Podcast Episode - Don’t Take Investment Advice From a Friend

On this Ask Suze & KT Anything episode, KT asks Suze your questions about preparing for the what-if’s of life, what happens with your trust when you move, protecting your identity and so much more.

Listen to Podcast Episode:

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Podcast Transcript:

Suze: August 21, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast, as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Today is...

KT: Ask KT and Suze.

Suze: Anything. And are you just so excited?

KT: I am. We're leaving soon.

Suze: In 10 days we are going to San Francisco and we're actually going to see Caitlin Clark. The Valkyries play.

KT: Let's hope she's playing.

Suze: That's, well, even if she's not playing, I just can't wait even to see her. So we're going with our friends, Woody and Paula, who have season tickets, and we're going to see our very first in-person WNBA game.

KT: We've been wanting to watch her play for a really long time...

Suze: In person. I love the WNBA and all the great women players really.

However, yesterday was the birthday of my oldest, oldest friend really—Laurie Nader—and happy birthday Laurie, right?

KT: So when did you and Laurie meet each other?

Suze: Boy, probably when we were 10 or 11. She lived around the block from us. We went everywhere... loved her, just loved her.

KT: And you still do. They're still very good, very good friends.

Suze: OK.

KT: OK, first question from Sheila. Hello, dear Suze, can you please explain SIPC Insurance? I understand that stocks are insured up to $50 million. If one is fortunate enough to have stocks worth more than that amount, is there insurance we should purchase to protect those funds?

Suze: First of all, it's no, there isn't...

KT: Is it stocks or one stock?

Suze: No, it's the brokerage firm. If the brokerage firm itself went belly up, and you had a half a million dollars of ETFs, investments, whatever it may be in your brokerage account, then automatically you're insured up to $500,000.

Now it doesn't protect you against loss. It doesn't mean, oh, you invested $500,000 in these stocks and these stocks went down and therefore you're going to get your $500,000 back. It's not how it works. It is protecting you against if the brokerage firm where you are invested in gets into trouble, then you are protected.

However, most brokerage firms have excess security insurance, sometimes up to millions of dollars. I mean, we have friends seriously that have hundreds of millions of dollars in one particular brokerage account, so they are protected and they feel safe. Believe it or not we have a serious sum of money in one particular brokerage account, and we feel safe because they have excess insurance.

I would feel safe if I were you. Just ask your brokerage account how much excess insurance they carry. Now, if you want, just invest up to a specific sum of money, like maybe $400,000, and then get another account at a different brokerage firm. You can do that if you want.

KT: OK, Henry...

Suze: Henry!

KT: Henry, this is a very sweet question, Henry. Henry, I have to say your wife is so lucky to have you as her husband. This is what he wrote. My wife and I are going to be renting an apartment. She has a disability that is preventing her from working at a job in our hometown. I am 56. She is 46. How can I make sure she has a place to live when I eventually pass on?

I'm not ready to leave this world. My health is generally OK, but I want to make sure she will be OK. Is that sweet or what?

Suze: Henry.

KT: Henry, you're both pretty young.

Suze: But Henry, at your age, if I were you, I would look into a 10 year term life insurance policy. Policy for a significant amount of money in case something happened to you within the next 10 years. After that, what starts to happen is it becomes very, very expensive. I would tell you to get a whole life insurance policy, but it's going to be absolutely so expensive it's not really in my opinion, going to be worth it.

What you can do right now is do everything you possibly can do to save money, invest money, put a whole lot of money away as much as you possibly can so that upon your death that's left to her or...

Henry, I get that right now your wife has a disability, but somehow we never think about what if Henry gets a disability? What if Henry can't work right now or ever again?

So do you take out a disability policy on yourself? I don't know what kind of disability your wife happens to have, but is she on SSI? Is the state giving her income? Is there ways for that to happen? Now I get that you're renting at this point in time.

Your question becomes how can I make sure she has a place to live when I eventually pass on. You might want to think about buying into an independent living facility where you own the place that she's living in and that she will be able to be taken care of in that place and you just live there starting now as well.

So there are alternatives, but it's something that you cannot put off. It's something that you have to make your number one priority. So the other thing is, do you have relatives? Does she have relatives that if something happened to you would say, Don't worry, we'll take her in. We'll make sure we'll take care of her. Do you have a friend, anybody, but you better put plans in order right now.

And do everything you possibly can to secure a place for her to live and that just might be an independent living facility right now that has different levels of care.

KT: There's lots of great independent living facilities, and I think that is the, the key here. If they're renting, why not put that money towards that investment, right?

