Podcast Episode - Make The Right Choice


Bill Paying, Financial Security, Podcast, Spending, Women And Money


January 17, 2021

Listen to Podcast Episode:

On this podcast, Suze talks about why making the right choices with your money will help you be safe and secure, especially in these uncertain times. She also reviews some of the Eight Qualities of A Wealthy Woman and why generosity is so important.


Podcast Transcript:

January 17, 2021. You know, I really didn't know what I wanted to talk about today because, you know, we are going to have the inauguration in three days from now. And we just have to see what's gonna happen in this country. What's going to go on and what goes on really will affect the economy. So I'm really waiting to see what happens on the 20th. And after the transition, you just have to wait to see, and then we'll know the effect. But what was interesting for me this week is that a lot of people have been interviewing me. And just this Last Thursday I recorded a podcast, another money podcast with some people, and they were saying, Suze, we have been waiting, we want to hear your answers. Can you please tell those that have absolutely no money? They're waiting for their stimulus check. They are trying to get back on unemployment. Can you tell them what they should do with their stimulus check? And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking to myself, really, when you are now in a situation where you have no money. You can't pay your rent. You haven't paid your rent. You haven't paid your car payment. You haven't done all of these things. And you're waiting for your last $600. Maybe, that just might come in. And you want me to give you the answer off what you should do. So I started to talk about and I did this in the webinar, actually, that night. And by the way, where you all, did you all listened to that webinar on Thursday night? I think if you signed up for it, I think they're repeating it now. But approximately 85,000 people will have listened to it by the time the repeats are over. Fabulous. Maybe one of the best webinars I've ever given. But I divided groups into the haves and the have nots. I divided groups into those that are protected and those that are unprotected. But when I said the haves and the have nots and I was talking about them that way, one of the moderators of this podcast said, I don't want to call them have not Suze, I don't want to address people like that I want to call them, maybe they have less. And I just sat and I listened and I continued on. But there are people out there that have absolutely nothing, nothing and no fault of their own. So this isn't a blame thing. They may have had an eight or 12 month emergency fund. They may have had a great job. They may have been current on all of their payments pandemic hits. And now they're out on the street. No fault of their own. And so there is nothing wrong with saying it how it is. There are those that have right now they have a job, they have an emergency fund, they have income coming in, they have a place to live, they have their rent payment up to date, they have their car payment up to date, they have what they need. And then there are many people, possibly many more than have that do not have the money to pay rent or the back rent. They do not have the money to make their car payment, their student loan payment, their credit card payments. They do not have that which they need. So then when I'm asked to address them and to fix their problems. What am I to say? What can I say to help them other than encourage them? To just know that day by day they've gotten this far, they will get further. So the overall message here. Was there's nothing wrong with standing in the truth about what is going on in the United States of America today, and one doesn't need to make it soft. One doesn't mean to say well, they have less, there's the have less. And then there's the haves. No, there are the haves. There are the half less is, but millions of people are the have not’s. So why do I want to talk about this? Because it's not until you can face it that you can erase it. You know, there were many, many times in my life where I had to make choices, and those choices always came to, Do I want money or do I want things? Do I want insecurity or do I want security? Do I want to be popular for what I say, or do I want to just tell the truth no matter how anybody else thinks about it? And that is how I have built my career. I have always chosen money over the things that money can buy. I've always chosen standing in the truth versus being popular, to say something that sounds good. I've always done things like that. And so I'm asking all of you to make the right choices and the first choice that I'm asking those of you who are really in a situation where you don't have anything, make the choice to have faith that you will get through this. Make the choice that you rather have money than things, make the choice that even if you have to give up your car, you have to give up your apartment, whatever it is, make those choices from a place off feeling I'm doing something to help myself. Not from a place of Oh my God, I'm losing my home. I'm losing my car. I'm losing this. I'm losing that. No, you're gaining a step into the new future of your life and I can promise you, really. And I know this sounds like a strange promise for me to make, but when you stand in your truth, when you face it to erase it than you feel more powerful and when you feel more powerful. And what is the number one law of money? Power attracts money and powerlessness repels money, so we have to start from ground zero. And also I really don't want you to be cynical and go well, what a Suze Orman now… I know a lot. I know a lot about having had money. And then something happened. And I talk about this in the Courage to be Rich book, which I think is my third book that I wrote back in 1999 where I'll never forget that everybody thought I had so much money because I looked like I did. I was a financial advisor with my own financial planning group and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was sitting in a Denny's restaurant, and at that point I had $250,000 of credit card debt. I had no way to make money. I was behind on every single mortgage payment credit card payment. I had nothing, nothing. And I was sitting in a Denny's with my BMW that I had leased, my fancy Rolex watch, my Armani suit, all which were on credit cards. Everybody thought I was really rich because I looked it and I realized that the waitress waiting on me had more money than I did because there was no way that she had $250,000 off credit card debt. And what happened was, from that point, is I went back to my office, which was on the top floor. I had the corner office, fancy view everything. And I said to my office mates, Can you help me? I don't have a penny left to my name. And we rented out my office to somebody else and they allowed me to have a chair in the fax room, A chair in the fax room that was big enough to have a water cooler in there, a fax machine, and that was about it. And maybe two or three file cabinets. That was it. It was a small, tiny room. You couldn't even fit a bed in it. And that's where I worked out of until all of my problems had been resolved. So I know what it feels like to have money and then have it all go away and I also know what it feels like for it all to come back, and I also know that it comes back when you don't leave who you are, when you don't leave the truth of your situation. But to do that you have to do that with courage. You know, on my women and money app, there's one little, one of those blocks that are the qualities of a wealthy woman, and whether you're a woman or a man, they apply. And the first quality is harmony and harmony is where what you say, think and do our one. You have got to present in every possible way the truth. You can't be looking like I did like I had a whole lot of money, and yet the truth was, I didn't have any money at all. So what you think, say and do has got to be one. Balance, balance is where you have to really have both of your feet on the ground. You have to be really sturdy in your belief that you can do this, and I know you can do this, especially the women out there that are mothers. If you have what it takes to be a mom, and I said this on Thursday, last Thursday's podcast to a woman who had given up all hope. But if you have what it takes to be a mom, if you have what it takes to raise Children, you can get through what we're getting through right now. Help is on the way, but you just have to help yourself. So you have to be in balance and balance has a lot to do with harmony, because if what you say, think and do aren't one, there's no way for you to be in balance. The third quality is courage, and this is the quality that I want to talk about right now, because for those of you who are the have nots, or for those of you who know people who are the have nots and there's nothing wrong with being a have not right. You need courage. Every morning when you wake up, you have to have courage to face what's going on in your world. And the fourth quality of a wealthy woman is generosity. Now I just want to repeat, and I know I've been repeating in this podcast, but sometimes I found that a lot of you need to hear things more than once is generosity. There are so many of you out there that have gotten a stimulus check. There are so many of you out there that will probably get another stimulus check. If Biden is able to pass more legislation that says we're going to send you more money and I know that the government, in my opinion, has not done this correctly. They just sent it out, depending on, all right, you make income under 75,000 or 150,000 if you're married, So you're going to get a check as long as you filed taxes or whatever it may be. I don't know, that's not how I would have done it on any level. I would have looked at who's on unemployment. I would have done it a whole different way. But that's besides the point. So I know many of you out there that will get this check and you're going to put it to work in your Roth IRA. You're going to put it in your emergency savings account that you're going to start to build with Alliant Credit Union. I know that's true, right? No. This is the time that I'm asking you to be generous of spirit. You know, the definition of generosity is that which is generous for somebody else, but it's also generous for yourself because in life when you are generous, you feel powerful. And when you feel powerful, you attract money. You attract money because people control money. And when you are generous, you attract people to that energy. I know every single one of you knows 1, 2 or 3 have nots right now that are behind on their rent, that behind on a payment, that have no food in their refrigerator. I'm asking you to dig deep and rather than taking that money and put it in a savings account or put it in a retirement account for you, can you help others so that they can help themselves? Um, the reason that I'm repeating this again is that I'm finding that our podcast is growing very, very quickly, which I'm so happy about, by the way, and a lot of people are starting from today's podcast. They're not going back and listening to last week's or the week before that, or a month before that. They're just going from here on. And this issue to me anyway, and to all of you is so important that I really wanted to take today to just repeat the most important things that I want all of you to know. I want all of you to know that from the bottom of my heart, I believe by 2022, 2023 we will know why all of this has happened. We really will be on the course where all of this is behind us, and everything is as great as it is meant to be. But for now, 2021 could be a challenging year. So we have to help ourselves. We have to help each other. And we have to come right back here every single week to the Women and Money Podcast, so I can tell you what I really want all of you to know. Stay safe. Everybody stay safe. And tomorrow, let's all say a prayer and reflect on Martin Luther King, a great man who really knew what matters.


