Podcast Episode - Prepare For The Expected
January 05, 2023
Listen to Podcast Episode:
On this Suze and KT Stories episode, Suze and KT reflect on the death of a dear friend, as well as the death of Barbara Walters. How prepared are you for what will happen when you pass on?
Podcast Transcript:
00:00:32
KT: Happy New Year everyone.
00:00:33
Suze: Yes it is January 5, 2023. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast as well as
00:00:43
KT: Everyone is smart enough to listen.
00:00:44
Suze: Yes. And that means everybody now. Normally on the women and money podcast every Thursday, today
00:00:54
Suze: is Ask KT and Suze anything and every Sunday is usually Suze School. Although I have to tell you the truth the other day. What did I say to you, KT? Maybe we need to add what?
00:01:08
KT: Oh, a third podcast... every week or once a month?
00:01:13
Suze: I don't know. We'll have to see what should it be. What did we decide
00:01:17
KT: Something about us?
00:01:18
Suze: Maybe just Suze Stories or Suze and KT stories, right? Because a lot of you have so many questions that are kind of personal in nature, you want to get to know us a little bit better and so maybe we'll think about doing that. However, even though today is supposedly and Ask KT and Suze Anything podcast,
00:01:43
Suze: I'm still having a little bit of trouble getting just into straight finance. I just am.
00:01:53
KT: We're not ready.
00:01:54
Suze: We're not, I'm not ready. Are you ready?
00:01:56
KT: I don't think anyone's ready. It's only January fifth.
00:01:58
Suze: So I'm not quite ready yet because since December 30, wouldn't you agree? In our lives KT, and many other people's lives, a lot has happened
00:02:11
Suze: and a lot that could have affected you will affect you one day and therefore I want to do Suze and KT stories about a friend of ours by the name of Rosario, stories about Barbara Walters. And most recently, what many people or, most of you have now seen happened to Damar Hamlin who is a football player.
00:02:41
KT: Twenty four years old Suze...
00:02:43
Suze: For the Buffalo Bill
00:02:45
KT: Number three.
00:02:46
Suze: So which one should we start with KT? Well
00:02:48
KT: Well of course our friend Rosario. Oh my goodness!
00:02:53
Suze: So the reason that I want to tell these stories and KT agreed with me and we don't want to make this a downer by any means for the beginning of the year. We want this year to be joyful and loving and peaceful. We want that.
00:03:10
Suze: But realities happen and what we really want for all of you is to be prepared for the unexpected
00:03:19
KT: For the what ifs, right Suze?
00:03:20
Suze: To be prepared for the expected one of the biggest unexpected things happened or started to happen actually Thanksgiving of last year 00:03:33
Suze: and Rosario is a friend of ours who happens to be best friends with a really good friend of ours by the name of Bridget.
00:03:43
Suze: And Rosario's birthday. Her 61st birthday was right around Thanksgiving and she and Bridget came to the island
00:03:55
Suze: to celebrate her birthday just for a few hours believe it or not. And then go back
00:04:02
KT: to Miami...
00:04:02
Suze: to Miami where they live. Rosario also lives in Madrid. And just the other day when KT and I were walking on the beach...
00:04:14
KT: Oh yeah, we looked at each other and I said
00:04:16
KT: you know Suze now that you're getting better and stronger and you can walk and travel and do things. I would love to go to Madrid and visit with Rosario. She's so much fun, we can go to all the great restaurants with her.
00:04:31
KT: And I said let's see Bridget and we'll ask about her, we're going to visit with Bridget today
00:04:36
Suze: because we knew Bridget was going to come over and again, this was when Bridget came over...
00:04:42
KT: A few days ago...
00:04:43
Suze: December 29, right... Bridget comes over
00:04:49
Suze: and we're talking to her and Bridget doesn't quite seem like Bridget. Bridget is always up going and loving and joyful and we say what's wrong? She said Suze, I have to tell you something. 00:05:02
KT: She said we have really disturbing news about Rosario. And we said what happened?
