August 21, 2025 • 31 mins
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Suze (00:07):
August 21, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Today is...
KT (00:18):
Ask KT and Suze
Suze (00:21):
Anything. And are you just so excited?
KT (00:24):
I am. We're leaving soon.
Suze (00:25):
In 10 days we are going to San Francisco and
we're actually going to see
KT (00:33):
Caitlin Clark.
Suze (00:34):
The Valkyries play.
KT (00:35):
Let's hope she's playing.
Suze (00:37):
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 (00:52):
We've been wanting to watch her play for a really
long time...
Suze (00:55):
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 (01:14):
So when did you and Laurie meet each other?
Suze (01:17):
Boy, when probably when we were 10 or 11, she
lived around the block from us
KT (01:21):
And you went to school?
Suze (01:22):
We went everywhere... loved her, just loved her.
KT (01:24):
And you still do. They're still very good, very good friends.
Suze (01:27):
OK.
KT (01:29):
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
(01:50):
purchase to protect those funds?
Suze (01:53):
First of all, it's no, there isn't...
KT (01:56):
Is it stocks or one stock?
Suze (01:58):
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
(02:22):
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.
(02:49):
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
(03:12):
because they have excess insurance, so.
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
(03:34):
you want. All right, next, KT,
KT (03:36):
OK, Henry...
Suze (03:38):
Henry!
KT (03:38):
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
(04:01):
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 (04:20):
Henry
KT (04:20):
Henry, you're both
pretty young,
Suze (04:22):
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,
(04:46):
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
(05:10):
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?
(05:33):
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.
(05:57):
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
(06:22):
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
(06:45):
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.
All right, what were you gonna say?
KT (07:02):
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 (07:12):
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 (07:22):
All right. 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
(07:46):
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 (07:58):
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.
(08:20):
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.
(08:41):
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
(09:01):
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. All right, KT.
KT (09:18):
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
(09:42):
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,
(10:05):
a lot of identity theft.
Suze (10:06):
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
(10:27):
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
(10:48):
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,
(11:12):
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,
(11:33):
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
(11:57):
filing or something. So these might be worth while 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
(12:17):
were you. All right.
KT (12:18):
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 (12:32):
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/ Suze
Orman 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
(12:53):
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 (13:08):
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.
(13:31):
So Betty says my question today is, can you explain
what an index-based annuity is? Ready?
You should see Suze's face, everyone, I have a friend
who sells.
Suze (13:45):
Oh there we go. "Friend."
KT (13:47):
I have a friend.
Suze (13:49):
Don't you ever anybody buy an investment from a friend.
KT (13:52):
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 (14:11):
Wait, now look at my face.
KT (14:12):
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 (14:27):
Well, you're about to by listening to this so-called friend.
KT (14:32):
She said the money to purchase this annuity would most
likely come from cashing in my short-term treasuries.
Suze (14:39):
Are you kidding me?
KT (14:40):
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 (14:55):
She doesn't.
KT (14:56):
Well, there you go.
Your friend maybe needs the commission on the annuity.
Suze (15:01):
Here's the thing...
KT (15:02):
Is that not nice to say?
Suze (15:04):
No, that's the truth, because a $50,000 index annuity is
probably going to yield her friend like $2500 or $3000
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 (15:21):
She doesn't need to do it.
Suze (15:22):
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,
by 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.
(15:45):
You can tell your friend about that. And I just
think it is not something that you in your particular
situation should do. Next question, KT.
KT (15:56):
Michelle. Hi there, beautiful ladies. Thank you for all your
advice and really smart information. The smart information came comes
from Suze.
Suze (16:06):
Don't say that. You are never to do that again.
I hate when you do that.
So your sorry to yourself.
KT (16:13):
I'm, I'm sorry, KT.
Say, cancel, cancel.
Cancel, cancel KT.
She said...
Suze (16:18):
Not cancel, cancel KT.
KT (16:19):
No - Cancel, cancel. KT, your information is smart too.
Suze (16:24):
Sometimes it's even smarter, KT.
KT (16:26):
Well, there you go. Everyone hear that sometimes it is even smarter...
Suze (16:30):
Don't ever do that.
KT (16:33):
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
(16:55):
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.
(17:20):
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
(17:42):
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,
(18:05):
and loving to make him the beneficiary?
Suze (18:10):
Hopefully, my dear Michel, 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
(18:35):
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
(18:58):
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.
(19:22):
So the best way for you to do it is
to make sure that all of your investments are pay
and 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
(19:45):
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.
(20:07):
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
(20:29):
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
(20:51):
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.
(21:13):
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
(21:35):
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
(21:55):
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
(22:15):
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
(22:38):
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
(22:59):
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. All right, now you know, all right, KT.
KT (23:19):
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
(23:42):
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
(24:04):
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,
(24:26):
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
(24:49):
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 (25:09):
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
(25:32):
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.
(25:52):
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
(26:13):
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 and which you
raised five incredible kids. If you love this house and
(26:38):
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
(27:00):
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 $2000
a month each, and that should probably allow you that
(27:24):
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,
(27:44):
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.
(28:06):
Knowing you are going to stay there for another 6
months and get joy out of it, know that you
are going to dip in 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
(28:26):
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
(28:47):
yourself to mourn.
And from there you'll see the right moves will be made.
KT (28:55):
That's a beautiful wrap, Suze.
Suze (28:57):
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
(29:18):
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
(29:42):
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
(30:04):
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 (30:17):
We want you to make your money, make more money.
