Podcast Episode - Happy New Year From Suze & KT

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In this special New Year’s podcast, Suze is once again joined by her spouse, KT. Together, they share a story about a memorable trip from 2019.

Podcast Transcript:

It is about to be 2020. And last week I had a special guest on the Women and Money podcast, KT.Yeah, baby.There she is again. And I got more emails, and you do you know what they all told me, KT?What?She has such a calming voice. What does that mean about my voice? Nobody's ever said to me that I have a calming voice, in all the years I've been doing this.I like your voice, but you get when you talk about money, you get a little angst.Why would money angst me?Well, angst in your voice because you get very passionate about the topic. But when you talk to me and we're not talking about money, you're normal.Are you telling me that when I talk about money, I'm not normal?Listen to you, listen to you right now, listen to you. Yeah, when you don't talk about money you're very, you're not different, you're just, your voice isn't like, OK, and you're going to do this, A-B-C. And if you do a B-C, you're going to get E-F-DE-F-D? Did you all hear that, everybody? Well, whatever. First of all, welcome to the Women and Money podcast and Happy New Year. This is our final podcast for the year 2019. And what a year it's been, huh, KT?You know, I was just thinking when you asked me to join you, I'm so excited to be here again in your little recording studio.Back by popular demand, now I just have to say this, if you think this is going to continue into next year. Oh, she's looking at me...No, but listen, if you will want this to continue into 2020 speak up, don't be shy. Speak up, write a review, a couple of stars for KT. I'm happy to come back, but let's get back to the topic, what you just said. The year like fleeted by, it really did, and it bothers me a little.What bothers you about it?Suze we had such a good time this year, we really did. It bothers me because it just goes so fast and I feel like everything should slow down a little more. I mean, it's just going way too fast. For us, for you and me.We had a great year, didn't we? And the year before that was also great. But this particular 2019 was a really good year. How come?The pace of the year was very comfortable and it was fun.What was the most fun thing that you did the whole year?My best memory really was going salmon fishing, was going to the island.So we have to tell you a story that happened to us as women when we went in July up to British Columbia to do salmon fishing.So Suze and I go to this very, very special small island in British Columbia, which is Canada, beautiful part of Canada, with two fabulous friends of ours Sarah and Kevin. Kevin is Canadian. He said that if I promise you girls, if you come fishing to my little island, it's gonna be better experience than in Alaska. And I said, no, that's impossible.And is not his where he owns it, he's just been there before.So we we go with Kevin and Sarah and it is quite a trek to tell you the truth. We're really the only two women, besides Sarah. And there's a wife or two that have come with their husbands. But this is a place where hardy fishermen go, because this is hard fishing. This is not easy fishing. You would not go to a place like this unless you knew what you were doing. And if you didn't, you would go out maybe for a few hours and beg to come back.Yeah, the elements are very harsh. Very harsh elements. And so we really know what we're doing, and we love doing it. We really are master fisher women. So Kevin and Sarah get in one boat, and they give KT and myself another boat with a guide. Every boat has a guide to help you. All right, so Sarah and Kevin zoom off somewhere, and we think we're going to follow them. And our guide goes in an entire different direction than where everybody else goes.And I said, hey, can you take us over to the lighthouse point? I read up in the catalog that this was incredible fishing, you know, for spring salmon, which is the best salmon you can try to catch if you can catch them. And he said, well, it's a little rough over there, girls. I have another cove that I like, and he takes us to this little puddle looking cove, and there's nothing but a bunch of seaweed and seals. And I said, well, you know, shouldn't we, like, be looking for some current running?And so to make a long story short he he started in on well, you know, you girls, we don't want it to be too rough for you, or cold or wet. And we're just looking at him, then he says, what time would you like to go out tomorrow morning? We go, how about 6 a.m.? Everyone starts fishing at 6 a.m. And he says, well, don't you think 7 a.m. is a little bit more lady like? Well.Suze fired him right then and there.So we we come back, every other boat that went out, and there's now quite a few boats, there's like maybe 11 other boats that went out. They come back and they're filled with fish. Our boat comes back and we don't have any.Wait, tell them. The other thing is, when you come in, this is serious fishing. So there's a leaderboard on the dock, and every boat that comes in has to actually take the catch out, weigh it, and mark down on a