# Taking The Courage Challenge

An episode of [Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1439621652), 14 Jun 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2df1102a-5761-4c99-b489-aabd0161f8fe/44e0936e-923c-43c7-9e2a-aade00edf4d3/eaeb0c91-502c-4675-b12b-b468002d53fe/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=4e05fb00-5a5b-4ed9-b353-aade00edf4dd

On this Suze School Highlight episode, Suze challenges us to break the habit of financial fear. Suze explains how even making one small positive change can build up confidence and help us realize our own power. Learn more about the Ultimate Scam Protection here: SuzeOrman.com Watch Suze’s YouTube Channel Jumpstart financial wellness for your employees: https://bit.ly/SecureSave Protect your financial future with the Must Have Docs: https://bit.ly/3Vq1V3G Get your savings going with Alliant Credit Union: https://bit.ly/3rg0Yio Get Suze’s special offers for podcast listeners at suzeorman.com/offer Join Suze’s Women & Money Community for FREE and ASK SUZE your questions which may just end up on the podcast. Download the app by following one of these links: CLICK HERE FOR APPLE: https://apple.co/2KcAHbH CLICK HERE FOR GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3curfMI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:08] Robert: June 14th, 2026. Welcome to the Women and Money podcast,
[0:13] Robert: as well as everyone smart enough to listen. Hi everybody, Robert,
[0:16] Robert: the producer here. Now, I know that on the last
[0:19] Robert: Ask KT and Suze Anything episode, Suze mentioned that she
[0:22] Robert: was thinking about going over her faves today.
[0:25] Robert: But see, I needed to travel this weekend, and I
[0:28] Robert: asked Suze if we could do a best of today
[0:30] Robert: as a favor to me, since I'm gonna be in
[0:32] Robert: a place with kind of dodgy internet and editing might
[0:36] Robert: be a little tough. And Suze Orman, being the best
[0:39] Robert: boss and friend ever, said that was OK.
[0:42] Robert: So what we're gonna do today is revisit an episode
[0:45] Robert: from late last year, which is also really good to
[0:49] Robert: have at the top of your feed right now. It's
[0:51] Robert: called Taking the Courage Challenge. Suze and KT will be
[0:55] Robert: back with a brand new podcast this coming Thursday.
[0:59] Robert: Enjoy.
[1:03] Suze: I did a Suze School about a woman that we
[1:07] Suze: decided to call Susan.
[1:09] Suze: And what happened to her in terms of her very
[1:12] Suze: good friend asking her to take her money from a
[1:15] Suze: successful financial adviser where she was making money and give
[1:19] Suze: it to this woman's son who was a brand new
[1:21] Suze: financial adviser just so he could look like he was
[1:25] Suze: doing well and attracting big clients and because her son
[1:29] Suze: was only going to charge her 1% versus this extraordinary
[1:33] Suze: adviser that was charging her 1.5%.
[1:36] Suze: Well, I have to tell you that podcast generated more email,
[1:43] Suze: in a way that I didn't expect.
[1:46] Suze: So many of you wrote and said, Suze, that happens
[1:49] Suze: to me all the time, not necessarily about me transferring
[1:54] Suze: my account, but I just get so afraid. One friend
[1:58] Suze: tells me to do this, another friend tells me to
[2:00] Suze: do that. My spouse tells me to do this. I'm
[2:02] Suze: just so afraid. And what can you tell me about
[2:06] Suze: being afraid?
[2:09] Suze: So, what's interesting is that I hear from so many women,
[2:13] Suze: you would imagine that, the Women and Money podcast, and
[2:17] Suze: everybody's smart enough to listen. But what I love so
[2:20] Suze: much about this podcast is that really the majority of
[2:24] Suze: people that are listening are 50, 60, 70, 80, and
[2:29] Suze: so on.
