401k, IRA, Must Have Documents
May 07, 2020
Listen to Podcast Episode:
In this podcast, Suze unveils the new Suze Ambassador Program.
Podcast Transcript:
May 7, 2020, and today's podcast is Asked Suze Anything, and do you want to know what you're all asking me? You're all asking me, Suze, what is the announcement that you are making? How can we make some money? Can you just tell us what you have in mind? So OK, I will.You know, for so many of us, and really, for so many of you, your lives have changed now. Who knows what the future is going to bring, truthfully? Are you going to have your job back? Are you going to have to take a pay cut? Are you going to be able to do what you were doing? So many questions up there. But the one thing that is true, all of you need money to pay your bills. And I learned many years ago when I had been hired by Avon to educate and talk to all the Avon representatives, that for many of those people, just an extra $100, $50, $75, or $200, whatever it was a month, really made a big difference. So as I was thinking about this, and about the podcast, and about all of you that listen, and what you are all going through right now, and the app that we have created and hopefully you have all signed up for it, it's free. Go to Apple Apps or Google Play, search for Suze Orman, and you'll be able to download it. And you will be happy that you did because you need this app in order to participate in what I'm about to tell you. So as I was thinking about all this, I was thinking, what could I do to help you make just a little extra money? To hopefully help you make your ends meet, but to do it in a way where you didn't have to buy a product, it wasn't multi-level marketing, and it was something that would help you as well as everybody you told about it. And then Sarah, my partner in crime here, who created the app and is in charge of this program, we came up with this idea, and here it goes. Out of all the years that I've been doing what I've been doing, I've always said to you, the one biggest mistake that you will make bar none, is if you do not have a living revocable trust, a will, an advanced directive and durable power of attorney for health care, as well as a financial power of attorney. And there are so many reasons that every single one of you needs these documents, and you need them so much that I coined them, the Must Have documents. And over the years, what I realized was that you needed these documents but most of you didn't have money to be able to go to a lawyer to get these documents. And even if you did go to a lawyer to get these documents, half the documents that I would see come into my office when I was seeing clients, oh, were horrific. So back in 2001, I created the Must Have Documents online program with my own attorney, my trust lawyer, and we created a way that every single one of you could download the Must Have documents at a price that all of you could afford. And we went on through the years revamping the program, making it mobile-friendly and, you know, over the years, millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of these have been purchased, and it really has saved many of you from true misery, especially at the time that you have lost a loved one. I love these documents and many of you already have them. And then I thought to myself, well, what if we created an ambassador program where if you, listen closely now because here it is, that if you understand the importance of these documents, and you've actually done them and you are thrilled that you did them, and you want to help me help everybody to get these documents so that they too, could be protected? So what if you were able to become an ambassador of the Must Have documents and what does that mean? That means that you go on to the app and you check the Must Have documents. You look for our ambassador program and it will explain it all to you right there, but that if you have completed the Must Have documents and you simply make a referral to somebody that you know they should have these Must Have documents as well, you simply make a referral and they come on to the app and they sign up with your referral code because you'll each get a referral code once you become part of this program, and they purchase the Must Have documents, and the price is $69. These documents are worth $2500. If you went to the lawyer who created them, she would charge you at least that for these documents, probably more like $3500 today. So, $69 is not a lot to ask for these documents, especially when you can update them anytime that you want. You can share them with your family members. So, if one of you decides to sign up and here you are, and you want your daughter to have it, you want your mother to have it, you can share the activation code with them. Whenever we update the Must Have documents, you get an update, absolutely free, so you're never going to have to purchase them again. So this really is one of the more ethical purchases you will ever make, bar none. But, if you refer somebody, they go online to the app and they purchase the Must Have documents, you will get a $10 referral fee. Now, just stick with me here for one second. There is a 30-day return policy on these documents. So for you to have a qualified referral, 30 days have to have passed since they purchased them. And then when that happens, there will be a payout schedule to you, and it will go directly to a PayPal account. So, you're going to have to open up a PayPal account, because that's what I've chosen to do. I love that company, and the money will be directly deposited on your PayPal account. And it really is just that simple, everybody. Only approximately 15% of the people in the United States of America have the documents in place that they need. And they need these documents. They may not want them, but they need these documents. Again, these documents are good in all 50 states. You can do them in the luxury of your own home. Internet access is required. They are legal documents, they are easy to complete, it takes 30 minutes to one hour. There is an 800 number as well as online chats, as well as a place for you to send emails if you have questions. They're fabulous. Millions of people would not have purchased them if they didn't do exactly what I am telling you they do. Now, you can go on my own website, www.SuzeOrman.com, and you will see that they are sold on my website for $199. But because this is on the app and part of the Women and Money community, the price will be $69. Now, you can go to many other programs. You can try LegalZoom, you can go to Nolo Press, you can go to a variety of them and you will see that they cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than this program here. So when you refer it to somebody, you should be absolutely proud to do so. When you become an ambassador in this program, we will have community chats about it, online in Zoom, so I can help you. You'll be provided with materials to educate yourself and understand why this is such a fabulous thing for you to do. If