Podcast Episode - Suze School: Making Winning Moves For Your Money
August 17, 2023
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On this special Thursday episode of Suze School, we hear about how Suze was inspired by watching the Women’s Soccer World Cup.
Podcast Transcript:
00:00:00
Intro / Outro: Ok, Suze. Are you ready for today's podcast?
00:00:03
Intro / Outro: Oh, you bet I am because I'm unstoppable!(Music In)
00:00:29
Suze: August 17th, 2023. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast as well as everybody smart enough to listen. I know, I know
00:00:39
Suze: you're all going... wait a minute. It's Thursday, Where is KT? Well, I decided to kind of switch up the game plan and KT will be doing, Ask KT and Suze anything this Sunday when we will be answering questions about
00:00:59
Suze: the inherited IRAs as well as the differences in beneficiaries. So do not worry about it. All right.
00:01:08
Suze: So do you like women's soccer? Do you like soccer? I have to tell you, I love soccer, especially when it is the World Cup.
00:01:18
Suze: And I also love watching Messi play now in Miami. Oh my God. Is that something? However,
00:01:26
Suze: as you may or may not know, yesterday was the semifinal of women's soccer and now Spain and England will be going into the finals this Sunday. Are you curious as to who I want to win?
00:01:46
Suze: I absolutely have a favorite. But anyway, when I was watching this and I have to tell you I've watched now, almost every single match, whether it's at 1 a.m. in the morning, 4 a.m. in the morning, east coast time, 6 a.m. or whatever it may be. I have watched almost every single match and I have to tell you that I learned a few things,
00:02:13
Suze: you know, because I have this theory that everything I'm watching everywhere I go, everything that happens, it's there for me to learn something from
00:02:27
Suze: something that I could apply to my financial life, to your financial life, to life in general.
00:02:35
Suze: And so I did, I learned quite a few things from watching women's soccer the past few weeks. Number one, I learned when you want to win, you have to give it everything you have. If you just let up for one second, just one second, it will absolutely cost you. It will.
00:03:03
Suze: Number two, what others think of you where you are rated where you are in any part of a ranking system. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what others think about you or your ratings say about you.
00:03:24
Suze: It only matters what you know, is true for yourself.
00:03:29
Suze: And Colombia was such a team and obviously Colombia was Colo's team. He's from Colombia and he wanted them to win so much. I can't even tell you
00:03:44
Suze: however
00:03:46
Suze: they were counted out from the very start. They just were,
00:03:51
Suze: but they made it all the way for their first time in their history to the quarter finals. So,
00:04:00
Suze: if you give up on yourselves and you believe what others are saying about you,
00:04:06
Suze: you'll just never know. Are you a true winner or are you a loser?
00:04:13
Suze: What do you really have inside of you that, you know, you have, but others might not believe that you have
00:04:23
Suze: and I can relate to this one so much because back in my life, everybody really thought that I was a loser
00:04:32
Suze: that I would never be much more than a waitress. Although being a waitress was one of the greatest things in my life, but they never thought that I was that smart that I could do anything. And I've told you these stories before, but I know I'm a winner. I know I'm unstoppable and it didn't matter what other people thought.
00:04:54
Suze: Number three,
00:04:56
Suze: there are times when a team has to just go slow and steady, then there's a time when it's right to just really go for it because as KT was watching these games with me, she kept saying, why do they keep kicking it to the backfield? Why can't they just kick it up and make a goal? Why do they have to keep going backwards? Because in life in soccer,
00:05:23
Suze: you sometimes have to go back in order to go really forward to slow everything down, to get it to be steady so that you can have a game plan and then when the time comes, you go for it and the end result sometimes not always, but sometimes is a goal. But number four,
00:05:48
Suze: it takes a team effort. No matter how good one of your players happens to be, you have to have a team in order to score. Somebody has to step up to the play when you're not in the right position or whatever it may be, but it truly takes a team
00:06:09
Suze: to win. So here are the questions that you have to ask and answer for yourselves. Are you, have you taken out your Suze notebooks? Are you giving everything you have to implementing your financial game plan? Are you, have you even taken the time to create a plan?
00:06:37
Suze: Because what I found so fascinating about soccer is for so long, it just looked to me like it was chaos. They just kicked the ball here, kicked the ball there, maybe they picked it up, maybe they didn't. But I have now come to learn that there are plays, there is a game plan
00:06:55
Suze: and sometimes when it comes to your money, you buy this stock, you sell that you get into this ETF you're buying short term T bills now, long term bonds, you're buying real estate, you're selling, it's just like you're doing everything without a true game plan.