[2:30] Suze: I love that because there's not another podcast out there
[2:35] Suze: that specializes in getting financially mature, financially older, the decisions
[2:40] Suze: you have to make and face when you are ill,
[2:43] Suze: when you are old, you can't work anymore. And I
[2:46] Suze: remember when I was 45 years of age and my
[2:49] Suze: first book was You've Earned It, Don't Lose It, Mistakes
[2:51] Suze: You Can't Afford to Make When You Retire. But what
[2:53] Suze: did I know about retirement, really? I was 45.
[2:58] Suze: Now I am 30 years older than that, and I
[3:02] Suze: know a lot about retirement. I know about getting ill.
[3:06] Suze: I know about making mistakes. I know certain things. So,
[3:12] Suze: I love that I have my elderly community, and I
[3:17] Suze: love the ones that are young enough, 25, 30, that
[3:21] Suze: are enjoying it as well.
[3:24] Suze: But what is still true from so many women is this...
[3:31] Suze: Regardless of your age, regardless of your income level, even
[3:35] Suze: your background, all of your stories sound the same.
[3:40] Suze: That you're earning more than ever before, you're saving, you're investing,
[3:45] Suze: you're doing everything that I've told you to do over
[3:49] Suze: all these years, but deep down you are all still afraid.
[3:57] Suze: And I got two or three emails about three weeks ago,
[4:01] Suze: and these women were so accomplished, and the two of
[4:05] Suze: you know who you are, because I wrote you back
[4:08] Suze: significant long emails to help you and raise you up,
[4:15] Suze: not so much from your finances, but out of your
[4:18] Suze: fear and out of your self-doubt.
[4:22] Suze: But all of you, you're still scared, you're scared that
[4:26] Suze: the market's gonna crash. You're scared that you're gonna make
[4:29] Suze: just one mistake and you're gonna lose it all. You're
[4:32] Suze: scared that somehow it's going to all slip away.
[4:38] Suze: You know, I used to call it that we all
[4:39] Suze: have this bag lady syndrome that we imagined ourselves, not me,
[4:44] Suze: by the way, that we imagined ourselves being powerless and
[4:47] Suze: penniless and living on the streets.
[4:51] Suze: And the only way that could ever happen.
[4:54] Suze: It is if you're powerless cause remember you and your
[4:59] Suze: money are one and when you are powerless you tend
[5:03] Suze: to make mistakes with your money but when you're powerful
[5:07] Suze: you always tend to do the right thing and I
[5:11] Suze: just have to be honest, you know, cause it's starting
[5:14] Suze: to get to me, for I can teach you what
[5:17] Suze: to invest in, but I have to tell you, everybody,
[5:20] Suze: that's just not enough.
[5:23] Suze: But I also need to teach you about fear because
[5:27] Suze: you can have money and still not have peace, and that,
[5:31] Suze: my dear friends is not the way to live life. Remember,
[5:36] Suze: as I just said a second ago you and your
[5:39] Suze: money are one. So if you fear your money, you
[5:43] Suze: in essence are fearing yourself.
[5:47] Suze: So, here is what I need you to get once again,
[5:49] Suze: and I have told you this before, but since this
[5:52] Suze: is Suze School, how about if we take out our
[5:56] Suze: Suze notebooks and we write this down.
[6:00] Suze: Money doesn't erase fear. Do you remember me telling you this?
[6:05] Suze: Courage does.
[6:08] Suze: Courage, one of the eight qualities of a wealthy woman.
[6:13] Suze: Actually, the third quality, just so you know, courage is
[6:19] Suze: what shows up when you finally stop running from your
[6:23] Suze: finances and start standing in your power, when you stop
[6:29] Suze: running from self-doubt.
[6:32] Suze: My second book that I ever wrote was The 9
[6:35] Suze: Steps to Financial Freedom, and truthfully, in my opinion, the
[6:38] Suze: best book I ever wrote.
[6:40] Suze: And I would always say, if you can just take
[6:44] Suze: one step towards your money, which means taking one step
[6:47] Suze: towards yourself, since you and your money are one.