00:05:07
Suze: And what happened was this as they were leaving to get on their boat to go back to Miami Rosario's legs started to have these like twitches in them.
00:05:19
Suze: And Bridget being Bridget, being friends with rosario now for 34 years. Fabulous best friends, decided to take a video of it and send it to her doctor. Rosario was like oh it's happened before, it's no big deal.
00:05:36
Suze: Well to Bridget, it was a big deal, thank God. And she sent that video to her doctor who happened to look at it and immediately got back to Bridget and said get rosario to the hospital right away. They go back to Miami, Rosario goes to the hospital with Bridget and before you know it
00:06:02
Suze: they have Rosario in to have a cat scan and everything else to make a very long story short. That day Rosario was rushed into an operation because they had found three tumors in her brain that had to immediately come out.
00:06:23
Suze: Rosario had the operation, stayed in the hospital for three weeks. And during that time they also found out that she had stage four lung cancer. Now I tell you this because a few weeks ago Rosario was dancing and laughing and stunning and beautiful.
00:06:46
KT: Very young at heart everyone and really
00:06:48
Suze: the picture of health.
00:06:50
Suze: However, now she's diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and after three weeks in the hospital she goes home. And they're going to start radiation and chemo this week and that's what Bridget was telling us. And she was crying because she had spent the three weeks in the hospital with Rosario but she was so happy that she was home.
00:07:17
Suze: Bridget was hopeful she was scared but she was still hopeful.
00:07:22
Suze: That very next morning that was December 30 of last year.
00:07:27
Suze: I get a text saying, "Suze, she died."
00:07:33
Suze: That's all she said
00:07:35
KT: with a little angel in the text.
00:07:36
Suze: She died and a little angel crying. So of course KT and I went over to Bridget's home.
00:07:46
KT: Which is just on the other side of the island.
00:07:48
Suze: And we were talking to her, what happened?
00:07:51
KT: No we just cried a long time then started understanding as it unraveled, crying, crying, crying
00:07:59
Suze: And it turned out that at about 1:30 in that morning on the 30th, Rosario had trouble breathing, they took her back to the hospital and they pronounced her dead at five a.m.
00:08:16
Suze: Why do we tell everybody this story, KT?
00:08:20
KT: Because it wasn't expected Suze. What was expected was that she was on the mend. She was on the path of recovery but a whole new life ahead of her. One that she obviously didn't want. One that Bridget was
00:08:35
KT: really excited to be in her side and take care of her. It was unexpected, totally unexpected.
00:08:42
Suze: And so now Rosario's family is here, her sisters, her mother, her father, everybody. And now Rosario owns a condominium in Florida and all Rosario has is a will.
00:08:59
Suze: That means that the condo and everything is going to have to be probated and other things. So now they're going to have to deal with the ramifications of rosario not having a living revocable trust. I just want you to put a pin in that for one second.
00:09:21
Suze: Now, I want to go to Barbara Walters.
00:09:23
KT: Well wait the same night after we cried all afternoon, we're watching the news and it said Barbara Walters has died at the age of 93 and Suze and I look at each other and I said, Oh my goodness! What an amazing woman! What a great life! What a legacy.
00:09:44
KT: And we were so lucky to be part of it for many years.
00:09:48
Suze: For many years,
00:09:49
KT: Many years.
00:09:50
Suze: So we thought that maybe because Barbara who hasn't been seen in public for at least six years by the way, even with her good friends, I think her publicist was able to see her and be with her. But people who have been with her
00:10:05
Suze: that we know that we're very close, she didn't want anybody to see them.
00:10:09
KT: You know, something about Barbara that maybe people don't know. She was very proud and very strong willed and very, very, you know, um
00:10:21
KT: independent and we, we witnessed it firsthand, let me tell them the story. So we were on The View often, Suze was always a guest on the view.
00:10:31
Suze: I hosted it a few times as well.
00:10:32
KT: And Barbara loved when Suze was on The View because she would always come into our little green room and say Suze, we need to talk.