00:07:14
Suze: The game plan being, what do you do when a happens? What do you do when B happens? But you have to have a game plan.
00:07:24
Suze: So are you giving everything? You have to number one, creating that plan and implementing that plan?
00:07:34
Suze: Because I have found again, when it comes to most of you and your money,
00:07:40
Suze: you don't really have a plan, you don't really care about planning for it. You wait till the last minute to do your taxes. You still haven't done your will and your trust in all of those things. You fail to plan. And you know that saying saying if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
00:08:00
Suze: Number two, if you feel like you are a financial underdog,
00:08:08
Suze: if you continue to feel that way or believe that way, you always will be one.
00:08:16
Suze: If you feel that there's no hope for you because you're always in credit card debt that you're always spending more than you should. You don't have the ability to save or do any of those things. You are just an underdog in this game called Financial Planning.
00:08:34
Suze: Then you're always going to be an underdog because your attitude is
00:08:41
Suze: I'm never gonna get anywhere. So why should I even try?
00:08:45
Suze: You need to try because you have more ability in you than you have any idea. You in my opinion most likely have been hiding behind excuses that have seemed so simple for you to hide behind.
00:09:07
Suze: You didn't grow up in a family that taught you about money. You didn't grow up with any advantages one excuse after another excuse after another, I could give you every possible excuse why I should not have a penny to my name. But there isn't an excuse big enough everybody to keep you from being who you are meant to be. You are the obstacle in your game plan in your path to financial independence.
00:09:36
Suze: So you have got to recognize that and change it. Number three.
00:09:43
Suze: When do you take actions with your money
00:09:47
Suze: so that you just make really fast decisions, invest everything at once or are you taking it slow and steady? It's the answer to that. Everybody. Do you just hear about a stock and until you buy it, you hear about another stock and you buy it, but you put all your money into something at once. You don't have a plan to do it little by little and slow and steady.
00:10:18
Suze: You will always win this financial race. It just takes time
00:10:24
Suze: and four, when you look at your investments, how many team players so to speak. Do you have, do you have bonds? Do you have stocks? Do you have ETF S do you have real estate? Do you have cash? Do you have a mixture of everything like that?
00:10:42
Suze: Because what I found fascinating watching the soccer game is when the coaches send in defensive players, they send in offensive players, they change their strategy according to what's happening on the field at that moment.
00:10:59
Suze: And we have to look at the economy as if it's this big field that all these different things are happening at once. Interest rates are going up, real estate may be going down, the stock market may be going sideways. All these things are happening
00:11:17
Suze: and you have to decide at the time when things are actually happening, do you have the right players in place in order to get to where you want to go?
00:11:32
Suze: So now I know you may be saying, oh, Suze, I can't believe it. You are comparing money and financial planning to soccer
00:11:44
Suze: and yeah, I actually am
00:11:48
Suze: because if you listen to what I just said,
00:11:52
Suze: I'm telling you,
00:11:55
Suze: you can win at this game that we do call financial planning.
00:12:02
Suze: So with all of that, really, then what is the winning moves that you should be making with your money? And actually maybe that's what I should call this podcast, making winning moves with your money. We'll have to see what Robert picks anyway. For instance. Now I want you to listen closely
00:12:27
Suze: when I say I'm starting to buy 30 year treasuries. That doesn't mean I'm putting all my cash that I intended for safety and for interest rates into 30 year bonds.
00:12:46
Suze: So what scares me is that I say something on this podcast and you go out and you put everything that you are going to invest in that. No, no, no. If you listen to me closely, you would have heard me say I'm putting a little bit in right now.
00:13:05
Suze: I put a little bit more in
00:13:08
Suze: and now I've probably stopped putting money in at this point, at least for me into 30 year bonds. So how do I do it? I look at the total amount and this is what I want you to do. I look at the total amount of money I have to put into savings investments and I look at the current interest rate environment
00:13:35
Suze: and depending on what is happening, I make small movements,
00:13:42
Suze: but I always have enough cash to make different movements or investments. If the economy dictates, for instance, right now, it seems like the government is still going to need to borrow lots of money to meet its financial obligations. When there is a lot of supply of anything,
00:14:08
Suze: what does that do to the price of what is being sold? That is a question to all of you
00:14:15
Suze: when there is a lot of supply on the market for real estate that tends to make real estate prices go down and visa versa. So the question again is when there is a lot of supply of anything, what does that do to the price of what is being sold?