Suze: Or and the question becomes, I don't know how much money you have, what you have available to you, but you have to get on it right here and now.

KT: OK, next question is from Diane.

Hi Suze and KT, do I need to update the trust and other essential documents because I moved from Wisconsin to Georgia? The only thing that had changed was their address. There you go, she said. My husband and I put the trust as our contingent beneficiary on our 403Bs rather than name our adult sons directly. Is this OK? You mentioned something in the podcast that made us question this.

Thank you for your great information, Diane.

Suze: Yeah, truthfully, because I don't know what kind of trust you have, you want to make sure that your trust is a see through trust. If it's named as a beneficiary on a retirement account, also remember your husband needs to be the primary beneficiary, and the trust can be the contingent beneficiaries.

However, if your children are of age and you say they are, I do think that in fact you would probably be better off naming them individually. It's just a better way to go because of how the inherited retirement account rules have changed. So that's number one.

Do you need to rename your trust or update it because now you've moved to Georgia? I don't think so. It's the must have documents, for instance, that trust is governed by the state of California no matter where you live, because the state of California actually happens to have the best trust laws around. So when you live in another state and you get this, no, you don't have to change it to your state.

So up to you, but since only your address has changed, I wouldn't worry about it. There you go.

KT: Next question I have Suze is from Jeremy.

Say Hi Suze and KT. My wife and I have listened to Suze for many years and just discovered the podcast a few years ago. And then he says, we are debt free. We paid off our house a year ago.

My question is, with a house being paid off, what are some steps to prevent identity thieves from claiming a quick claim deed in a fake transaction with the house we live in?

Or our other house that is a rental. How do we prevent mortgage fraud? Should I just freeze our credit? Like, what do we do? They're very paranoid about their real estate. Yeah, a lot of identity theft.

Suze: Identity theft, where you just simply freeze your credit isn't going to help you with your house. It just simply helps that if somebody is applying for a loan or something on your house, then they're not going to be able to do it if it's in your name.

However, if they transfer it to their name, they're probably not caring about that. So you might want to, number one, right? There's all different kinds of things you can do, but depending on the county that you live in, cause many counties, Jeremy, offer what's known as a free alert system that's going to notify you if there's any recorded activity including filing a deed or a mortgage or whatever on your property.

So you can sign up for these alerts for both your residence and your rental property that's known as a county property alert service. So check with your county to see if they offer them.

Next, you have to watch for missing any redirected bills, so your mortgage, your property tax, your utility bills, if they stop arriving at your house, you know something is radically wrong. Title insurance. Listen, if you don't already have an owner's title insurance policy that covers post-policy forgery and fraud, you need to consider.

Getting one or reviewing your current policy for this coverage. So now there are obviously you see them advertised all the time. You see professional monitoring services. Some companies will offer that you pay for a service, then they will monitor your property's title status for anything like a suspicious filing or something. So these might be worthwhile if you prefer that somebody else handles it for you.

So for maximum security, Jeremy, use a combination of property alerts, periodic deed checks, and credit freezes. That's what I would be doing if I were you. All right.

KT: OK, Suze, the next question we have is a really good one. It's from Betty. She said, first off, my husband and I made it our routine to watch your show on Saturday evenings many years ago. People loved the Suze Orman show.

Suze: Yeah, and by the way, for those of you who never watched it or you want to watch it, they're being shown again on my YouTube channel. That's youtube.com/SuzeOrman—S-U-Z-E—and go there and you can watch them. And shortly, we're going to be doing live broadcasts from that YouTube channel where we're going to have live questions and answers. It only took us 10 or 15 years, some amount of time, to get my YouTube channel back. Somebody had it. We couldn't figure out who it was and now it's back in my name. So here we go.

KT: All right. So she says, Suze, your advice was invaluable, especially regarding the need for a long term care policy. We both lived healthy lifestyles, but based on your advice, we each purchased one never expecting to have to use my husband's 10 years later. Thank you for that advice. Nobody knows what the future holds. So Betty says my question today is, can you explain what an index-based annuity is? You should see Suze's face, everyone. I have a friend who sells...

Suze: Oh there we go. "Friend." Don't you ever anybody buy an investment from a friend.

KT: Wait, wait, wait. I have a friend who sells index-based annuities, claims they are good investments and safe, she said. Even financial advisors aren't really educated on the potential benefits of those annuities. You ready?

Suze: Wait, now look at my face.

KT: I know that face. I wish we were on video because you would know the answer already, Betty. Betty said, I'm 75 years old, a retired widow who has always been very careful with my money, so I don't want to mess that up now.

Suze: Well, you're about to by listening to this so-called friend.

