down and you know I was watching my favorite little
Suze: stock Palantir.
Suze: And I was watching it go from 85 to 90
Suze: to 95 to 97, and for a second there I
Suze: thought to myself, Suze, why didn't you buy more at 85?
Suze: But when I was going to buy more at 85,
Suze: I thought to myself, Suze, you own enough of that stock.
Suze: You don't have to own more of that stock. Don't
Suze: buy any more of that stock. You own as much
Suze: as you want to own of that stock.
Suze: And then I thought, OK, but watch, it's probably going
Suze: to go up to 100 or 125 and so forth.
Suze: And of course on Friday I watched it go from
Suze: like 95 or 97 back down to 90, back down
Suze: to 85, back down to 84.
Suze: And that reminded me of
Suze: when you have designated for yourselves an amount of money
Suze: that you want to have invested in one particular position,
Suze: don't get greedy.
Suze: Don't think just because a stock is going up and
Suze: you see it going up and you really believe it's
Suze: gonna go a lot higher, that means you have to
Suze: put more money into it.
Suze: And I found myself, everybody getting suckered into that possibility.
Suze: And I'm so glad that I didn't because I really
Suze: do own enough of Palantir. I really, really do, and
Suze: so does KT and there are so many other incredible
Suze: stocks that are taking a serious beating right now.
Suze: That it just makes sense to maybe start buying other
Suze: things and diversifying even more.
Suze: So the question becomes.
Suze: Have you decided on the amounts of money that you
Suze: want in every single investment that you have?
Suze: So that you don't get suckered into what I almost
Suze: got suckered into, which is every time it goes down,
Suze: I should buy more.
Suze: Because even though I know dollar cost averaging and value
Suze: cost averaging is a very important thing for all of
Suze: us to continue to do.
Suze: There comes a point when it's an individual stock, not
Suze: when it is an exchange traded fund or a mutual fund.
Suze: Different because that has total diversification within it. But when
Suze: it is an individual stock, I really think you all,
Suze: including myself, need to set a total of how much
Suze: money do you want to put in one stock and
Suze: risk it.
Suze: I think it's an important thing for all of you
Suze: to look at your portfolio and write down for each
Suze: individual stock you own how much is the total that
Suze: you want in that stock.
Suze: And then that's the amount that your dollar cost average
Suze: or value cost average every single month into it.
Suze: Cause things are changing right now.
Suze: People are not happy out there. People are absolutely scared
Suze: to death, and I have to tell you rightfully so.
Suze: You know, there were some articles that were posted on
Suze: my Facebook page about how to collect Social Security at 70,
Suze: and I still think that's the time to collect, and
Suze: the people that badgered those articles, I can't even tell
Suze: you like what's wrong with you, Susie Orman? People should
Suze: be claiming Social Security right here and right now because
Suze: who knows if Social Security is going to be around
Suze: to claim.
Suze: Do you really think everybody just because you claimed Social Security?
Suze: That that means you're not subject to them cutting your
Suze: Social Security. Do you think that? Or do you think
Suze: that it's possible that they're scaring all of you into
Suze: claiming Social Security earlier so they don't have to pay
Suze: you bigger benefits at times goes on? Do you think
Suze: that's possible?
Suze: Because if they're going to cut, they're not going to
Suze: cut the people who are already getting Social Security or
Suze: qualified to get Social Security. What they're going to do is,
Suze: like I told you before, they will postpone the age
Suze: that you can get your Social Security. That is how
Suze: they will affect you more than anything else. So for
Suze: those of you who are just saying, I'm going to
Suze: collect now, it's not going to be here for me
Suze: to collect, stop thinking like that.
Suze: Stop it.
Suze: Cause you could be sabotaging your financial future. All right,
Suze: I need all of you to seriously calm down. If
Suze: they were to do something like that or if Social
Suze: Security all of a sudden stopped sending you checks because
Suze: the whole system crashed, there would be such an uproar.
Suze: I can't even tell you. Social Security is the foundation
Suze: of 70 million people's financial future.
Suze: That is a lot of people, everybody, and it's the
Suze: future of many more millions people who aren't even claiming yet.
Suze: So if it happens to go awry because the systems
Suze: have been stripped or whatever, they have to fix it
Suze: and they have to get it back on board for
Suze: all of you. But don't start claiming at 62 because
Suze: you don't think it's going to be there when you're 67.
Suze: Don't claim at 67 when you were going to wait
Suze: till 70 because you're afraid that if you're not already
Suze: claiming that therefore you'll maybe be cut.