00:14:37
Suze: It tends to decrease in price and in bonds when prices decrease interest rates go up. So currently, when you look at treasuries, for instance, the three and six months are still offering incredibly great rates. So when my three month T bills and six month T bills come due.
00:15:06
Suze: I just re up them for another 3 to 6 months because I'm actually getting a higher interest rate than I got when I originally did it three and six months ago. However, I did that along with putting money in 30 year bonds as well because anything can happen at any time. So your game plan,
00:15:34
Suze: as my game plan needs to be slow and steady and diversified, which means short term maturities, like 3 to 6 months, longer term maturities, like 12 months to two years, 10 years and 20 to 30 years. So it is important
00:15:58
Suze: that you have that it's also important that you have additional money in money market funds or high yield savings accounts to continue to take advantage of changes in interest rates when they do happen because again, you never know when interest rates will continue to go up or when they will start their downward trend,
00:16:23
Suze: the good news about bonds and notes, they don't tend to trade up and down and crazy overnight. Like stocks do they take time? Maybe you don't hit the exact top, but you kind of know what is happening when it's happening.
00:16:40
Suze: So it's important for all of you to really have different maturities. So you are prepared but not to take 100% of your money and put it all into 30 year treasury bonds or 20 year treasury bonds or 10 year treasury notes or three and six month treasury bills or certificates of deposits for that matter.
00:17:07
Suze: So I just want you to know that now there are people out there that I'm sure that are saying. Oh, Suze, good for you. I'm glad that you have a lump sum of money that you can do that with. I don't have a lump sum of money. I'm just saving enough to get by. So what should I do?
00:17:30
Suze: What you do when you're in that situation is stop thinking like all you have enough is to get by.
00:17:39
Suze: That's ok. You then would just keep your money in the highest interest rate, money market account or savings account that you can if you want to participate in treasury bills, bonds or notes and you don't have the $1000 minimum or whatever your financial institution requires. Never forget that Treasury direct dot gov's minimum is $100.
00:18:09
Suze: So when you give it, you're all, you think you can do this and you just do it slow and steady. I promise you you will get there because $100 here, $100 there, whatever it may be will do exactly what I'm telling you to do.
00:18:29
Suze: So don't go letting yourself be an underdog. I don't have what other people have. I don't have that kind of money. Stop it right here. And right now
00:18:41
Suze: because it's important that you understand, you always can do something. Now, this strategy is not just about fixed income investments. Everybody, this applies to your equity investments as well.
00:18:59
Suze: And what has happened as of late that many of you have seen and I talked about this just a little bit ago. Many of you have seen Amazon Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta Tesla, all the stocks on the NASDAQ, the QQQ ETF. You've seen them skyrocket in value skyrocket.
00:19:26
Suze: And you're saying to yourself, I don't own any of those stocks and you're watching your stocks or your investments go down and down
00:19:36
Suze: and then you decide that you are going to change and get out of the stocks that you originally purchased and get into the stocks that are going up and up and up. And so you do so
00:19:52
Suze: and now all of a sudden those stocks, the Apple's the Amazons, all of them, Microsoft, Meta, whatever it may be. Tesla are now starting to go down and down and the stocks or the ETF S or mutual funds that you did have are now starting to go up.
00:20:16
Suze: When you hear me mention any stock or ETF, you have to decide if it's right for you. Number one,
00:20:26
Suze: then you need to decide how much, if any money you want to totally invest in that company and then
00:20:40
Suze: you need to take whatever amount of money that is. I don't care if it's $100 1000 dollars, $10,000 100,000 dollars.
00:20:51
Suze: You ne then need to divide that sum that you want to invest over at least a 12 to 24 month period of time.
00:21:03
Suze: Listen, everybody, you are investors, you are not traders, so you have to dollar cost average into your equity positions. Now, obviously you don't have to do it the same time every month. You don't have to necessarily do it every single month. You do it every three months, whatever it may be. If you see the stock that you like or the ETF, you like, go down, do it, then get more value out of it.
00:21:33
Suze: But that is the position that you have to take. That is why everybody that retirement plans like your 401k S or 403 BS, hopefully their ROTHS or T SPS at work can be so effective because month in and month out, year, over year, you continue to invest a specific sum of money usually into a mutual fund or ETF
00:22:01
Suze: and it's very slow and steady and it gives you diversification
00:22:07
Suze: and in the long run it makes you a lot of money
00:22:13
Suze: but you cannot, and I repeat, you cannot just buy one stock. Remember about being a team player, that one stock, maybe it will go up, maybe it will go down that one stock most likely can't carry your investment strategy over the goal line. You have to look at what else you have or are invested in
00:22:40
Suze: and does that stock that I've talked about or anybody else have talked about even fit into your portfolio.
