Podcast Episode - Best Of: Words of Wealth

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While Suze is recovering from her surgery, Sarah and Robert present a "Best Of" episode from October 13, 2019, and Sarah gives an update from Suze.

Podcast Transcript:

Suze Orman’s Women and Money podcast is proudly sponsored by credit unions; a safe home for your money, rain or shine. Suze O. here. Now, listen to me, everybody. While I am healing, Sarah and Robert are going to present the following “Best Of” episode of the Women and Money podcast, as well as the men smart enough to listen, and briefly explain why they chose it for you to hear. So, everybody, enjoy the “Best Of” podcast. See you soon. Hello, it's Sarah here, and this is Robert and today is Sunday, August 23. Do you know what August 23rd is, Robert? I think I know, but I think you should say. It is the last day that my little baby is two years old. Tomorrow, she turns three, which is ridiculous. Ah, and what do you know? It's just like Suze and KT, and I have so many other things to worry about right now. We received a very large box to our house, totally decorated with these big, big, red hearts. To which, by the way, Charlie said, um, but why aren't those hearts pink? Because that's that's Charlie's favorite color. And by the way, the next day on Zoom, Suze gave Charlie a long lesson on how, how when you really deeply love somebody, pink turns to red, and that's why those hearts were red, which is very cute. Oh, I love that. I know, isn't it amazing? We haven't opened the box because her birthday is not until tomorrow, but I have a feeling they've cooked up something amazing because if you've listened to the show in the past, Suze's talked about homemade gifts and how she loves to give them. And so I know that KT and Suze were probably cooking up, dreaming up, something amazing and I cannot wait to see what's inside that box. So, maybe we'll let everybody know on Thursday what it was. But, you know, it's so incredible that they are always thinking about everybody else, even when they're going through such a massive thing in their own lives. So, I just, their hearts are pure gold. Um, and here's some news. Big news, actually. Somehow, KT managed to get Suze back to their island home this weekend. That's great. Yeah, it's amazing. So they are there, and I know it's great for KT too, she just loves the way their home is, it's very like open and laid out, and a lot of sunlight. So, she'll continue her recovery there. I mean, it's been over five weeks since they had left, so I know it feels good to be there to continue healing. The other thing is, if everybody wants to, uh, run, don't walk, to your local supermarket or newsstand, you can pick up a copy of this week's People magazine. There's a two-page spread on Suze's Journey, the article title, her Journey to Hell and Back, and it's a pretty in-depth conversation about her experience. And so, if you want to learn more about some of the things and even hear from Suze's doctors, go pick up a copy of the magazine. It's a great article. Yeah, I did, I read it. Actually, Suze sent it to me. Great article. It's a really good article. And the last thing I want to share before we get into our Best Of episode is this week is the sixth week of our Eight Qualities of a Wealthy Woman course inside the Community, and we're covering the quality called "cleanliness." And this doesn't just mean cleaning up a mess, it's very, very deep. Suze and I had some very long conversations about it, where KT, by the way, kept chirping in with some of her own, uh, antic dotes, and it took us a little time to put this content together. It's super powerful. If you want to participate, you still can simply join us in the Community, which you know by now you can get for free on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Search Suze Orman to find it. OK, Robert, where are we going today? What words of wisdom are we opening ourselves up for? You know, Sarah, it's very apropos that you lead with that question, "words of wisdom," because today we're presenting the Words of Wealth episode from October 13, 2019. And everyone, we selected it because this particular episode fits with the idea of standing in one's truth and owning up to one's mistakes, and then fixing them and moving on to a better financial, as well as, you know, overall life. There's an old adage of, "fake it until you make it." And in this particular episode, what I took from what Suze was explaining is, that's not really the case. See, one really has to put in the work so that you know what you're talking about. And then if we don't know something, we have to own that. I don't know, I don't know how to do this thing, but I'm going to learn how to do it. And then you become an expert in that. So, it's doing, you're living your life and doing your job or whatever it is with honesty and integrity. And because we're in very unusual times right now, and there are a lot of people, quite frankly, faking it and I don't know if they're going to make it. You know, I believe we can use a Words of Wealth Suze reminder right now. I couldn't agree more. Roll the tape, Robert. Words that lead to wealth. You know, I'll never forget when I first started as a financial advisor, you all know my story. I was a waitress until I was essentially 30 years of age, and I had only been making $400 a month. Because of a fluke set of circumstances, somehow, I end up as a stockbroker. All right now, you might want to listen to that story, but that's not the point of today's podcast. And I remember sitting there thinking to myself, how is it possible that people are going to come in and ask me how to invest money, and I don't know how to invest money? Sure, they hired me to fill their women's quota. Sure, I went through six months of training and got my Series 7 and all my other licenses. But is that enough to qualify me for telling somebody else what to do with their money? I had no money, I had debt. It was 1980, I'm driving a 1960 Volvo station wagon, I can't even afford to park in the parking lot with all the other stockbrokers who have their BMWs, and their Mercedes, and their Jaguars, and their Cadillacs. And what do I do? I'm still parking on the street to get tickets to work it off in community service every day, and I'm sitting here and thinking, oh my God, Suze Orman. Oh my God, how are you going to pretend that you have money, that you know what you're doing with money? And I'll never forget that my mom, I was sitting with her she said, Suze, you have to look like you have money if you're going to be a stockbroker. I said but Mom, I don't have any money. And even though my mother had no money either, I'll never forget, she went out and she bought me a $1500 Rolex watch. Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much money that is and it was back in 1980? So that I could look like I had money. And she took her engagement ring and took the diamonds out of her engagement ring to make me a necklace so I could wear it, so I could look like I had money. And I was wearing the watch and I was wearing the necklace and I felt like such a fake, like such a phony. My mom didn't have that kind of money, and her engagement ring that I'm wearing around my neck? So, I decided, no, that's not what will lead to wealth. That's just a lie. That's a good intention by my mama, but it wasn't the truth. So, when people would come in, and I was the broker of the day, and the broker of the day is the person who gets to see everybody who walks in. And that's how a new broker starts to build their clientele. And I would sit there, and as I would have people come in and sit at my desk and they would start to talk to me about their money, they had more money than I had ever seen before. How is it possible? I'm sitting there thinking Suze, you are not qualified to tell these people what they should be doing. So, you know what I did? I told them that, I sat there and I said, listen, I am brand new. I just got my license. You have more money than I do. And if you ask me questions, I can find the answers to them. I have a list of stocks that Merrill Lynch, that was the brokerage firm at the time that had hired me, that Merrill Lynch says you should buy. But honest to God, I don't know if they're good stocks or they're bad stocks. And you know what they said to me? They go, oh my God, you're being honest with me. Nobody's ever honest when it comes to money, I really like you. We can do this together now. You have to remember that back in 1980, there weren't many if any, there was like one, discount brokerage firm. Charles Schwab had essentially just started. They were in this, but there really weren't the Ameritrade's and the E-trades and all these other discount brokerage firms. And the only way to invest money was with a full-service broker, like a Dean Witter back then, a Merrill Lynch, whatever they may be. Also back then, mutual funds, there were no such things as index funds, no-load mutual funds. They were all loaded mutual funds and there were only like a few hundred of them at the time if that. Not the thousands that you see today. So many people who came in to see a stockbroker if they had money, they already knew what they wanted to do with that money. And they were simply coming in to invest it because there was no other way for them to invest it. So these people would say to me, oh, Suze, don't worry. I know what I want to buy, I just need somebody to place the order with, so I'll place my order with you. I'm like, OK, I said, but just know, I don't know when to buy and when to sell. I don't know those things, so maybe you can teach me what you know, so I could be a better investment person. Can you imagine a stockbroker of financial advisors saying to you, I don't know what I'm doing? I'm brand new. I don't think you should actually invest with me because I don't know anything yet. Can you even imagine that happening? No. Everybody pretends like they know what they're doing, they have all this experience, they have all this knowledge. And the truth is they probably don't. But the words that lead to wealth for me, were the words of honesty, were words that were true, weren't words that were spoken to impress people, to get people to do something that I didn't know what they should be doing, but just simply so it would make me money. No, they were true words of wealth, and true words of wealth are honest words, are true words, are words that are spoken for the benefit of others as well as yourself. If I just spoke words to get people to do something that I didn't know what they should do, and they invested their money with me and all of a sudden I lost their money for them, can you even imagine what that feels like to lose money for somebody? It is not a good feeling. I mean, many of the reasons that many financial advisors, in my opinion, continue to lose money for somebody is because when things are going down and it's not going the way that you want it to go, it's very difficult to cut your losses short because you are always hoping that you are right. You are always hoping that you did the best thing for somebody, even if you are wrong and therefore you just stick with it. You hope for the best. But hope is not a financial plan, and any financial advisor should know if a stock is going down, why is it going down? Does it mean that it's going down because the entire stock market is going down or it's going down because it has bad management, or it doesn't have earnings or what is happening with that? And if you are wrong, cut your losses short and just admit that you are wrong. But that's a very difficult thing to do for most people. Remember the six most important words in life, remember this podcast? "I admit that I was wrong." But nobody wants to admit that they're wrong, especially if they're a financial advisor. So, they hope for the best because losing money for somebody else is so horrific, I can't even tell you. Nobody ever really wants to lose money for anybody, you always want to make money, I mean, that's what happened with Bernie Madoff. Bernie wanted to make money, I'm sure. But when things started to go wrong, he didn't know how to make it right. And he kept hanging in there and doing the most atrocious things, hoping that he would hit it big. But his words were not words of wealth, they were not true words, they were all lies. And look at the millions and millions of dollars that were lost for people because of lies. Now, why am I talking about this topic today? I'm talking about this topic because I got an email from somebody, and I'm not going to use this woman's name. And I just hope this woman knows that I'm reading this email to honor her, to really get her to think about what she is doing. Because her email, well, her email is really self-explanatory. So first, I'm just going to read it to you, and it goes like this. She says, I would like to know if I am a 46-year-old woman and I have nothing saved, and I am working a job that I am just beginning the 401k match on, and I have no outside investments or retirement plans. What is the best strategy to save for retirement? She goes on to say, how can I significantly increase my income/savings? Is it safe for me to invest in stocks? I read an article that talks about investing at 50. How