Podcast Episode - Don’t Wait, For It Could Be Too Late

On this edition of Ask KT & Suze Anything, Suze answers your questions about when is it too late to start saving money, whether it’s better to pay with a credit or debit card, getting out of debt and so much more!

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Podcast Transcript:

KT: November 20th, 2025.

Suze: Welcome everybody to the Women in Money podcast, and everyone's smart enough to listen.

KT: You know why she's laughing? This is like take seven. She didn't like any of the openings, so she keeps doing it over and over and over again, and I need another cup of coffee.

Suze: Anyway, this is the Ask KT and Suze Anything edition. And what's today, KT?

KT: It's November 20th, which means it's seven days out till Thanksgiving.

Suze: And that is one of our favorite holidays. And this year we will be spending it in Florida, and most of our relatives are flying in, and Lynn, KT's sister, will be hosting it. So we're kind of excited because we're just going to be guests.

KT: We don't have to do anything.

Suze: And even Colo's wife Annie is going to be flying in and they're going to his brother's house, but they are coming to our condo for the tradition, which is making stuffing. So Colo and I will still be making the stuffing for the family. Now, two things before we begin.

Number one, as you know, last Sunday, and I hope you enjoyed it, was another Suze School with Mr. Fitz Fitzy, Keith Fitz-Gerald. By the way, if you want to see that, you can also go to youtube.com/Suze Orman, and that particular episode we videoed so you can even watch us in action.

A lot of you have questions, especially about one section called the free trade, and I'll explain that more on Sunday. But on Sunday I'm going to be addressing your questions that you have written into the Women and Money Community app, that by the way, all of you can download for free by going to Google Play or Apple Apps. Also on Sunday's Suze School, I will be going over the new limits for retirement accounts, the qualifications to get a Roth IRA, all of that, so don't miss it. However, we have one other thing that we want to talk about right now before we start the questions, and that's what we call warning, warning, warning.

Warning and tell them why, KT.

KT: This concerned me and as soon as I read this, I knew Suze had to give you all a big warning. So let me read this. This is from Amy. She said, Hi Suze. I'm verifying that you replied to me on your wall and sent me a link to download WhatsApp app to go over my financials and make my portfolio more liquid and to buy Bitcoin.

In this day and age, I need to verify with all the fraud going on, and then she said, I had a feeling in my stomach and asked, is this real? And it is not.

Suze: It is not. So I want all of you to listen and listen very closely.

I am never ever ever going to answer you on a wall or in a public place. Maybe I will reply if you say something in the Women and Money Community app. I may say I don't think so, or it's a good idea or just very few things, but I will never direct you to go somewhere to download something, to then take your money and say, I'm going to go over it. I am not going to go over it and buy Bitcoin, do that, none of that will ever, ever happen. Now, will I give you a URL address like must-have docs, where I would want you to go to get the must-have documents, but you'll know that that's me because you're gonna see me there.

And obviously I don't really want anything from you. So there are times that I may say go to myalliant.com to get a 4.10% certificate one year. In fact, you might want to do that.

KT: That's a good. That's a good idea. That's a good one, everybody.

Suze: And other things that we may be working on.

But never ever will I ask you to go to an app, especially a WhatsApp app. I don't use really WhatsApp, and go over your financials and make your portfolio more liquid, and to buy Bitcoin. Don't do it, don't do it. I don't care if they have my picture, I don't care whatever it is. Don't fall for that. If some article is using my picture, chances are it's not with my permission. OK KT, should we start?

KT: My first question is from Madeleine. I'm devoting this question to Colo.

Suze: Why?

KT: I'll tell you why. Ready, she said, Good evening, dear Mrs. Orman. I hope this will reach you...

Suze: Wait, wait, stop. Mrs. Orman?

KT: Mrs. Orman.

Suze: Wait, KT, should I have been Mrs. Travis?

KT: No, Mrs. Orman, it sounds pretty nice, just like I'm not...

Suze: Why aren't you?

KT: Mrs. Travis?

Suze: No, Mrs. Orman. No, I like KT because then I couldn't call her KT. All right, go, go on.

KT: Good evening, dear Mrs. Orman. I hope this will reach you. My name is Madeline, and my husband and I worked.

Incredibly hard in our pizzeria for over 100 hours a week with no vacations.

Suze: And why is it dedicated to Colo?