00:22:51
Suze: So again, when I go back and I think about what I've said about this stock and that stock, it has to fit into your game plan and you have to know why you have bought it. What you're going to do if it goes down, are you going to buy more? You have to know otherwise you don't have a plan and I can't give you a plan because why I don't know enough personally about you.
00:23:20
Suze: So I can only tell you what I'm doing and you have to decide if it's something that you want to do.
00:23:29
Suze: So you are not just to have NASDAQ stocks or oil stocks or just have all your investment money in homes, in real estate, you have to have full diversification most of the time.
00:23:45
Suze: And even if it's in one area, you need riskier stocks, you need stable stocks, whatever it may be, but you need to have good quality stocks that you have a plan for.
00:24:01
Suze: So what is exactly happening in the economic environment today? Well, number one feds will probably raise interest rates in my opinion one more time. Why do I think that for oil prices and food prices are still going up, which will cause inflation not to go down as much as the feds want it to.
00:24:29
Suze: I still believe in oil stocks. I still believe that they are going to go up. I think they're still giving you a good dividend. However,
00:24:43
Suze: I will start to address. Does it make sense to hold on to a stock that maybe you bought at 70 now? It's at 50? And what is the interest rate that it's currently giving you in terms of a dividend? And is there another strategy that should be used when we talked about that on a past podcast with going from Chevron,
00:25:06
Suze: which was at 165 at the time
00:25:10
Suze: to PXD, which was at 220 at the time. It's worked out over time very well since now PXD is at about 230.
00:25:22
Suze: So you have a win there.
00:25:25
Suze: However, it doesn't always work out that way. So I will address that sooner than later.
00:25:32
Suze: It's also important for you to know, however, that even though I think that the feds may raise interest rates one more time, they don't have a clue what they're going to do. And the truth of the matter is you have to know that what the feds are going to do doesn't exactly affect treasuries. The way that many of you are writing about
00:25:58
Suze: the supply of treasuries will affect the interest rate. The treasuries have to offer
00:26:05
Suze: more than what the feds are going to do. So, just remember, don't sit there waiting to see if the feds are going to raise interest rates, thinking that's what's gonna cause treasuries to go up in interest rates. It's more again, the treasury supply that will determine
00:26:26
Suze: what is going to happen with the interest on treasuries. That is why we diversify maturities. However, you also need to know when interest rates are high, people tend to come out of the stock market to go into safety,
00:26:47
Suze: which makes the stock markets go down. Now, that seems to be happening right now, especially in the stocks on the NASDAQ stocks, like I previously just mentioned that all of you seem to want to get into.
00:27:05
Suze: So if you are invested in the apples and the stocks like that, and you see them now or any stock on the NASDAQ, in particular start to go down and down
00:27:21
Suze: rather than selling them. That is when you continue to dollar cost average into the positions that you have to bring your average price down. You bought a stock at 70 it's now at 50. If you buy it at 50 your overall price then becomes what 60
00:27:45
Suze: it's a lot easier to go from 50 to 60 than 50 back to 70 which is why especially in down markets, which I think we are going to start to experience here. Now,
00:27:58
Suze: that's why you always want to keep cash around so that you can dollar cost average, especially when the markets are going down.
00:28:12
Suze: But that's also the time when the markets do start to go down
00:28:18
Suze: that dividend, stocks, stocks that pay a dividend truly come into play because at least you are being paid to wait. And so that's something you just need to think about. So, in summarizing this podcast,
00:28:38
Suze: given the moves in the market,
00:28:40
Suze: the game plan has to be slow and steady. Sunday morning, we will see who has the best game plan between England and Spain.
00:28:52
Suze: And in case you're wondering, I want England to win. I just kind of do, what can I tell you anyway? But, um, this Sunday again, I'm just going to repeat,
00:29:04
Suze: I will stick to the plan about inherited IRAs and beneficiaries. But I'm gonna do it with Miss Travis. I think if not, I'll just do it myself and we will go from there for now. There's only one thing that I want you to say every single day and it is this day, wherever I go,
00:29:26
Suze: I will create a more joyful, peaceful and loving world. And if you can do that and be slow and steady, I promise you you will be unstoppable.
00:29:46
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