Podcast Episode - The Poverty of Impatience


401k, Investing, Retirement, Roth IRA, Saving


May 31, 2020

Listen to Podcast Episode:

While watching the unrest and the events unfold in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Suze started thinking about the state of the world and what happens when we get impatient and angry.


Podcast Transcript:

May 31, 2020. Welcome to the Women and Money podcast, as well as the men smart enough to listen. Before I begin today's podcast, I just want to give my condolences to George Floyd's family, friends, and acquaintances as well as all those in the United States who are affected by happenings like this. And that should be every single one of us because it's just not right. And today's podcast really has something to do with this event. And today's podcast is called The Poverty of Impatience. It is very obvious to see what's happening throughout the entire United States because so many people, and again, rightfully so, are impatient about the change that needed to happen. They feel violated, they feel disrespected, and they can't stand it anymore. It's happened too many times and their patience has absolutely run out, and now destruction of all kinds is happening. Rightly or wrongly, it doesn't matter, it's what is happening. And my fear is, this is the trigger, honest to God, this is the trigger of everybody really wanting answers to their questions about everything that just isn't making sense. They're going to want answers to the economy, they're going to want answers to the virus, they're going to want answers to their employment, and their patience is going to run out. And when patience runs out, as you're all witnessing right now, tremendous built-up anger comes out and things started to get burned down and destroyed and everything, because that's what anger does. It destroys, and it destroys things that should not even be destroyed because they had nothing to do with the events that you're angry about. So this is a period of time this month that I'm really afraid that this is going to start to trigger many, many riots and disruptions and anger for all kinds of things throughout not only the United States but also possibly the world as well. It will not surprise me if we start to enter serious trade wars, especially with China. If the world leaders that don't have any really intelligent answers to what's happening and why it happened are all going to start to collide. Now, how does this affect all of you? You will tend, in my opinion, to get caught up in everything that's about to happen or that I think is going to happen. I hope I am so wrong, I can't even tell you. I hope I am 100% wrong that we don't have wars with one another, that we don't go at one another, that all the world starts to settle down and work together. But I just don't think that's going to happen. I think the one good piece of news is going to be that we are going to find a cure for this virus. I think that's going to happen sooner than later because so much money is being thrown at it, and so many people want to solve it and probably they will. Do I also think then in the months of June and July, that we're going to see the virus resurface again? Oh, you bet I do. You bet I do, and that goes back to the poverty of impatience. So many of you, yeah, you, so many of you were so impatient to get out of your house. To be free, to go out to eat, to go and do these things that you just did so, and you didn't put masks on, you didn't keep your distance because that was a right that you felt was taken away from you. All right, OK, go do whatever you want, but I think you're going to see that that is going to backfire on you. And not just you, but many people. So, don't be surprised if the virus starts to increase again in June and July. But with that said, I still think come September or so, October, November, there will be good news on that front. But will there be good news on other fronts? I don't think so. I have said to you forever that the stock market is not the economy, and I still believe that the economy is going to suffer big time. The only part of the economy that may not suffer, but it may cause other things to be more expensive so then the economy suffers that way, will be oil, believe it or not. I told you months ago that I thought in June, which is right around the corner here, that oil will start to become more expensive. You should see XLE start to go up even more. It's gone up considerably now, so you know, not so bad. But other than that, you just have to be patient with the stock market. Again, I get that the market was going up and the market was going up and the market was going up, and then all of a sudden, it kind of hit a wall here. Was that wall George Floyd, was that wall everything that's coming out of the White House and people are confused, I don't know, but it's hit a wall here. What does that mean? That means you just have to keep plowing through that wall month in and month out with amounts of money that are relatively small, are manageable for you, that you keep dollar-cost averaging into your 401k plans, your retirement plans, or your investment accounts. If you're not buying individual stocks and you don't know what to buy, again, I would like you to simply dollar cost average into the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF. Why the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF versus the Standard and Poor's that I always used to talk