you just referred 10 people a month, that's like $100 a month to you. Hey, you referred 20 people, that's $200 a month. And what's so interesting about it is I am sure that you know a lot of people who don't have a will, they don't have a trust, they don't understand why they should, and they just go ahead and they have absolutely no documents in place, whatsoever. You know, on April 28, just a little bit ago on CNBC.com, they did this entire article stating that doctors are urging people to get these documents. Every single one of you should have an advanced directive and a durable power of attorney for healthcare right here and right now. Do you even know what those documents are? Do you only have a will or do not have a will at all? I got news for you if you don't have a will and you die, and you have, let's say, separate property. You have an IRA or you have things and you haven't named a beneficiary, a life insurance policy that hasn't named a beneficiary. Many of you don't name beneficiaries, believe it or not. You don't have to worry about it, the state has already decided where your assets are to go upon your death. You don't want the state to allow that. There are so many reasons that you need these documents, I cannot even tell you. But I wanted to let you know first about the ambassador program. And next, I'm just going to do a quick recap on why I have spent truthfully almost the last 20 years, putting millions and millions and millions of dollars into developing these documents so that all of you can be protected. Why I've always said in almost every program, the biggest mistake you will ever make in life is not having these documents. So let me just give you a brief history of these documents and, truthfully, how they came about. This all started back in 1995 when I wrote my first book called, You've Earned It, Don't Lose It: Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make When You Retire. And in that book, I was stating to everybody that they need these documents, and after I wrote the book and 800k copies were sold, and for some reason, don't ask me why I put my number in the book. And I said, hey, if you have any questions, just call me. Now, when I wrote the book, honestly, I never thought it would go on to sell 800k copies, and it sold a whole lot more since then. Well, my phone started to ring off the hook. And the number one question that I was asked from that book starting in 1995 was Suze, I finally understand why I need a living revocable trust. Where do I get one? Then the next question would be, how much do they cost? And even back in 1995, they cost about $2500 for these four Must Have documents. And as soon as I told people that they needed an attorney, they said to me, I don't know an attorney, where do I find an attorney? And then they said to me after they asked, how much do they cost? And I said $2500. They go, Suze, we don't have $2500. That's when I realized I needed to start to create something to help people because over the years, as I saw clients and they would get older and one would die, I saw and experienced firsthand the misery that the surviving spouse and or children would go through if the documents weren't in order. The most dramatic story I ever experienced in my life was that there were a husband and a wife and they had two kids and the husband died. And the husband did not have a trust or will or any of the documents. Now, that doesn't mean that the wife shouldn't have had them, but she didn't because he handled everything because he was a financial advisor. And that caused this family so much misery that the kids actually went around and ripped up every single picture in the house of their father. And when I said to them, why are you doing that? They said if he had loved us, he would not have left us like this, he wouldn't have done this time our mom and he wouldn't have done this to us. Because now, we're going to lose half of these things and we're not going to have the money that we thought we have, and I don't know if we're going to make it, Suze. All because he didn't have this thing called a living revocable trust.And I could go on and on everybody about the stories that I've experienced over the years of what can go wrong if you do not have a living revocable trust. And so many of you have been told that a trust is only for those who have a lot of money. The truth of the matter is, the less money you have, the more you need a living revocable trust. So let me just give you an education as to why these four documents are documents that you must have. A will is simply a piece of paper that says where your assets are to go upon your death. But it does it in the most cost and effective way possible. I always use this example, so I might as well use it here now. Let's just say that you live in the state of California. And my mom, say she owns a home there that's worth $200k. But she only has maybe $20k in equity in it, and she owes $180k still on it. And Mom wants Suze to get that home, so Mom creates a will that says upon her death, Suze's to get that house. My mother dies. My mother, however, has this will and I have it now, and I'm like, well, how do I get that house? The only way for me to get that house is to give that will to a lawyer, and the lawyer will go down to court, it's called Probate Court. In the state of California to just file probate is like $1k or something like that now. And the lawyer will open up probate where a judge first has to validate the will, making sure that Mom wants to leave me the house. Now, here we go. Now the judge has validated it. Since my mother is no longer alive to sign the deed over to me, the judge has to sign it over for her on her behalf, that's why it has to go to probate court. For that simple procedure in the state of California, it will take one or two years, most likely a year and a half, to complete that. And, statutory probate fees in the state of California for a house that's worth $200k with only $20k, however, of equity in it will cost me approximately $17-20k. If I don't have that money to pay the lawyer and the executor, they have the legal authority to sell the home to pay the probate fees. I don't end up with the house I could have ended up with, if I had any money, or having to pay all that money. What could my mother have done that was different? She could have taken the steps while she was alive to transfer the title of her home from Ann Orman into the Ann Orman Living Trust; held for her benefit while she's alive, my benefit if she dies. Got that, everybody? It's called a living revocable trust because you do it while you're alive. Revocable means you can change it anytime you want. Trust is the name of the document. So, I need you to think about a living revocable trust like a suitcase where you put in all of your valuable assets that have a title to it, such as your bank account, your brokerage accounts, your real estate, things like that. And think about if you could transfer all of those things into a suitcase that you can open up any time you want, take