Suze: So please you're all driving yourself nuts now is it possible?
Suze: That given how many people they have laid off.
Suze: That Social Security is going to be incredibly difficult to get,
Suze: meaning apply for, to get your questions answered, to do
Suze: all of those things. Oh, you bet it is. I'll
Suze: be the first to tell you that, but then you
Suze: have to work within this system.
Suze: You should all seriously be calling your Congresspeople or your
Suze: senators and saying, please don't fire the people who are
Suze: working for Social Security. Please don't cut off the phone lines.
Suze: Don't do those things.
Suze: So if you're worried about this and you're scared to death,
Suze: then you have to use your voice so that you're
Suze: not afraid. What have I told all of you that
Suze: the main way to conquer fear is through action.
Suze: Not to get more and more afraid, not to take
Suze: the wrong action, but to take actions that absolutely make sense,
Suze: and that is to don't let them fire those people,
Suze: don't let them close down all the offices, and just
Suze: because they've closed them down doesn't mean they're going to
Suze: keep them closed down.
Suze: But your job is to make sure that you have everything,
Suze: you have your records, you go to MySocialSecurity.gov or whatever
Suze: it is, and you go to MySocial Security and you
Suze: have everything that you need to know.
Suze: And that you know how you're going to apply when
Suze: you need to apply, and you have figured all of
Suze: that out.
Suze: But we actually have on some level, kind of bigger problems,
Suze: everybody than that right now because we're not exactly sure
Suze: what's happening with Social Security.
Suze: We know they're going to mess with it somehow, but
Suze: I think everything should be OK in the long run.
Suze: What's really going to mess with all of us right
Suze: now are the tariffs that are going to take place
Suze: within 3 days, which is one of the reasons that
Suze: you see the stock market absolutely tanking itself.
Suze: That and the fact that inflation is coming in higher,
Suze: consumer confidence is lower, all of these things that are
Suze: going on, the stock market doesn't like it. So because
Suze: tariffs are coming, and that means that the price of
Suze: things you use every single day may be going up,
Suze: then you need to prepare yourselves. You need to know
Suze: exactly what you must do right now.
Suze: In order to understand, oh, things are gonna go up,
Suze: so what should I do to make my money make
Suze: more money? Take out your Suze notebooks, all right.
Suze: Number one, I really do want you to review your spending.
Suze: I do.
Suze: I want you to print out your last month of
Suze: bank and credit card statements, and I want you to
Suze: get out a highlighter or your app or whatever you
Suze: use and go line by line, and I want you
Suze: to really know where is your money going because as
Suze: things get more expensive, you're going to need to know
Suze: where do you cut back, especially if you're living paycheck
Suze: to paycheck.
Suze: Is your money going to groceries? Is it going to Amazon?
Suze: Is it going to eating out? I want you to
Suze: know the categories where a price hike is going to
Suze: hit you the hardest, because let me tell you, if
Suze: you're already spending more than you make, which most of
Suze: you are, tariffs are going to push you further into
Suze: the danger zone. So you have to look at everything
Suze: that you're spending money on.
Suze: And think about where are the tariffs going to hit
Suze: me the worst and how do I cut back. You
Suze: just need to know where is your money going, and
Suze: I know many of you think you know where it's going,
Suze: but it's a whole other thing when you see it
Suze: mapped out in front of you. Number 2:
Suze: Stock up on the essential things right now. Now I'm
Suze: not telling you to go and be a hoarder, but
Suze: I am telling you if you know you'll need it anyway,
Suze: and it's not going to spoil, believe it or not,
Suze: Suze Orman wants you to buy it now. What kind
Suze: of things?
Suze: I want you to buy paper towels, laundry detergent, toiletries,
Suze: pet foods. If it is imported or contains imported parts
Suze: or ingredients, it's likely to go up in price. So
Suze: how do you make your money, make more money by
Suze: being proactive, not reactive? That's how you stay ahead. Number 3:
Suze: Time your big purchases wisely. Now listen to me. If
Suze: you've been thinking about buying, for instance, a new fridge,
Suze: a laptop, or a car part, or even a car,
Suze: you are not to wait.
Suze: A 10 to 25% price hike on certain goods could
Suze: be just around the corner, everybody, it could be 3
Suze: days away. I don't know when it's actually going to
Suze: hit the price of the goods that you're buying, but
Suze: it's going to do it. But the important thing, however,
Suze: is do not go into debt to buy something.