[6:51] Suze: You and your money will take 9 steps back towards you.
[6:57] Suze: But you know, the truth is I've seen it over
[7:00] Suze: and over again.
[7:02] Suze: Women who are brilliant.
[7:05] Suze: Women who are responsible, hardworking.
[7:08] Suze: Yet for some reason they carry this quiet anxiety about money.
[7:17] Suze: And a lot of the women that I've been writing
[7:19] Suze: back and forth with, not like they're only making 10,000
[7:22] Suze: a year, they're making 100,000 a year, 150,000, one's making 350,000,
[7:27] Suze: and she's still scared to death.
[7:31] Suze: So what do they do?
[7:33] Suze: They check their accounts constantly. They second guess every decision.
[7:38] Suze: They feel guilty for spending and worried about not saving enough.
[7:44] Suze: And here's the truth, the fear isn't about numbers. It's
[7:48] Suze: about trust.
[7:50] Suze: Trusting yourself, trusting that you know what's right for you,
[7:54] Suze: trusting that you can handle everything and whatever comes next.
[8:00] Suze: And when you build everybody that kind of trust with yourself,
[8:05] Suze: that's when your relationship with money and who you are transforms,
[8:12] Suze: because fear can't survive where confidence lives. You know, I
[8:17] Suze: just want to say this a little, and then I'll
[8:19] Suze: go on with this.
[8:21] Suze: I have a sister-in-law, KT's twin sister, and Lynn, I
[8:24] Suze: know you're going to hear this, and I'm so proud
[8:28] Suze: of her.
[8:29] Suze: And I may have told you this again a little
[8:32] Suze: bit ago because I never know what I say or
[8:33] Suze: I don't cause I just kind of speak in the
[8:35] Suze: microphone and I never remember what I've said after I
[8:39] Suze: said it, so excuse me if I already told you this,
[8:42] Suze: but I'm so proud of her and her husband Tom,
[8:45] Suze: by the way, and Lynn is starting to really learn
[8:49] Suze: about stocks and feeling confident enough about deciding what stocks
[8:55] Suze: she wants to buy with their money.
[8:59] Suze: I love that. I love that. I love that.
[9:04] Suze: But here's the truth. What I find fascinating is that,
[9:09] Suze: do you know that women today, women, women control nearly
[9:14] Suze: a third of all the wealth in this country? Can you
[9:17] Suze: just imagine that? And that number is growing every single year.
[9:24] Suze: But still, most women say they don't feel confident making
[9:31] Suze: financial decisions, really, everybody.
[9:35] Suze: Really.
[9:37] Suze: But, you know what's so funny, when women do invest,
[9:41] Suze: studies show that they all outperform men, because women are steady,
[9:48] Suze: they're thoughtful, and they think long term.
[9:52] Suze: So maybe we need to stop calling this and where
[9:55] Suze: everybody says, Suze, I want to be risk averse. Please,
[9:59] Suze: I don't want to invest my money. I want to
[10:00] Suze: be risk averse.
[10:02] Suze: And I keep telling them that's not what you want
[10:05] Suze: to be. You want to be what I call risk aware.
[10:10] Suze: Write it down. Where you are aware of the risk
[10:14] Suze: that you are taking. Is it a big risk? Is
[10:17] Suze: it a small risk? It is a risk to do
[10:20] Suze: absolutely nothing. I want you to be risk aware, and
[10:25] Suze: that's exactly what will build wealth that lasts you forever.
[10:31] Suze: Awareness, preparation, and courage, that's the real power trio, everybody.
[10:38] Suze: Those are the three things I want you to be now.
[10:41] Suze: I want you to be aware. I want you to prepare,
[10:45] Suze: and I want you to have courage.
[10:48] Suze: But let's be honest, and let me go back a
[10:50] Suze: second here.
[10:52] Suze: Because fear has been following women and money for generations,
[10:58] Suze: which is why I wrote the book Women and Money,
[11:03] Suze: maybe the second greatest book I ever wrote.