leaderboard the name of the fisherman, or fisherwoman, and the catch and it's all regulated. It's very serious business.So it is everybody's name with all these fish in there. And Suze and KT, zero. I am not used to zeros, people. Zeroes do not really, on any level, financially or fish-wise, sit well with me. And so now I ask to speak to the manager of the lodge, and they were so excited because Suze Orman was there anyway, and they wanted to please me. Oh, my God did I let them have it. Fired him, I refused to pay for the boat, and we then went into the boat with Sarah and Kevin the next day, which is how it should have been. And from that point on, we had the best time and we actually led the leaderboard.Suze always catches her limit on the first day.But the story that relates, really, to the Women and Money podcastis, you have to have a voice. Even Suze Orman has to have a voice. And when you are doing something and somebody is insulting you, because they don't think you are up to the task, because why, you are a woman? Are you kidding me? So this is the year as we go into 2020, I want every single woman to have a voice, to say what is true for her to stand up for herself, to not ever let anybody else put her down. And now KT is looking at me going, there's that voice of Suze's again.It is. But you have to also forgive, I think that's really important.Why should I forgive him?Well, I'm just kind of taking the lead that he looked at us. We're not, you know, young little spring chickens. We're older, I have gray hair, and he probably thought we were a little fragile and older women.He could have asked.Well, you have to forgive. He should have known and learned, or asked us a few questions about our fishing experience. But he made an assumption right off the bat that we were two old ladies. KT, KT, wait. This is not where Miss KT Travis is sticking up for a man who was sexist, KT.I didnt' say that, no, no, no.He was sexist, he absolutely was. He looked at us and he made a judgment, and we're paying really good money to be there. So I do not want to sit here and do a podcast with you where you are taking a typical female position and defending a man you don't even know. Are you kidding me, this is how we are going to end 2019 and one of the best trips that we had.No, I'm just saying. You just have to... It was a great, let's go back to that.But now here's what's really important. That just happened that you all got to experience that we didn't plan, this is how KT and I argue, and it's OK.We don't really argue, we just have different opinions.What was that? What was that?That wasn't an argument, that's a difference of opinion. I think you should forgive and you don't.But you weren't forgiving, you were defending him.No, I wasn't, he was a jerk. There was nothing I'm defending about a man that made an assumption. I'm just saying that I can forgive him. If I saw him again next season, which, because we're going back again, I wouldn't look at him and turn my nose.Are you telling me if we went back and they assigned you to him again... No, I would never fish with him again. That's over. But I would still be friendly.This isn't about being friendly. We do not go to this lodge to make friends with people. We go to this lodge to catch fish. Do you understand how you're being a woman?No, I'm just being myself, and I think that you have to forgive. I do. Ok, what's the next thing you want to talk about, on the end, on the very last podcast of the Women and Money podcast?Well, we don't have to elaborate anymore about that particular trip, which was great.But don't you see how easy and what's so great? Maybe we should do just forget Women and Money podcast and just be the Suze and KT show. But what's so great about what just happened is that so many times when you're in relationships and you start out with one conversation, and we were just simply telling you the best part of 2019 for us, and it ended up almost, not in an argument, but it was absolutely a disagreement and how...Total disagreement. But listen, Suze and I disagree all the time on issues. I'm many times, I'm right. And whenever it comes to finances she has to be the one that's the lead, she's the lead dancer, everyone. And I have to pretty much succumb to whatever. You know what really aggravates me? Not about you, but when we're out in public, and this just happened to us in Los Angeles. We were in Los Angeles a month or two ago, and I was speaking for 200 CEOs, women CEOs, and afterwards they all came up and they were all saying how great and blah, blah, blah. And this one woman came up to me and said to me, do you know how lucky KT is to have a woman like you? That doesn't sit well with me, does it KT?No, whenever people say that Suze, she turns and says to them and says, no, no, no, no, no. Stop right there. Do you know how lucky I am to have KT?And how does that make you feel when I say that, KT?Great, I love when you say that. It just makes my heart sing and it makes me happy that you really believe that you're the lucky one. We're both lucky, and we know we know that.I am the lucky one. But the reason that I also wanted to tell you that is that a few seconds ago you heard me say it's really important that in this year that we're coming up