KT: Because Colo loves pizza more than life itself, and I think it's important for him to hear how difficult it is to run pizzerias.

Suze: That's why?

KT: Yes. We did raise 3 great kids, and we are grateful for them. Hubby is now 69 and I am 56.

We're waiting till he turns 70 to get most of our Social Security. Due to so much competition here in New Jersey and expensive rents, it will be hard for us to retire. We don't need much. Only renting and basic will be enough for us. Suze, what would you advise us as to where we could invest about $10,000 that could help us out in retirement?

I'm from the Netherlands and after 30 years of hard work I don't know who to trust or what to do anymore. If you could give us any advice, Mrs. Orman, we would be forever grateful. Is that the sweetest? I thought Madeleine was very sweet and I could just see her making pizza.

Suze: Oh boy.

KT: OK, so what can they do?

Suze: First of all, Madeleine, you know, sometimes in life you just have to stand in your truth.

And your truth happens to be that you are 56 years of age. That's almost right, 20 years younger than me. I want you to think about that. At 56, especially when all you may have is $10,000 to your name right now.

That is not when you should be thinking about retiring. Maybe your husband is older. Maybe he's waiting for his Social Security, but even at 70, 70 and 56 is still young.

So the mere fact that you have no money, but yet you're still thinking about retiring, doesn't go together. That is not the truth of your situation. The truth of your situation is, number one, you are young.

Number two, you had the ability to work 100 hours a week with no vacations, and guess what? You still have that ability to do so. So it is going to be your desire to make this work and get your husband's Social Security.

He can still go to work. You have 14 years or whatever it may be. You have 10 or 11 years till you'll collect your Social Security or half of his, but you have time. What you need to do is not look at your money to save you, because that $10,000 will help you out in retirement if in fact what?

You get in trouble. You need some money, so that goes in a money market account or into a high yield savings account or whatever it may be. You have to keep that money safe and sound. But what you have to do is you have to continue to work hard for your money because your money can't quite work hard for you because there's not quite enough of it yet. But $100 here, $200 there, whatever it may be, will help.

So you say you don't know who to trust anymore. I'll tell you who to trust. You have to trust yourself that you have what it takes to do this. You have to have faith in yourself and have enough strength in knowing within yourself that you and you alone can save yourself.

You said what could help you out in retirement. You know what the answer to that is? You.

KT: I was gonna say get a job. Yeah, get another job.

Suze: But you know it's important all of you understand, please understand that life expectancy now is a lot longer. Nowhere in this email did she say that she was sick or she couldn't work or anything like that. But you know what she did say, KT? She did say that she raised three great kids and we are grateful for them.

Madeline, you make sure that you talk with your great kids about this, because when you can't afford to carry yourself financially, they are the ones who need to and will want to carry you just like I did with my mom and KT did with hers. Next question, KT.

KT: OK, this is from Leslie. Ready, Suze? She said teachers in New York here.

We, I guess Leslie knows that we love teachers. Both of us love, love teachers and nurses. My friend and I are in our late thirties and super into finance and saving for the future. I know that a Roth IRA is the way to go, and I have one. We have 403Bs and would like to convert them to Roth's. What's the best way to do this? Directly or transfer to a traditional IRA first, all at once or do it slowly?

And that's from Mrs. P. She's a teacher, so they call her Mrs. P.

Suze: Mrs. P, as a teacher, you need to know the financial lesson of the day, and the financial lesson of the day is when you are working and you have a 403b, you cannot just take money out of the 403b and do what with it? Convert it to an IRA or a Roth IRA. It has got to stay in the 403B system.

So the question is, does your school district have a Roth 403b that you could either transfer little by little some of the money into the Roth 403b, but all new contributions should be going to the Roth 403b. Number one, you say you already have a Roth IRA great. That means you've started the five year time clock, so you have nothing to worry about, but,

that doesn't mean that you can't continue to contribute to it. So what do you do? You check with your school district, find out, do they have a Roth 403b. All new contributions go to the Roth 403b. Depending on how much you have in your 403b, if you're allowed to transfer it to the Roth 403B.

Check with your CPA and find out how much can you transfer this year to not affect your tax bracket and how about next year. So divide it between two years since we're almost at the end of the year. There you go.

KT: So Suze, I was a little confused. You need permission, to do the transfer?