do I get started? I am willing to take some risk to see the money grow. Beginning life at almost 50, how does that work, financially? I am a single mother of three, have a full-time job, and am working, listen closely, I am working, on building a life financial coaching business. I am writing a couple of books and want to open an e-commerce site. I have other streams of income other than my job. She goes on to say, I am a renter, have $30k in student loan debt, approximately $4k-5k of credit cards that are in collections, and I own my own car with no car payment. I am looking for the wisest way to grow my savings. Here is where it goes, it says, is it true that many people in the financial business have their own issues? So, this woman is writing and she has a company where she is being, among other things, a financial coach. A financial coach to others! And I'm sitting here thinking, no, it is not true that people in the financial business, if they're good, have their own issues, my friends. If people are in a financial business and they have their own issues, they need to tell you about that. They need to be honest with you, just like I was when I first started. Remember my story? In 1987, I had a woman who worked for me rip me off of everything that I had. It's a long story, and it's in one of my podcasts, it's in one of my books, who cares. My problem back then was I had been making a lot of money, I did not have any financial issues until that happened, and my financial issues came about because I didn't tell anybody that I had been ripped off. I wanted to pretend like everything was exactly the way that it was, and before you knew it, I had $250k of credit card debt, but nobody knew that I had that. So I had a big financial issue, and it wasn't until I stood in my truth and I told everybody what had happened to me and why I had that financial issue. It wasn't about my financial knowledge, I had a lot of financial knowledge, but I had an issue with standing in my truth. And it wasn't until I stood in my truth that my business totally turned around again. Words of wealth are honest words, so if you're going to be in a financial coaching business, then you have to tell every single person that you are coaching that you have $30k in student loan debt, you have $4k-5k in credit loan debt, you have, you know, collections debt, you rent, you… Do you understand? You have to tell everybody that you do not have any money at all, and you have to talk about your own issues. And then you have to wonder, are they going to trust you? Because what is it? What is it that you can sell for them, that you could be a financial coach for them when you can't even be a financial coach for yourself. You're asking me for advice, you're asking me what can you do? No. When I had financial problems because of being ripped off, I knew what to do. I knew I had to stand in my truth, I didn't need to ask others what I should do. You cannot coach others on a topic that you have not mastered. You can, but will that really lead them to wealth? Will it lead them to the goal that they have come to you for? Or are you just speaking to them in words? No. Words of wealth have to be words where you stand in the truth. Words of wealth have to be words that you own because words that you own allow you to be powerful and make the right moves for yourself. So really, it was this email that caused me to do this podcast today. And for the woman who wrote this, I am not putting you down. I am not saying that you shouldn't try everything possible for you to do something to make money for you to be a coach of whatever it is, maybe health. Listen, I'm not great with my health, I can't seem to stick on anything that constantly makes me healthy. Why is it that I can't walk 10,000 steps a day? Why is it that I don't stick to certain programs with aerobics and weights and things like that? I don't know. So that means I'm not qualified to be a health coach. But I sure am qualified to be a wealth coach. So why don't you just stick to one area that you know better than anybody else? You know, I'll never forget when I first started in this business, and I heard somebody say, it does not matter what you want to be in life, whatever it is that you want to be, whether it's a teacher, a nurse, a financial advisor, whatever it is, you better be the absolute best of anybody out there. And I took those words to heart. And do I believe in the bottom of my gut that I am the absolute best personal finance expert in this world? Oh, you bet I do, in every molecule of my being, I believe that because I am that. So, my friend, who wrote this email, all of you who are listening to this podcast, that's what you need to do. You need to be the best at whatever it is that you are doing, whether it is, a stay at home parent, anything, whatever it is, whatever it is that you're doing, you have to be the best. Don't do something where you are not speaking the truth, where you do not know the truth because you're not living that truth. Speak words of wealth for others to hear and those words will create a true, wealthy world for all. There it is again, another famous Suze episode that I know will be helpful to all of us. But one thing I wanted to say that I forgot to say in the opener, there is someone very, very special to Suze and KT's heart. His name is Colo, and while they were stateside helping Suze heal, they missed his birthday in person. So today, when we drop the episode in the Community, I'm going to share a picture of Colo because he is so important to them. And they did a little mini birthday party for him upon arrival to make sure that he knew how much they love him. And he really is, he's really incredible. So happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, belated birthday, Colo. That's great, that's incredible. And a happy early birthday to your daughter. Thanks for listening, everybody, we will be back here on Thursday. Hi, I'm Sarah, and I'm Robert, and we're from Suze Orman's Women and Money podcast team here to tell you that Alloya's member credit unions are so proud to have brought you this episode. You know, Robert, credit unions live by people helping people philosophy. Absolutely, Sarah. And that means when you bank with a credit union, you can trust that they have your best interest at heart. The fact is, regardless of circumstance, a credit union will have your back and keep your money safe, that's the credit union promise. Go to www.MyCreditUnion.gov to find a credit union that fits your needs. That's MyCreditUnion.gov. 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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