Suze: Just because you're afraid the price is going to go up,
Suze: do you hear me? Only buy it if you have
Suze: the cash. So don't go into Costco or wherever you
Suze: go and take out your credit card and go, I'm
Suze: going to buy everything right now cause it's cheaper right now,
Suze: and I'm going to rack up credit card debt and
Suze: then you end up paying 18% on your credit card
Suze: because all you can do is pay the minimum payment due. No,
Suze: that doesn't help you at all.
Suze: So if you're planning to finance something, let's say you're
Suze: going to use a credit card or whatever, you have
Suze: to make sure it's at a 0% interest rate.
Suze: So there are credit cards out there that you can
Suze: get at a 0% interest rate and that you have
Suze: a solid plan to pay it off in full at
Suze: the end of every month when the bill comes in.
Suze: If you can't do that, guess what then? You don't
Suze: need it right now. Are you hearing me? 4.
Suze: I need you to guard your emergency fund like it's gold.
Suze: You've been looking at gold lately at $3080 an ounce,
Suze: it's precious right now, it's valuable.
Suze: You know, I want every single one of you to
Suze: have at least 8 to 12 months of must-pay expenses saved,
Suze: not in the market, not in a CD, but in
Suze: a high yield savings account, ready to go.
Suze: Remember how many times have I told you that money
Suze: that you may need within 5 years is not money
Suze: that belongs in the stock market.
Suze: So you have to be prepared because if these tariffs
Suze: really do take a toll, if the market does continue
Suze: to go down, if all the prices on everything start
Suze: to go up and you find yourself that you're really
Suze: not able to afford things anymore, you need that must
Suze: pay expenses fund. Have you been working on it? I've
Suze: been telling you this forever because it's your buffer.
Suze: It's your peace of mind, right? Tariffs and inflation and
Suze: job uncertainty is here. It's here right now, everybody, and
Suze: you want to be protected. Number 5, at times like
Suze: this when you all are freaked out and I want
Suze: you to stop being freaked out, you have to stop
Suze: emotional spending.
Suze: I have found that when things get tough, oh, you
Suze: just go and buy and by and by, cause that
Suze: just makes you think that you're gonna soften everything up.
Suze: You'll feel better for a little bit until the bills
Suze: come in.
Suze: So some of you hear this news about tariffs and think, well,
Suze: I better live it up while I can. Is that
Suze: any of you? Better not be.
Suze: But that's not the smart thing to do. That's not strong,
Suze: and that's not being secure. And what is the goal
Suze: of money? It's for you to be secure. You don't
Suze: spend to feel better. You prepare to feel better. You
Suze: want power. You want control. You want that by being
Suze: financially prepared.
Suze: All right.
Suze: So I know I'm on a rant here. I can
Suze: tell I'm like going a million miles an hour because
Suze: the emails that I'm getting have infused me with your fear,
Suze: your anxiousness, your not knowing what to do, and you're
Suze: just so freaked out. I need you to stop.
Suze: Just stop.
Suze: And you need to understand that if you've been listening
Suze: to the Women and Money podcast and if you've been
Suze: doing everything that I've asked you to do, you are
Suze: more than prepared for what possibly could come the next
Suze: few months.
Suze: And I don't know what's going to come the next
Suze: few months. Nobody knows what's going to come the next
Suze: few months. So these aren't just nice do tips that
Suze: I'm giving you here. They're just not. These are what
Suze: I'm calling your must dos, just like I say you
Suze: should all have the must-have documents. These are your must dos,
Suze: and I believe from the bottom of my heart that
Suze: the more prepared you are, the more peace you will have,
Suze: no matter what happens with the economy.
Suze: And again, how many times have I said to you,
Suze: the government can't save you, the economy can't save you,
Suze: only you are going to save yourself. So stop listening
Suze: to the news, stop listening to everybody freaking out what
Suze: you have to really, really do.
Suze: I come from a place of power and get ahead
Suze: of everything that is absolutely possible. That's what you need
Suze: to do. So you just need to stay in your
Suze: power now. I will be the first to tell you.
Suze: That these tariffs they can and they have been shaking
Suze: up the stock market, especially in sectors that rely on
Suze: international supply chains. So that means I want you to
Suze: think about tech, auto manufacturing, even retail.
Suze: Why not look into your 401k and your Roth IRA
Suze: and your brokerage accounts and just look at what you
Suze: happen to be invested in? Do you even know? Don't
Suze: just blindly put the money in a target date mutual
Suze: fund that you picked 10 years ago. You really need
Suze: to just look at what investments do you have. So
Suze: this is the perfect time.