Suze: Well, it's not that you need permission, KT, but not all districts have a Roth 403b number one. And even if they do, not all of them allow a transfer from the pre-tax 403b to a Roth with money. So her new contributions could probably go into a Roth 403b if they have one. No problem.

But she might not be able to transfer the contribution she made to her traditional 403b. I get it. OK.

KT: All right. My next question is from Jess.

And Jess is someone that you might have met. I think you probably did meet her, and I'll tell you where. She said, Hi, Suze. I've been a fan since one of the CCWC conferences, and I listen to your podcast all the time. OK, we have to tell everyone CCWC.

This is probably our most favorite conference that Suze is often invited to speak to. It's called the Corporate Counsel Women of Color. These are all lawyers. Oh yeah, Laurie Robinson, we love you.

She actually is the founder of the CCWC conferences. They are so much fun, so lively, and so smart. Love them. Here's her question. Jess asks, my question is related to how to invest.

I come from a risk averse family, and I have a risk averse career, so I try to have as much liquid cash as possible for the fear of the unknown. I owe $100,000 in student loans, and we have four children. I make a little less than 500,000 a year. Now remember, everyone, she's a lawyer, and again, that's why she has high student loans, I'm sure. She said, My husband has no debt outside of our mortgage.

I'd really like to invest so that my money can make money to help me pay off my debt faster, but we still have bills to pay and I still want to have cash at the ready.

And then she goes on to say, Suze, I see people getting into the stock market with just a couple hundred dollars and somehow they multiply it exponentially, but it's not clicking for me. I assume the key is patience, but I see some with almost instant success, and I just can't seem to figure out that algorithm.

So she must be talking to people that maybe are day traders or are high risk investors.

Suze: I don't know, you think? Jess, let's talk. All right, let's just talk, girlfriend. You make a little less than half a million dollars a year.

Now I don't know where you live. Do you live in New York, whatever, so I don't know how much of that you have left after taxes and all of your expenses. However, there's got to be some amount of money in there that you are willing to put into the stock market. Now, the stock market doesn't necessarily have to mean individual stocks.

You could absolutely, let's just say you're gonna put $5,000 a month, just $5,000 a month, every single month.

It's not that much given that you're making $500,000 a year, $5,000 a month into the ETF, Standard and Poor's 500 ETF with the symbol VOO, total diversification there, and just do that every single month and slowly but surely you'll be very happy that you did so.

You say that you are in a risk averse career, but you're really not, because every time you go to court, every time you take a case, there is tremendous risk. Is your client going to win or are they going to lose? And if they come to you, Jess, they are taking a risk on you that you are going to be able to win their case or at least help them out.

So you have to change how you are thinking, number one, and number two, you have got to stop comparing what you're doing and others are doing. People only love to talk about how much they're up, how much they've won. They're very seldom going to say to you, can you believe it? I lost $100,000 the other day on this. I mean, you don't even wanna know at times when I have to look at KT and I have to go, oh well, but remember,

You never really lose or you never really gain unless you've sold. So, but you can see things go up or down. So when people say to you, oh, it's multiplying exponentially, that doesn't mean they made that money yet. So number one, stop comparing yourself. Number two, dollar cost averaging into a Standard & Poor’s ETF every single month is not a risk. And number three.

You have to face your money and not be afraid of it. And if you're afraid of it, you have to figure out why, really, and then figure out what are you going to do to silence that fear. All right.

KT: This next question, Suze, is from Angela, and I picked this one because I don't ever think people should feel this way.

Suze: All right.

KT: So Angela said, Suze, where do I start saving or investing if I do not have a Roth 401k plan and no investments? I used all I had for my children's education and was not working. I am 60 years old and feel ashamed at times where I am at in my life.

Suze: You look like you're going to cry.

KT: It's very sad. She's 60.

KT: And she feels ashamed. I think that's so sad. Don't be ashamed.

Suze: Well, first of all, Angela, you have to look at the choices that you made.

You put your children's education in front of your retirement, especially at a time when you say that you were not working.

So you put them in front of you. Now, I just want to put a pin in that for a second. A lot of times you hear us when we sign off, people first, then money.

And really that came about because I wanted women in particular.

To know that they have to put themselves first.

Before their children, before their employees, before their whatever, you have to take care of yourself first. Then you have the ability to take care of your children. Since you did not do that, your children now, in my opinion, have the responsibility of taking care of you.

So the question to you is this, do you have what it takes to ask them to listen to this podcast?