in 2020 that you have a voice. That you say what's true for you. But what's also really important because remember, the Women and Money podcast is yes, it's about money. But the truth of the matter is, it's really all about you being the strong, smart and secure women that you were born to be. It's about you owning the power to control your destiny. So that means that you want people in your life that value you and tell others how lucky they are that you're in their lives, and they make you feel that way. And if you're in a relationship where you don't feel valued, you don't feel like you're the most precious thing for that person, I don't know, KT. What would you do if that were the case?If I didn't feel valued? Then it's not a good relationship. It isn't.So what would you do? Because there are women that are listening right now that don't feel valued. What would you tell them?Well, if you really love your partner or your spouse, you need to communicate. You need to express that you don't feel valued. And then if the response is defensive, you need to communicate why you feel that way? What is it that would...You know, you don't know exactly how to answer this question, do you? I can see your little face. You have no idea. And you know what's so great about that everybody?It's because I feel valued all the time.KT doesn't even know how to answer that question because she feels so valued. So my question then to you that are listening to me is, do you feel valued? Because if you don't, you really need to make that one of your goals for 2020.You know, the other day I was sitting talking to KT about an email that I got, and I was telling her about this woman who is 50 years of age. She recently lost her husband, he died, and she's not going to be able to collect his social security until she's full social security age. And so, she's not going to have that income. And KT was looking concerned until I said to KT, but she has $2.5 million, and you said, how fabulous. Right?And then I said, but KT, is it fabulous? And she looked at me like, what are you talking about? And the reason that it's not fabulous, even though it's more than most, trust me, is that for her lifestyle she needs $180,000 a year to live on. And there is no way the $2.5 million, some of it is real estate, some of it she lives in. But, you know, in assets her total net worth is that, can generate after taxes, $180,000 a year. So even with all of that money, KT, she's in trouble financially speaking. So she's having her financial advisor continuously liquidating stock, so she has money to live on.So the point that, again, I'm making for all of you for the year 2020. It's not about making more money, it's about making more out of the money you already make. And the problem is, so many of you postpone things that you need to do to cut down your expenses today. You think, well, I love this house, it's it's really more house than I need. But I love it so much, so rather than selling it right now, you wait. You go, well, you know, I'll sell it in five years from now, 10 years from now, when I get older. No, you have to take actions today so that you never find yourself in a situation, even if you have $2.5 million net worth, of not being able to pay your bills without liquidating things. So I want you to march into 2020 making a list of what are all the things that you can do today, or within the next week or two, or start the process to eliminate. Can you have just one car? Can you get a smaller house? Can you do things that make sense so that you're spending less money? Why do you have that look on your face?Because it depends on who's listening to this podcast, their age and also the idea of downsizing, eliminating?Why does it depend on their age?Because if you're speaking to me and someone who's already at retirement age, versus someone that's just starting to work, for instance, I think there's a big difference. There is a big difference. Well, not necessarily. No, let me ask you this question. If I'm 25 years old and I have student loan debt, that's the only debt I have. I just landed my first job. I would want you to tell me what I should start accumulating in terms of assets, savings, saving for retirement.I would tell you the same thing.Because I don't have anything to start eliminating, I have to start gaining.You have to eliminate your student loan debt. You have to then start accumulating money, an emergency savings account. You have to accumulate a retirement account. Hopefully, you will accumulate a Roth IRA.Now, listen to me, on January 2nd, I am going to be going over the Secure Act provisions that were signed into legislation December 20, 2019. And all these years that I have been telling you do a Roth IRA, do a Roth 401k, do a Roth 403b, you're going to find out in the legislation that was just passed why doing a Roth, and all of you should have listened to me. All the pundits out there that would say no, no, get the tax write off today, you'll be in a lower tax bracket years from now, you'll be able to do all this stuff. Why you should absolutely take advantage of a Roth now because of this legislation that passed. So please make sure that you listen to the January 2nd podcast when I tell you all kinds of things that