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Suze Orman Blog and Podcast Episodes

Suze's Financial Strength Test

Answer Yes or No to the follow statements.

I pay all my credit card bills in full each month.

I have an eight-month emergency savings fund separate from my checking or other bank accounts.

The car I am driving was paid for with cash, or a loan that was no more than three years, and I sure didn’t lease!

I am contributing at least 10% of my gross salary to a retirement plan at work, or I am saving at least that much in an IRA and/or regular taxable account.

I have a long-term asset allocation plan for my retirement investments, and once a year I check to see if I need to do any rebalancing to stay on target with my allocation goals.

I have term life insurance to provide protection to those who are dependent on my income.

I have a will, a trust, an advance directive (living will), and have appointed someone to be my health care proxy.

I have checked all the beneficiaries of every investment account and insurance policy within the past year.

So how did you do?

If you answered yes to every item, congratulations. If you are working on improving on a few items, I say congratulations as well.

As long as you are comitted to truly creating financial security, I applaud you. If that means you are paying down your credit card balances, or are building up your emergency fun with automated payments, that’s more than fine. You are on your way!

But if you found yourself saying No to any of those questions, and you’re not working on moving to Yes, then I want you to stand in your truth. No matter how good you feel, you have some work to do before you can honestly know what you are on solid financial ground.

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