Suze: For you to take account and really go through everything,
Suze: not just your monthly expenses like I asked you to
Suze: do a few minutes ago, but every single thing that
Suze: you happen to have been invested in. And if you're
Suze: too concentrated in just one sector or one country, now
Suze: is the time you might want to think about rebalancing. Next, diversify, diversify, diversify,
Suze: and I've told you this before.
Suze: If your portfolio is overloaded in one area, especially one
Suze: that's vulnerable to tariffs, then I have to tell you
Suze: you're not protected right now. So make sure that you
Suze: really do have a healthy mix of investments, everybody, which
Suze: is why a broad-based Standard and Poor's 500 index fund
Suze: or the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund or VOO,
Suze: whatever it may be, are fine things for you to
Suze: be invested in.
Suze: But you want US based companies. You want some international exposure,
Suze: but not too much. I've told you forever you want
Suze: dividend paying stocks. In my opinion, you want some of
Suze: your money in Treasury intermediate bonds right in there. And
Suze: so those are things that you just need to know,
Suze: but you have to keep investing, especially in your retirement
Suze: accounts as markets go down.
Suze: As prices keep falling like I told you, you should
Suze: be so happy, especially if you have years until you
Suze: need this money, because with every contribution, remember, dollar cost averaging,
Suze: which is your best friend in a volatile market, the
Suze: more the market goes down, the more shares you buy,
Suze: and the more shares you buy when the market goes up,
Suze: the more money you have. So when you're investing in
Suze: a Roth 401k.
Suze: And that money is coming out of your paycheck. It's
Suze: not the same as when you're outside of a retirement
Suze: account and you're putting money from your actual cash or
Suze: whatever into an individual stock where you need to decide
Suze: the amount of money you want in it. In a 401k,
Suze: you have continuous money coming out of your paycheck, usually
Suze: into a diversified ETF or mutual fund.
Suze: So you don't have to worry when the markets are
Suze: going down. You just continue to do it and do
Suze: it and do it and do it and do it.
Suze: It's just that simple, so very different than individual stocks
Suze: for those of you who have years until you're going
Suze: to retire, we may be entering one of the best
Suze: years for investing of your life's, believe it or not.
Suze: So it's important that all of you kind of have
Suze: different buckets. You have a bucket of cash and short
Suze: term needs. You have a bucket of income producing investments.
Suze: You have a bucket of long term growth. So if
Suze: all of your money is in the market and you're
Suze: retiring soon and it's all in growth and you need
Suze: income from that money.
Suze: You might have a problem. So what I want you
Suze: to do is I want you to really look at
Suze: it and go, where is your income going to come
Suze: from if these markets go down.
Suze: So what is the bottom line here, everybody?
Suze: Tariffs are coming.
Suze: I don't want you to ignore that, and I also
Suze: don't want you to panic because panic is not a
Suze: financial plan.
Suze: So let me just remind you of the three most
Suze: important things that I want you to do right now.
Suze: Number 1, get honest about your spending. You can't protect
Suze: your money if you don't know where it's going. Pull
Suze: those statements and trim the fat, cut the waste and
Suze: only spend on truly what matters.
Suze: Number 2, protect your essentials. Stock up on what you
Suze: know you'll need. Make smart buying decisions. And if a
Suze: big purchase is coming, don't delay, but don't go into
Suze: debt either. Be strategic, be thoughtful, and be in control.
Suze: And number 3, stick with your.
Suze: Investments, but don't fall asleep on them. You must know
Suze: what you own. You must diversify. You must keep investing,
Suze: especially in your retirement accounts. Please remember that volatility, are
Suze: you listening to me? is a buying opportunity, and if
Suze: you can stay calm, stay consistent.
Suze: And let me say this again. Don't touch your emergency fund.
Suze: That money is your safety net. Remember that. That is
Suze: your power, and nobody takes your power away, not even
Suze: with tariffs. Do you get it, everybody? What is my
Suze: saying for this year? It's about how do you make
Suze: your money, make more money.
Suze: I just gave you a whole lot of things for
Suze: you to think about and for you to do.
Suze: And I did it in a very fast and powerful
Suze: way because I want you to take action.
Suze: Because the tariffs are here and things are going to
Suze: get considerably more expensive, considerably.
Suze: So don't put things off if you need to do them.
Suze: Now is the time, right? So until next Thursday when
Suze: Miss Travis, God willing, with power on this island, joins
Suze: us again for Ask KT and Suze Anything. There's only one
Suze: thing that I want you to remember when it comes
Suze: to your money, and it is this people first, then money,
Suze: then things. Now you stay safe. Bye bye now.