KT: She said the money to purchase this annuity would most likely come from cashing in my short-term treasuries. I've been retired for 11 years and I'm enjoying life with my Social Security, my pension, my RMDs, and interest income from the treasuries. There you go, Suze. Why does she need that annuity?

Suze: She doesn't.

KT: Well, there you go. Your friend maybe needs the commission on the annuity.

Suze: Here's the thing... No, that's the truth, because a $50,000 index annuity is probably going to yield her friend like $2,500 or $3,000 in commission. You listen to me and you listen to me closely. You are to not do this. You're not to do this. You are not to do this.

KT: She doesn't need to do it.

Suze: I don't need to explain it to anybody. It just doesn't make any sense. If you want to invest in an index, then just buy the Standard and Poor's 500 index, buy the Vanguard, the VOO ETF, and that would be far better. An indexed annuity, I don't even want you to know about it. I know everything that there is to know about it. You can tell your friend about that. And I just think it is not something that you in your particular situation should do.

KT: Michelle. Hi there, beautiful ladies. Thank you for all your advice and really smart information. The smart information comes from Suze.

Suze: Don't say that. You are never to do that again. I hate when you do that.

KT: So you're sorry to yourself.

Suze: I'm, I'm sorry, KT.

KT: Say, cancel, cancel.

Suze: Cancel, cancel KT.

KT: She said...

Suze: Not cancel, cancel KT.

KT: No — Cancel, cancel. KT, your information is smart too.

Suze: Sometimes it's even smarter, KT.

KT: Well, there you go. Everyone hear that? Sometimes it is even smarter...

Suze: Don't ever do that.

KT: OK, I purchased the must have documents. I'm 67 and was married two years ago, so everyone listen carefully. I have approximately $1 million that I have worked two jobs and invested, with using so many of your suggestions, Suze. She said, when setting up my trust and will in 2020, I made my two grown daughters my beneficiaries.

My new husband does not have any retirement plan or savings. He gave his 401k to his ex-wife. We built a house together and each put in half of the deposit money. I'm not working. He is still working. He pays the mortgage and all of the household bills. If I died, I would want my family, meaning her two daughters, to have her financial investments.

She said it sounds selfish, but I'm not comfortable with him having what I've worked very hard to build. And when he passed, he would include what money is left to share with his two grown children as well as my two daughters, right?

My question is, how do I move forward in a kind and loving manner with a new married partner that isn't financially secure? This is a very good question.

Can I keep my daughters as the beneficiaries and keep my current will, or since married, is it more practical, fair, and loving to make him the beneficiary?

Suze: Hopefully, my dear Michelle, I hope all of your money that you entered this relationship with is still in your individual name. Now obviously you built a home with him, and chances are you own that house in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, which means you die, it automatically goes to him. And when he dies, if his will and or trust says it goes to just his children, you have disinherited your children, and there is nothing they can do about it when it comes to the assets of the house.

So first of all, you all have to understand, everybody that's listening right now, that how you designate a beneficiary overrides the wishes of any trust or will. So anything that you own and joint tenancy with right of survivorship is automatically going to go to him, even if your trust and or will says it's to go to your children.

So the best way for you to do it is to make sure that all of your investments are pay on death accounts to them. Therefore, it doesn't matter what your trust or will says—it will go to them.

In regards to your home, most likely the proper way that you should have owned that home is tenancy in common, which means half of it goes to your children. When you die, the other half would go to his children if those were his beneficiaries. Those are then governed by your will and or your trust. So that is how probably you should have done it.

However, what's interesting is let's say you really love each other, and the truth of the matter is if one of you dies, you want the other to continue to be able to live in that house until they have died. So you might want to do a life estate in that house saying that he can stay there until he dies, but upon his death, then your half would go to your children, and actually that kind of happens on your death, believe it or not. So he gets to stay there for as long as he wants.

So what should you do? You express that how do you do this in a loving manner. A loving manner is an honest manner. It's a manner where you are not afraid to talk with your spouse about what you want to see happen.

Now obviously you also seem to have more money than he does. And he also is probably going to want to leave his children something as well. So the two of you really need to figure that out.

The first thing that I would do really is either retitle the house as tenants in common with a life estate that says you both, either one—whoever dies first—the other one gets to stay in there until they have died. However, how do you figure it out with him that he is the one that is paying for all the expenses of that house, so you, in essence, are getting to live there free and participate in the appreciation of that piece of real estate. That isn't fair either, my love.

So either you start to participate in paying for everything equally with him so that you get to participate in that appreciation, or you decide on a price right now that you would get if he died first. You need to work that out with him so that he doesn't feel like it's not fair for him and is he holding any feelings about that in terms of what would go to his children.