00:10:40
KT: And I knew always to exit at that point because it was obviously about money. So to make a long story short that one particular day we're all leaving The View's building and our driver Ari is waiting for us and Barbara's in front of her car with a driver but they had a flat tire. I said come on, come with us, we'll take you home. She said, well I'm going over to lunch in Columbus Circle, you can take me to the restaurant, We said great, she jumps in the car
00:11:09
KT: Ari.. she opens the door
00:11:11
Suze: because it was winter and it was cold out and it's a long walk and she has kind of heels on.
00:11:17
KT: Tall heels, long walk and I said come with us. So she sits in the car, we pull up to the restaurant which was right there at curbside and she opens the door and starts to exit and I said Ari go help her. Ari jumps out of the car, goes to the other side, which he normally would do, but Barbara was like, you know, bat out of hell, She was in a hurry
00:11:39
KT: and Ari goes to take her by the arm and she pulls it away and said, I'm fine, I can do that, I can walk, I'm okay, I don't need your help. And she was really annoyed that he was trying to help her like an older woman, but he was a polite gentleman, that's not how she saw it.
00:11:59
Suze: And this was very close to the time really when Barbara was close to stop being on The View,
00:12:05
Suze: so she was older then.
00:12:07
KT: Another fun story about Barbara is that when the green rooms were about to a little elevator flight or two staircases down from the studio where we actually filmed The View and these were old buildings, they still are and Barbara and Whoopi and and all of them would all carry their shoes with them to the studio and put them on and Barbara,
00:12:35
KT: was walking down barefoot, Suze looked at her and said, where's your shoes? She goes, oh my word, I forgot my shoes.
00:12:41
Suze: So I ran up and got her heels for her. But a lot of great fun stories.
00:12:48
Suze: But one thing I just have to say is that
00:12:52
Suze: the one thing, even though Barbara could ask anybody anything and that's what she's known for in her interviews. Absolutely. The one thing in public that she still didn't quite like talking about, was money and there I am and I'm around the round table with everybody and we start talking about money
00:13:18
Suze: and I say to everybody, it goes something like this. I can't quite remember. So what do all of you make a year?
00:13:27
Suze: And they all just all look at me like, oh no, don't go there. And I go, no, we all have to learn to talk about money and be proud of what we make or we don't make it did not go over well at all. Right. So I go, I'll start
00:13:43
Suze: And I think I said I made that year. I'm going to make $6 million that year or whatever it was. And the other women just kind of looked at me and it was as if no, don't go there. And Barbara flashed me this look and I went, okay, never mind. So, there were still some topics that on air...
00:14:05
KT: Taboo!
00:14:05
Suze: Barbara did not like talking about. However, this is one thing I do know.
00:14:13
Suze: Barbara took care of the unexpected. Barbara told everybody exactly what she wanted when she died. And all of the plans. Now we'll see if people honor what she wanted versus what maybe ABC or other people want. But she took care of business.
00:14:35
KT: She was in control.
00:14:35
Suze: She knew that death was expected.
00:14:40
Suze: Rosario did not expect death nor did any of her family members
00:14:45
KT: or
00:14:46
Suze: friends. Barbara expected death.
00:14:50
Suze: And of course, we all need to do a little prayer, seriously for Damar Hamlin. Right, who did not expect that his mother who was sitting in the stadium that night. Did not expect that she would be riding in an ambulance
00:15:10
KT: With a 24 year old son.
00:15:13
Suze: None of that was expected. And it was so unexpected
00:15:18
Suze: that for the first time in NFL history nobody could continue the game and thank God the NFL just shut it down.
00:15:30
Suze: But is that something which should say, none of this should ever be unexpected. Things can happen. And when they happen you have to know that all of your documents are in order so that the people that are left behind
00:15:53
Suze: don't have to go, Oh my God, where's this? Where's that? Now? We have to go through probate. How do we get into their bank accounts? How do we shut everything down? They're on automatic bill pay? They're going to continue to pay these bills and we don't know how to stop it. All these things have to be taken care of. So the number one thing
00:16:18
Suze: that KT and I are asking you to get in order for the year 2023 is what KT?