When you've heard it and see if you can all sit down and figure out what can they do now to help you. Can they give you X percent of their income every single month? I remember when I was younger I had to do that with my mamma when my daddy died, right? She got $1,000 a month. Then she got something from my brothers, so she got money so she could live on.

And we took care of her that way. You have to do the same with your children and not be ashamed to do that. That's number one. You say that you are 60 years old and feel ashamed at times.

Angela, what is it possible that you could feel ashamed about?

Because you didn't do anything wrong, you simply followed your heart. But here you are again at 60, and you already think it's too late. May I remind all of you that I wrote my very first book at 45.

That true wealth, true success didn't come until I was in my really my mid-50s, really big success. KT is smiling over there because that's...

KT: When she turned 50.

Suze: That's when I met her, right?

KT: Biggest success.

Suze: But that's when really not so many years before where you are at 60, still fabulous working years for us.

So I need you to be a warrior and not turn your back on the battlefield, and the battlefield I'm talking about is the battlefield of your own mind where you are limiting yourself, feeling you are condemned to never have anything in your life simply because you helped your kids. So let's make finances a family affair. Let's bring them in. Let's look at something that you can do. Do something.

There's always something you can do, and remember there is no excuse big enough to keep you from being who you are meant to be, KT.

KT: Very nice. Never too late. Never ever too late.

Suze: You know, KT, I have to tell you I don't agree with that.

KT: Why?

Suze: You know, I used to stand on a stage and I used to say it's never too soon to begin and it's never too late to start. However,

over the years some people would write me and they were 90, 95. The spouse had just died. They had absolutely no money to their name. They lost one Social Security check. They had nothing.

And I was always like, I don't know what to tell them, KT, I honest to God, don't. They didn't have children. They had nobody they could go to. So what was I supposed to do? Say, oh yeah, start saving $100 a month and you'll have, what do you say? So everybody, there does come a time when even the great Suze Orman seriously had no idea what to tell you to do to help yourself, honestly.

I mean, obviously you could go to churches and ask for help and things like that, but financially it was too late, so that can happen just so you know, but everybody, I tell you that story.

Not to discourage you, but to inspire you, to inspire you to start now. You're 60, start now. You're 70, start now, even 80, start now.

You know, just start now.

KT: Now we can say don't wait because it could be too late.

Suze: She's so she's so proud of herself. Was that a little rhyme?

KT: Yeah, don't wait because it could be too late.

KT: OK, my next question is from Damien. I love my man questions. He said, Hey, KT and Suze, my partner and I are two guys smart enough to listen, and I'd like you to settle something for us.

And Suze, I'm totally OK saying the six most powerful words in the English language.

Suze: Do you know what those words are?

KT: Yes, I do, Suze, I admit that I was wrong.

Suze: Yes, I have her say that all the time.

KT: But Damien said, But Suze, I'd like to hear from you before I concede. All right, ready? He said, we're both incredible savers, we have no balance on our credit cards or any debt. However, he believes I'm throwing money away by only using a debit card for my purchases, whereas he uses his credit card to pay for everything and gets 1 to 5% back with points. I feel more secure knowing that I can never spend more money than I have, even if it means that I don't earn cash back along the way. I'd rather not carry any debt, even if I had the means to pay it off every month. You just never know. We would love your thoughts and thank you, Suze, for all you do.

Suze: Great. Now, should that be your quizzy?

KT: I can tell, yeah, make it a quizzy because I, there's a keyword in there. Make it a quizzy. Make it a quizzy.

Suze: Ok Miss know it all. What is, what's the answer to that?

KT: Secure, he said he, Damien feels secure by using a debit card and knowing he can never spend more than what he's got.

Suze: You're positive about that answer.

KT: Yeah, I think that it's more important that he, how he feels than making 1 or 5% back like his part.

Suze: You're positive?

KT: Yeah.

Suze: (Suze makes the wrong answer sound)

KT: Oh, come on, Suze.

Suze: Let me tell you why.

KT: OK, tell me why. So Damien, get ready for I admit that I was wrong. I'll say it along with you. We admit that we were wrong, Damien.

Suze: And here's the reason, Damien, I would never use a debit card if I were you. So you say you feel secure.

But you feel secure using, in my opinion, the most insecure type of card that there is because it links directly to all the money that's in your account. KT, to this day, have you ever seen me use a debit card?

KT: Never.