So given that I can't solve this for you cause I don't know enough, you do have what it takes to solve this yourself, and that's by sitting down with him in a loving way and telling him what you feel and you figuring out how to work it out so that he knows your children are going to be getting everything that you entered into this relationship with. His children will get everything that he has entered this relationship with, and then you just have to figure out what happens with the house.

KT: So Suze, we're on a roll here, and many of these questions are very similar that I've selected because they all seem to have to do with second marriages or changes, life changes when spouses die or long term care.

This next question is from Susie. She said, Dear Suze, sadly and unexpectedly at the age of 71, I became a widow nearly 6 months ago. We're so sorry for your loss. She said, my husband was a physician and was still earning a very good living. We had 46 years together during which we raised five incredible kids.

In addition to all of the grief, emotion, and heartbreak, I find myself at a financial crossroad. We still have a mortgage on our home in West LA, which is a pretty expensive neighborhood. She said my mortgage comes to approximately $7,100 a month, yet I only receive close to $4,000 a month in Social Security and unemployment insurance. Between my mortgage and other expenses, I find myself going through my savings all too quickly, and this scares me.

Maybe it's time to sell my home. However, Suze, this is what Susie wants you to know, she said. We redid our kitchen five years ago, and I put my heart and soul into it. I have an Instagram called Kosher Mexican where I cook in my beautiful kitchen and share recipes from my background. This little Instagram page of mine has been my lifeline and has really helped me through this time in being creative and really to express my grief and in doing so maybe I'm helping others. What should I do, Suze?

Suze: Susie, Susie, Susie. I always say you are to do nothing for six months to one year, preferably even longer, usually two years, after you have suffered the loss of a loved one. And while I know that you are going into your savings right now, I don't think that you are quite ready to sell the house.

Now eventually it would seem to me you are going to have to do so. But I would just put aside an amount of money from your savings that would allow you to stay there for at least 6 more months, OK. It's only gonna be what, another $42,000 or another $50,000 or even if it's $100,000, you need that time and you also need that time of being able to do your Instagram account and to show others through your cooking how grief can really find a place that there is some joy in it after all.

I have to tell you the one thing that I loved that you said in here is that you had 46 years together during which you raised five incredible kids. If you love this house and this is where you want to stay for a while, I want you to figure out how much per month you are going into your savings to be able to stay there.

And I want you to bring your five incredible kids together cause I have a feeling they're also making an incredible income and are very self-sufficient and maybe now is the time that they will really show you how incredible they are, and they will step up and say, you know what, Mom, the five of us are going to give you $2,000 a month each, and that should probably allow you that extra $10,000 to stay in this house, at least for now, without you having to go in your savings.

Now that doesn't mean that's what they're going to have to do forever. Cause there will come a time when you are ready that you will put that house up on the market, and now you will cut your expenses dramatically and you will have a lot more in savings and then maybe one of them will say, Mom, come live with me. Mom here, Mom there—we don't know what the future holds for you that way.

But for right now, secure your future with number one: knowing you are going to stay there for another 6 months and get joy out of it, know that you are going to dip into your savings if your kids don't want to step up for whatever reason to meet your needs—but I think they're going to, by the way—and just know that and give yourself a date 6 months from now that you will make a decision as to what you think you should do at that point.

I can tell you, in my opinion, you need to sell this home. You just do. But you don't need to do it right now, so give yourself time. Allow yourself to mourn. And from there you'll see the right moves will be made.

KT: That's a beautiful wrap, Suze.

Suze: All right, so everybody, things happen in life. All kinds of unexpected things, whether it's a long term care need, or it's a house that you can't afford anymore because of a death and loss of income. But that is why it is so, so important that you do take the actions today to protect your tomorrows and whether that's by getting a living revocable trust, a will, an advanced directive, and durable power of attorney for health care, so you get your estate in order, go to musthavedocs.com to check that out.

Or a long term care insurance policy, go on the Women and Money community app and scroll down on the wall there. You'll see it on one of those little boxes, long term care insurance, and have a conversation with Phyllis Shelton, who, in my opinion, is one of the experts in long term care.

But take the actions today to protect your tomorrows cause you just never know what tomorrow will bring.

So until next week with Miss Travis, there's only one thing that we want you to remember, and KT, this is your line.

KT: We want you to make your money, make more money.

Suze: And the way that you do that is you plan today for the what ifs of tomorrow. All of you stay safe, stay healthy, and once again know we love you all so very, very much.

KT: Bye bye.