about? Because the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index has all kinds of stocks in it, as well as all levels of income. Small-cap, large-cap, mid-cap, all of them, and the Standard and Poor's 500 really doesn't, that's why. So you need diversification, more diversification than what the Standard and Poor's 500 Index gives you. Just that simple. But I have to tell you, I'm really not worried about the stock market, I'm not. You know, even if it goes down and goes down dramatically, OK, just keep dollar-cost averaging. What the market should have shown you over the past two months, it has the ability to rise very quickly if it wants to. But if you really have time on your side and I keep saying this to you, don't get bogged down and just keep doing it. Just have blinders on month in and month out. Just keep doing it, and by February or whatever it is, you'll be fine, all right? The market is not what's worrying me, your investments are not what's worrying me for the long run. What's worrying me is your impatience. Your impatience about almost everything that's about to happen and that has happened. So I don't like what's going on out there at all right now. You've heard me say that anger is one of the main internal obstacles to wealth. You've heard me say your thoughts create your destiny. Be very, very careful about what you think because what you think, you eventually say, what you say becomes your actions, your actions become your habits, and your habits become your destiny. And I am so afraid of what I'm seeing when two nights ago, Friday night, I sat there and I watched everybody attacking the CNN building in Atlanta when the day before that I watched reporters and cameramen being arrested that worked for CNN. I'm like, what world are we living in right now? Have we lost freedom of speech? Are we are so angry at the right versus the left, Democrat versus Republican, that we are willing to destroy buildings, possibly lives and other things? Are we that impatient and angry right now? And I got news for you we are, the question is, are you? What are you going to do? Are you going to get caught up with negativity, with anger, with these conspiracy theories, with everything that's going to come out of Washington on both sides? This is not Democrat-Republican. This is just what's going on out there, and you need to listen to me right now. Well, hopefully, you're listening to me because you're listening to the podcast, that my intention here is to protect you. It is so that you can do the intention of this podcast, which is to be strong, smart, and secure. So to be smart, you have to be strong, and you have to dwell in positivity, not in negativity. Because there's going to be more negativity that goes around between now and the election than has ever happened before in our life. And there is no way on November 8 we're going to know who is the president of the United States. This is going to go on for a long time, so politics are going to be politics, and you're just going to have to do what's in your heart to do what's right and vote for who you really believe has the best interest of America at heart. That's on you. But what's important is, you can vote. You can get involved, but you don't have to get angry, you don't have to get impatient, you don't have to contribute to all the vindictive behavior and rhetoric and theories that are going to be going out every possible way. Because if you get involved with all that, then the only person that it's really going to hurt is you. Because when that happens, it will distract you from doing that which you need to do. And what is it that you need to do? You need to make money, you need to invest wisely, you need to stay happy, you need to stay healthy. As soon as you get angry, as soon as you get involved in that, there goes what? There goes your immune system and there comes the virus, there comes illness. So, you need to have faith that everything really does happen for the best because I think over these next months, we're going to see things that we've never seen before. We never saw this virus, we never experienced that. We've never experienced unemployment in the entire United States totally shutting down. What else is in store for us to experience and see that we have never, ever experienced before? Because it is out there and in my opinion, it is coming. You can see it, you can feel it, and I don't want you to get involved with, whose fault is it? You know, why is this happening to us? Because you're going to want answers, and I don't think they're going to be answers to the questions that you have, and I don't think that there are going to be resolutions to many of the problems that you have. And rumors and rumors and rumors are going to go all over the place. So I need you to keep good company. Listen to that podcast, I have a whole podcast on it. You could go to the Women and Money app, and you can search, "Keep Good Company" and up will come what? The podcast, you can read it or you can listen to it again. I need you to think great thoughts. Oh, you can go to the podcast as well and listen to it. Again, I need you to not get involved with all the rhetoric that is happening out there and I need you to keep the long view and be patient. To be patient. Remember, those of you who were impatient when those markets went down a few months ago, you immediately sold out because you just couldn't take it. And now, I know you are regretting it. And now, I know