Suze: Have you ever seen a debit card, even in our cards? We don't even ask them to issue one.

KT: We don't, we don't need it.

Suze: No, it's not that we don't need it. We don't even want it. All right. So therefore that's number one. Number two:

Here's what I don't like.

Why do you feel that your money is in control of you versus you are in control of your money?

When you say you feel more secure knowing that I can never spend more than I have, that means you are not in control of your money. Therefore, that is what has to change, and to pass up free money, are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea the extent that KT and I go to to get cash back?

You know, sometimes I go on to this thing where if you sign up you get 6% on anything you buy on Macy's, and then I use a cashback card at Macy's if I'm gonna buy something, so I get maybe 10% back, and I can't wait to get that $50 check or whatever it is. Are you kidding me, Damien? Therefore, you best admit that you were wrong, because in fact you are. Last question, KT.

KT: OK, Suze, final question.

This is from Stacia or Stacia. I'm not sure how to pronounce her name, Stacia, I'll say because I like that. I've made a total mess of my finances because I didn't know a lot of things about money. I'm behind on my bills and rent and I'm about $30,000 in debt and I'm overwhelmed to the point I don't sleep well at night, OK.

All right, Stacia, she said, Suze, I'm now 51 and looking at retirement in about seven to eight years. I don't know where to start on how to get my finances back on track.

Suze: Can you help me? You know, what's funny about all these that you picked, and you did it, I think, purposely, is that the theme has been 50-year-olds, 60-year-olds, all needing more money.

But yet all talking about retirement, all talking about they already retired and how can I help them, right? Have you noticed the theme you did here?

KT: It's like they're running out of time.

Suze: So did you do that on purpose?

KT: Absolutely.

Suze: How come?

KT: I just think that there's a big need out there. People panicking, and that none of them are sleeping at night.

Suze: All right.

KT: So anyway, so what can she do?

Suze: You're 51 years old now.

And you're looking at retirement in about seven to eight years, which brings you to about 59, and you don't know where to start on how to get your finances back on track. Here's the thing.

Why is it that you're behind on your bills? You're behind on rent. Forget about how are you going to get your finances back on track so you can retire in seven to eight years, when the chances are if you're behind on your bills and your rent, you're going to get kicked out of where you live.

And because you've been behind on your bills and your rent, I hate to see what your FICO score is, because your FICO score probably is now down in the 500 area, which means if you lose your apartment now, good luck with another landlord renting to you. So Stacia, this isn't about your future.

This is about you right now being in trouble. If you're $30,000 in debt and you're behind on not only your bills but your rent, now you really need to figure out what should you do. Forget about the future for now. Let's deal with the present. It may be very probable, believe it or not, that you need to claim bankruptcy.

You may owe more than what you are making at this point in time, and there is a rule of finance that says when you owe more than what you make, you are essentially bankrupt.

So I don't say that lightly, but I can tell you there is a serious red flag here. If I were you, I would contact NFCC.org. It's the National Foundation of Credit Counselors, and see them and first start to deal with what you do have, which is debt and you're behind in your rent.

After you have taken care of that, then little by little you can start digging your way out, but that, my love, is what I would do if I were you, and that is standing in your truth. So how was that, KT? Did you agree with that answer?

KT: I do.

Suze: Oh, those answers are so hard for me.

KT: I know. You know, you hate to give it, you hate. I'm sorry that I picked all these questions, but there's like this trend going on. People are lost. A lot of people are lost.

Suze: Not if they've been listening to the Women in Money podcast for all these years and the Suze Orman show, which, by the way is on YouTube. All you have to do is go to youtube.com/SuzeOrman and please subscribe because eventually we may be always broadcasting these podcasts live starting next year. We'll see.

KT: That will be fun. I'd like to go in front of the camera.

Suze: You hate the camera.

KT: I hate it, but I think it might be fun. Maybe not everyone, maybe once a month. Is that so? Yeah, once a month, the beginning of the month.

Suze: Oh, listen to her.

KT: Flavor of the month.

Suze: She's such a big talker, such a big talker. All right, everybody, so until Sunday when I will be here with Suze School answering questions that all of you have and updating you on the new retirement regulations.

There's only one thing that we want you to remember when it comes to your money, and what is it, the love of my life?

KT: It is people first, then money, then things, and you stay safe.

Suze: Secure and healthy. See you soon. Bye bye.