[11:08] Suze: 'Cause, you know, women, it's true, and if you think
[11:10] Suze: that we're not socialized to think this, you are wrong,
[11:14] Suze: because I know when I'm in a room with people
[11:16] Suze: and I just freely talk about money, I know, how
[11:18] Suze: much was that? How much do you make? How much
[11:21] Suze: did you spend? What's your real estate commission, all of that,
[11:25] Suze: they look at me like I am nuts, and that's
[11:28] Suze: because women.
[11:30] Suze: We were taught that talking about money was impolite, that
[11:34] Suze: asking questions made us difficult, that wanting independence made us selfish.
[11:41] Suze: But I got news for you, everybody. Starting with this podcast,
[11:46] Suze: those days are over. Financial fear is not your inheritance,
[11:52] Suze: do you hear me? It's a habit, and habits can
[11:55] Suze: be broken.
[11:57] Suze: And the way you break it is with knowledge. You
[12:00] Suze: learn to plan. You take small actions, and before you
[12:04] Suze: know it, you have built confidence. And when confidence shows up,
[12:09] Suze: I'm here to tell you, everybody, fear packs up and leaves.
[12:14] Suze: So, here's your courage challenge for the week, and I
[12:18] Suze: may have given this to you before.
[12:21] Suze: But if I have, you need to still do it.
[12:24] Suze: Step one, I want you to name the fear. What
[12:28] Suze: are you afraid of? And I want you to write
[12:32] Suze: it down, and I don't want you to sugarcoat it.
[12:36] Suze: Then, I want you to just face the facts. I
[12:41] Suze: want you to look at your numbers. You can't change
[12:45] Suze: what you won't confront. And the reason that I want
[12:48] Suze: you to do that is, given the women that I've
[12:51] Suze: been doing plans with who have written me that touched
[12:54] Suze: my heart, so I answered them personally, once they saw
[12:58] Suze: the numbers really.
[13:00] Suze: They weren't afraid any more. They weren't afraid cause they
[13:05] Suze: saw the truth, the truth that they weren't willing to
[13:10] Suze: look at.
[13:11] Suze: And step three, can you just make one small move,
[13:16] Suze: just one.
[13:17] Suze: Whether it's increase your automatic savings, or maybe you're adjusting
[13:21] Suze: your investment allocation up to you.
[13:24] Suze: Or maybe you're asking one financial question you've been afraid
[13:28] Suze: to ask.
[13:30] Suze: But just take one small move and step four, rinse
[13:36] Suze: and repeat.
[13:37] Suze: Because courage isn't built in a moment, it's not. It's
[13:42] Suze: built in motion.
[13:44] Suze: And here again is what I want you to remember
[13:49] Suze: from this podcast. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's
[13:55] Suze: the decision to move forward despite it. Did you hear me?
[14:00] Suze: Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's the decision to
[14:04] Suze: move forward despite it.
[14:07] Suze: Remember, you don't need permission to be powerful cause you
[14:10] Suze: already are. You know, I've said this before that in China,
[14:14] Suze: they say women hold up half the sky.
[14:18] Suze: And I've always said, but in the United States of America,
[14:22] Suze: women hold up the entire sky. I believe from the
[14:26] Suze: bottom of my heart that you have more power in
[14:29] Suze: your little finger women than everybody else, and I'll let
[14:33] Suze: you decide who that is, have in both of their hands.
[14:38] Suze: So don't wait for the right time. I don't want
[14:41] Suze: you to wait for the right market. I don't want
[14:43] Suze: you to wait for someone to come and rescue you.
[14:47] Suze: You've got the money now. It's time to get the courage.
[14:52] Suze: All right, there's only one thing that I want you
[14:55] Suze: to remember when it comes to your money, and it
[14:57] Suze: is this people first, then money, then things. Now you
[15:03] Suze: stay safe. Bye-bye.

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