Suze (30:21):
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 (30:35):
Bye bye.
August 21, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Today is...
KT (00:18):
Ask KT and Suze
Suze (00:21):
Anything. And are you just so excited?
KT (00:24):
I am. We're leaving soon.
Suze (00:25):
In 10 days we are going to San Francisco and
we're actually going to see
KT (00:33):
Caitlin Clark.
Suze (00:34):
The Valkyries play.
KT (00:35):
Let's hope she's playing.
Suze (00:37):
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 (00:52):
We've been wanting to watch her play for a really
long time...
Suze (00:55):
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 (01:14):
So when did you and Laurie meet each other?
Suze (01:17):
Boy, when probably when we were 10 or 11, she
lived around the block from us
KT (01:21):
And you went to school?
Suze (01:22):
We went everywhere... loved her, just loved her.
KT (01:24):
And you still do. They're still very good, very good friends.
Suze (01:27):
OK.
KT (01:29):
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
(01:50):
purchase to protect those funds?
Suze (01:53):
First of all, it's no, there isn't...
KT (01:56):
Is it stocks or one stock?
Suze (01:58):
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
(02:22):
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.
(02:49):
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
(03:12):
because they have excess insurance, so.
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
(03:34):
you want. All right, next, KT,
KT (03:36):
OK, Henry...
Suze (03:38):
Henry!
KT (03:38):
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
(04:01):
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 (04:20):
Henry
KT (04:20):
Henry, you're both
pretty young,
Suze (04:22):
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,
(04:46):
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
(05:10):
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?
(05:33):
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.
(05:57):
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
(06:22):
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
(06:45):
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.
All right, what were you gonna say?
KT (07:02):
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 (07:12):
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 (07:22):
All right. 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
(07:46):
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 (07:58):
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.
(08:20):
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.
(08:41):
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
(09:01):
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. All right, KT.
KT (09:18):
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
(09:42):
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,
(10:05):
a lot of identity theft.
Suze (10:06):
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
(10:27):
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
(10:48):
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,
(11:12):
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,
(11:33):
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
(11:57):
filing or something. So these might be worth while 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
(12:17):
were you. All right.
KT (12:18):
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 (12:32):
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/ Suze
Orman 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
(12:53):
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 (13:08):
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.
(13:31):
So Betty says my question today is, can you explain
what an index-based annuity is? Ready?
You should see Suze's face, everyone, I have a friend
who sells.
Suze (13:45):
Oh there we go. "Friend."
KT (13:47):
I have a friend.
Suze (13:49):
Don't you ever anybody buy an investment from a friend.
KT (13:52):
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 (14:11):
Wait, now look at my face.
KT (14:12):
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 (14:27):
Well, you're about to by listening to this so-called friend.
KT (14:32):
She said the money to purchase this annuity would most
likely come from cashing in my short-term treasuries.
Suze (14:39):
Are you kidding me?
KT (14:40):
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 (14:55):
She doesn't.
KT (14:56):
Well, there you go.
Your friend maybe needs the commission on the annuity.
Suze (15:01):
Here's the thing...
KT (15:02):
Is that not nice to say?
Suze (15:04):
No, that's the truth, because a $50,000 index annuity is
probably going to yield her friend like $2500 or $3000
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 (15:21):
She doesn't need to do it.
Suze (15:22):
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,
by 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.
(15:45):
You can tell your friend about that. And I just
think it is not something that you in your particular
situation should do. Next question, KT.
KT (15:56):
Michelle. Hi there, beautiful ladies. Thank you for all your
advice and really smart information. The smart information came comes
from Suze.
Suze (16:06):
Don't say that. You are never to do that again.
I hate when you do that.
So your sorry to yourself.
KT (16:13):
I'm, I'm sorry, KT.
Say, cancel, cancel.
Cancel, cancel KT.
She said...
Suze (16:18):
Not cancel, cancel KT.
KT (16:19):
No - Cancel, cancel. KT, your information is smart too.
Suze (16:24):
Sometimes it's even smarter, KT.
KT (16:26):
Well, there you go. Everyone hear that sometimes it is even smarter...
Suze (16:30):
Don't ever do that.
KT (16:33):
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
(16:55):
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.
(17:20):
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
(17:42):
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,
(18:05):
and loving to make him the beneficiary?
Suze (18:10):
Hopefully, my dear Michel, 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
(18:35):
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
(18:58):
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.
(19:22):
So the best way for you to do it is
to make sure that all of your investments are pay
and 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
(19:45):
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.
(20:07):
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
(20:29):
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
(20:51):
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.
(21:13):
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
(21:35):
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
(21:55):
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
(22:15):
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
(22:38):
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
(22:59):
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. All right, now you know, all right, KT.
KT (23:19):
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
(23:42):
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
(24:04):
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,
(24:26):
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
(24:49):
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 (25:09):
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
(25:32):
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.
(25:52):
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
(26:13):
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 and which you
raised five incredible kids. If you love this house and
(26:38):
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
(27:00):
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 $2000
a month each, and that should probably allow you that
(27:24):
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,
(27:44):
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.
(28:06):
Knowing you are going to stay there for another 6
months and get joy out of it, know that you
are going to dip in 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
(28:26):
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
(28:47):
yourself to mourn.
And from there you'll see the right moves will be made.
KT (28:55):
That's a beautiful wrap, Suze.
Suze (28:57):
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
(29:18):
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
(29:42):
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
(30:04):
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 (30:17):
We want you to make your money, make more money.
Suze (30:21):
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 (30:35):
Bye bye.
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