out anything you want, put back something different if you want. You could buy, you can sell, it doesn't affect your income taxes at all. But upon your death, that suitcase would just be handed to your beneficiary, they open it up and it's now all theirs. Just that simple. Why do I say that the less money you have, the more you need a living revocable trust? Because if you are seriously rich and you have to spend $100k or $500k in probate and you're a multimillionaire, OK, fine. If you want to do that, I don't personally care. But if all you have to your name is a few $1000 or the hopes that you own a home and you worked so hard for it, and your daughter may be even living with you and you want her to be able to stay in that home after you have died and you don't have any money, you don't have anything other than that house and you die, your daughter probably won't be able to keep that house because she's not going to be able to afford the probate fees. And there wouldn't have been any probate fees if you simply had set up a living revocable trust. But it's not just leaving your assets efficiently to your beneficiaries, it's so much more than that. Here you are and you're getting older, and now maybe you have a stroke or you become incapacitated or you were in an accident. Here's the question ladies, and the men smart enough to listen. As you get older, who is going to pay your bills for you? Who's going to write your checks for you? Who's going to do that if you can't do it anymore and it happens? I've told you this story before that later on in life, my mom, who died at 97 would say to me, why does this person, Social Security or whoever this is, keep giving me money? Now my mom was a legal secretary, she knew what social security was at one point, but as she got older, she didn't. So I was able to take over writing checks for her, paying her bills, making all the financial decisions for her very easily because this living revocable trust that hopefully, you are going to become an ambassador for, has what's called an incapacity clause that says who she wanted, who my mom wants to sign for her when she can't sign for herself anymore.You need to think about these things, everybody. And I know many of you think well Suze, I have a financial power of attorney. Yeah, but do you know that most financial power of attorneys become null and void the day that there is an incapacity? Do you really think you have it covered? Forget about that. Let's say you own a home in joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Let's say you're right here right now and your spouse all of the sudden is in the hospital. Maybe they have the Coronavirus, who knows what's happened, but they're pretty much incapacitated. You can't communicate with them, you've lost your job, you don't have any money and you need to sell that house. Can you sell the house? And the answer to that question is, no, you can not because when you own a home in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, it takes two signatures to be able to sell the home. And if your spouse is incapacitated, they can't sign, you can't sell. Oh, sure, you could go down to probate court, get a conservatorship assigned for your incapacitated spouse or partner that will cost in the state of California a mere $5k. And from that point on, every year, you may be required to check in with the court system so that the court system can make sure that you're being responsible with your spouse's half of the money. What could you have done? You could have partaken in this program here and simply had the living revocable trust that has the incapacity clause in it that says you can sign for your spouse, your spouse can sign for you. If something happens to both of you, your child or your friend, you control your lives, everybody. Are you understanding that another reason that a trust is so very important is that when you have a will, a will is of public record, a trust is not? Now listen to me closely because a will is a public record. Anybody can go down to court and see everything that you have and that you just inherited. And there are scams out there galore. Right now, many of you may, you know, have experienced people try to scam you with getting your stimulus check or your unemployment, it's rampant. But I will never forget that there was a financial advisor that I knew that would go down to the probate courts and he would look at all the recent filings of all the people who had just died. They are of public record, and he would find out your name and your spouse's name that died, and all the assets that you inherited, the stocks where they were, everything, all right? And then what happened? He would go back, he was able to find your number possibly, call you up and say, you know, your spouse had contacted me before he or she died and told me about all these things that you own and would like me to take care of you. And you, of course, would believe that because he knew everything. When you have a living revocable trust, you don't have to worry about that, it's not public record, do you understand that? And I could go on and on as to why they are so important. But this is just a few of the things that I'll be teaching you once you become an ambassador and to really educate you. And don't you want to help yourself and help others at the same time? And then they can go on to become ambassadors, and a little money can go a long way. But even more than the money, you will be helping me transform this world and filling a need that you and everybody in this world has, well at least in America. The advance directive and durable power of attorney for health care is in advance of you getting sick, you give a directive to your doctor as to do you want to be on life support? Do you want to be resuscitated, and all of these things? The attorney of health care is you will designate who will make health care decisions for you when you can't make them for yourself. And the financial power of attorney is very important because when a spouse dies and now they have money in a 401k or an IRA, this document comes to play because many of the institutions want to know that you're number one, the spouse, and number two, you have the ability to really do things and access the money and options and other things. So those are the Must Have documents and they are something, again, they are documents that you must have. So I invite all of you really, directly from my heart, to at least sign up for the app, it's free. Read more about the ambassador program, learn how to make some extra money. But more than the money, you will be helping yourself and others that if anything were to go wrong and happen, they would have a whole lot easier time and be able to mourn the ones that they have just lost than having to deal with the mess that was created because the Must Have documents were not in place. Join me, everybody, be part of it, be part of it, and let's see how we could make this world a better place for all. 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.