you really need to know that have changed, that have absolutely changed in how you take money out of retirement accounts, what you coan do with student loans, and things like that.I also want to share with everybody recently what we went through today and yesterday about, and KT now is looking at me like, what are you talking about? I want to talk about this, KT, because it's really important to me.OK, all right.Which is a little bit ago, I made a commitment that I was going to do something. And the truth of the matter is, I don't want to do it. I really don't want to do it. But I gave my word. At the time she made the commitment, she really wanted to do it. But now a lot of circumstances from that time until present has changed Suze's position on wanting to do this thing. My Gemini.I could if I wanted to, very easily, get out of doing this thing that I said I was going to do. I could just say I'm not doing it, but I gave my word that I was going to do it and I have for two days now, been like, but I don't want to do it. I work really hard, I don't want to do this, I want to stay here, I want to be with everybody, I want a fish. I don't want to do this, why can't I put myself first? It's OK. And so I decided, OK, I'm not doing it. I'm just not going to do it. And KT kept looking at me, saying, are you sure you don't want to do? And I go, I don't want to do it, and it's OK, KT. Suze got mad at me. I looked at her and I said, Suze, when you keep your word, you have to follow up and keep your word. And she really did not want to have to fulfill this commitment. And I looked at her and I said, OK, listen, it's your choice, whatever you decide, I'll support. But I kept looking at her with this expression like, are you sure you don't want to keep your word? Well, she goes to sleep, wakes up this morning, she says, what do you think? And it's 6:30 in the morning, and I'm thinking, when are we going fishing? And she said, no, what do you think? Should we go? Should I do? Should I keep the appointment? And I said, hey, listen, this is up to you.I already canceled everything, cancelled everything, I canceled everything to get to do this, all right, and to come off the island. The whole thing canceled, canceled everything.And she was really excited that she had canceled everything. And then she looked at it and I said, well, it's up to you, how do you feel? And she said, I can't ever lie and I don't ever want to not keep my word. I said, Suze, this is taking your own advice. You have to stand in your truth, girlfriend. Stand in your truth. And within minutes, everyone, it's 6:30 in the morning. Within minutes, we didn't even have coffee yet.I woke up sick to my stomach. I was sick to my stomach even at the thought of not keeping my word.I go and make coffee and she comes and joins me 15 minutes later. OK, KT, it's on, we're going. She said, I did, I reinstated everything. And I said you did? I said good, I'm proud of you, I'm happy for you and for me, too. Yeah, because, even though I still don't want to do it, what I don't want to do even more than that is to not keep my word. And that's actually how I want us to end this podcast. In that out of all the advice that I could ever give you, financially speaking, the greatest words of wealth that I could bestow upon you and share with you are the words of, that if you don't keep your word, you really are destined to a life of poverty. A life of poverty of spirit. And when I say stand in your truth, I mean stand in your truth, even if it's something you don't want to do. And we do always say something between both KT and I, right, KT, let's see if we can say together. Let's see if we know what we're going to say.It's better to do what's right than to do what's easy. So it's easy sometimes to not do things that you said you wanted to do and the time comes and now you don't want to do it, but it's not right. So as we all walk into 2020, may we walk into that year with truth as our best friend,with honesty as our guide, as the ability to be kind to others.So I leave you with this thought, the thought is, money can come and money can go. But true wealth is that which never can diminish. KT and I both wish you a 2020 that is filled with true wealth and filled with the knowledge of knowing that we wish you what, KT?Happy, Happy New Year, baby! In providing answers, Suze Orman is not acting as a certified financial planner, advisor, a certified financial analyst, an economist, CPA, accountant or lawyer. Suze Orman does not make any recommendations as to any specific securities or investments. All content is for informational and general purposes only and does not constitute financial accounting or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and financial advisors regarding your particular situation. Suze Orman does not accept any responsibility for any loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on the information in this podcast, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all liability for loss or damages, direct or indirect, arising from the use of the information. To find the right Credit Union for you, visit https://www.mycreditunion.gov/. Interested in Suze's Must Have Documents? Go to https://shop.suzeorman.com/checkout/cart/index/.