00:16:27
KT: Your living revocable trust and will. And you must have documents
00:16:32
Suze: Which are your advanced directive and durable power of attorney for healthcare, your financial power of attorney. Because I want all of you to have the must have documents. All of you know, I am not a lawyer,
00:16:48
Suze: but Janet Deborah Volney is a lawyer and she has been my estate lawyer now for how many years KT?
00:16:56
KT: Oh my goodness! Your lifetime.
00:16:58
Suze: A long time and a long time ago is when I spoke to Janet, I said Janet, can you make your documents, your forms available to everybody at a price that they can afford?
00:17:12
Suze: I'll tell everybody about them how it works and about them. I'll tell everybody that those are the exact same documents, your documents that you prepared for me are the same documents and forms that you provided to Hay House so that they could program them and make it so that everybody could use them. 00:17:37
Suze: And that's what we did starting years and years ago. So I asked, Hay House,
00:17:45
Suze: could we make the must have documents available to all of you who are listening to this right now for free.
00:17:57
KT: A gift!
00:17:58
Suze: A gift! A gift from Rosario. A gift from Barbara Walters
00:18:06
Suze: and a gift from all those really, who experience the unexpected, even though everything should always be expected in life.
00:18:20
Suze: And Margaret who runs Hay House along with Reid Tracy said to me absolutely Suze. And so here's what all of you who listen to the Women and Money podcast. The very first day that it drops. This is a gift for you because here is how you are going to get them. You have to download the Women and Money app
00:18:47
Suze: and you do that by simply going to Apple apps or Google play.
00:18:53
Suze: And when you download them,
00:18:56
Suze: you are going to go right there to the very first square that says get the latest news and updates from Suze. You're going to click on that and you are going to see a link
00:19:10
Suze: that takes you directly to the must have documents and your activation code to get them for free is "protect2023" all one word "protect2023." It does not matter how you enter it. Capital letter small. It doesn't matter. All right.
00:19:34
Suze: But what's important for you to know is first that these must have documents and I call them that because you must have them in my opinion. These documents which are a living trust, a will, an advanced directive and durable Power of Attorney for healthcare and Financial Power of Attorney.
00:19:55
Suze: Would cost you approximately $2500 or more, if you went to Janet who created these forms. Just something for you to think about.
00:20:09
Suze: But you also need to know that this offer is good for one day only and it expires midnight January 5th Pacific time or 3 a.m. on the sixth East Coast time.
00:20:30
Suze: So you need to know that if you try to do it after that it's not going to work. I wanted all of you who are such devoted fans of the Women and Money podcast that you always listen to it the day that it drops. That is our gift.
00:20:51
Suze: Actually it's Hay House's gift from them from us to all of you.
00:21:00
Suze: That's what we wanted to tell everybody. Right, KT.
00:21:03
KT: Yeah. What about my quizzie?
00:21:07
KT: Really? What about my quizzie?
00:21:10
Suze: All right.
00:21:13
Suze: I didn't have one prepared.
00:21:15
KT: I think I know the answer to the quizzie. The quizzie is: What should you all do in 2023?
00:21:23
Suze: Want me to answer your quizzie?
00:21:24
KT: You answer my quizzie Suze, what should everyone do in 2023?
00:21:31
Suze: Get your financial house in order.
00:21:38
KT: Ding Ding Ding Ding!!
00:21:38
Suze: I got it right! I can't even believe it. Alright. Happy New Year and all new years now over KT. So we don't have to say it anymore. However
00:21:49
Suze: Suze school on Sunday which will be a Financial Suze School that every single one of you needs to listen to because so many things have changed and if you don't know about them for your retirement accounts for all kinds of things. You will be making a big mistake. So there's only one thing that we want you all to remember and that is today, wherever we go,
00:22:19
Suze: we will create a peaceful,
00:22:22
KT: joyful
00:22:23
Suze: and loving world. Alright, everybody, you stay safe and secure. See you on Sunday. Bye bye.
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