that you're thinking, when can I get back in? And you haven't gotten back in. So, you need to know that when you are impatient with your life as well as with your money, that's when you make mistakes. Now listen. If investing, if doing all these things is making you feel insecure, then don't invest. And don't do it because the goal of money is for you to be secure, and if you're doing anything that makes you feel insecure, why in the world would you do it? So just do that, which makes you feel secure. But impatience is different than security. Impatience is, I can't do this, I'm so impatient, I want this market to come back up. It's going down too much, it's just driving, whatever, and you get out. If you've been in the market, and you had what it took to get in the market, whether it's through your 401k, retirement accounts, your regular investment accounts, then obviously, investing wasn't making you feel insecure. Otherwise, you never would have invested, to begin with. What's making you feel insecure is all the things that are going on around you that you don't understand. But again, the economy isn't the stock market. This economy is absolutely going to take a blow. How they're ever going to pay back all these trillions of dollars and everything, I don't have a clue. But I do think that years from now or sooner than later, you have to see tax brackets go up. Which again, is why I want you to always choose the Roth retirement account choices if they are available to you. Because what you see in a Roth retirement account is what you get. That is not true in a traditional retirement account. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go back to the Women and Money app and by the way, to download the app, just go to Apple Apps or Google Play and search for Suze Orman, and you will find the app there. So, you would go to the Women and Money app and search Roth IRAs and you'll find all that out. But this podcast is a little different. Can you hear the emotion in my voice or the intensity? It's a little bit more intense than it's been lately. I've actually been feeling really great and feeling positive and that things were going to be OK and that, you know, the cure would come probably at the end of this year and then by next year, whatever. But then I started to see what went on when George Floyd was murdered and then I realized we have problems. Not just because of that incident, because of the pent up anger that you can see within every single person out there, and they're taking it out on anybody that comes in their way. That concerns me. And what concerned me was that Friday night, I found myself sitting in front of the television for hours and watching it. Normally, I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't watch the destruction, I would go do something else. But I sat there and I got caught up in it and was that good for me? Is that good for you? I don't know, but I don't think so. So the main focus of this podcast is for you to not get caught up in all the negativity that is going to start coming our way. My biggest concern for the economy is China. I think we are going to find out many things about China in the upcoming months. And we will, like I said, have a significant trade war with them, in my opinion. And who knows, it could escalate to more than just a trade war. Anything is possible. I think we're also entering hurricane season. Earthquakes happen, all kinds of things go on and again, I talked about this in previous podcasts. But nature can deal an incredible financial blow as well. What are you going to do during this time? You're going to do what I asked you to do. You're going to keep good company, people who talk about positive things and things that calm you, not things that rile you. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be politically active and things like that. But just stand in the truth of what you know is true, not what you hear is true, but what you know is true. What does all of this have to do with money? Everything. Because remember, you and your money are one. You are the one who goes out and works for it, earns it if you get a job, invest it, saves it, everything. You and your money are one, and again, I've said that to you forever. So, if you start getting upset, if you start getting angry, if you start being really dark about this world and everything that's happening, you will watch that happen with your money as well. So all I want you to do is stay positive, to keep good company, to stand in your truth, to have faith that everything happens for the best, to think great thoughts, to say great words, to wish others greatness, to do what's right versus doing what's easy, and don't get caught up in the negativity. Don't become impatient because you don't have answers, because you don't like what's going on, because you can't get a job you're still not getting your unemployment. Don't let impatience lead you to poverty, for my friends, it absolutely will. In providing answers neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman is acting as a Certified Financial Planner, advisor, a Certified Financial Analyst, an economist, CPA, accountant, or lawyer. Neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman makes 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. Neither Suze Orman Media nor Suze Orman accepts 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 use of the information.

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