# Stop Waiting to Make Great Financial Decisions

An episode of [Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1439621652), 20 Sep 2026, 37 min.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2df1102a-5761-4c99-b489-aabd0161f8fe/44e0936e-923c-43c7-9e2a-aade00edf4d3/4113a451-963c-4933-bfad-b4ca0138f27a/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=4e05fb00-5a5b-4ed9-b353-aade00edf4dd

On this brand new Suze School, Suze reviews what happened in the market last week, what the new Fed rate means for you and what you need to do now, so you can make great financial decisions. 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 Help with the Must Have Docs: • Email:support@musthavedocuments.zendesk.com • Phone: 888-510-0510 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

[0:07] Suze: September 20th, 2026. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money
[0:12] Suze: podcast and everybody smart enough to listen. Do you all
[0:17] Suze: hear me when I say everybody? Stop writing saying, Suze,
[0:22] Suze: I know this podcast is just for women, but why
[0:27] Suze: do you think I say everybody smart enough to listen?
[0:31] Suze: It's everybody.
[0:33] Suze: I don't care who you are. Money affects everybody, so
[0:39] Suze: all of you need to listen, however, I always like
[0:44] Suze: making sure women are absolutely taken care of. Maybe that's
[0:48] Suze: because I am a woman, or maybe because it's as
[0:52] Suze: you get older, men die before we do, and then
[0:57] Suze: women are left not knowing what to do. So of
[1:03] Suze: course I have a bias towards women. Anyway, before we begin,
[1:08] Suze: this is Suze School, but I just want to remind
[1:12] Suze: you of one thing October 3rd and 4th, that date
[1:16] Suze: is coming up, and in Glendale, California.
[1:22] Suze: There is a two day empowerment workshop absolutely honoring the
[1:27] Suze: 100th birthday of Louise Hay and therefore, I will be
[1:32] Suze: there on October 4th giving the closing keynote. I have
[1:37] Suze: no idea what I'm gonna talk about, but I did
[1:40] Suze: name the talk the most important lesson of all.
[1:46] Suze: There's so many lessons, and I'm going to have to
[1:49] Suze: choose one, and I have no idea actually what I'm
[1:52] Suze: going to choose yet, but then I never know what
[1:55] Suze: I'm going to do when I get on stage. I
[1:57] Suze: kind of just let it happens, and somehow it always
[2:01] Suze: happens exactly as it should. But if you want, you
[2:07] Suze: can go to Suze Orman.com/empower E M P O W
[2:13] Suze: E R, check it out there. If you can't come
[2:16] Suze: for whatever reason, don't worry, go all the way down,
[2:21] Suze: scroll on that page that you go to, and you'll
[2:24] Suze: see how to sign up, for free streaming. Over 10,000
[2:28] Suze: of you have already signed up for that. And don't forget,
[2:32] Suze: after my talk, if you are there, I don't care
[2:35] Suze: if you have VIP seating, if you have regular seating,
[2:39] Suze: I will be doing for everybody a meet and greet
[2:43] Suze: if you want to. So just so you know. All right,
[2:49] Suze: are your Suze notebooks out? You're taking notes? OK, get ready.
[2:54] Suze: Last week really was quite the week in the stock market,
[2:59] Suze: but actually even more than the stock market, because really
[3:03] Suze: it didn't do that much, believe it or not. It's
[3:06] Suze: going up, it's going down, we're at war, but no,
[3:09] Suze: we can't call it war, we're at whatever we think
[3:11] Suze: we're at over in Iran we attack, we get attacked,
[3:15] Suze: then the stock market.
[3:16] Suze: It reacts, oil goes up, then oil starts to come down,
[3:19] Suze: markets go up, then markets come down, your semi stocks
[3:24] Suze: start to go up big, then they come down big,
[3:26] Suze: and then at the end, they're kind of all even.
[3:28] Suze: We're all over the place. It's like a roller coaster.
[3:33] Suze: Do you remember, at least I do, when I was
[3:35] Suze: a kid, I grew up in Chicago, and I loved
[3:38] Suze: to go to a park called Riverview. Oh my God.
[3:44] Suze: So fabulous. They had the bobs, they had all kinds
[3:48] Suze: of roller coasters, and for some reason, I love roller coasters.
[3:54] Suze: I just love them. When you ride a roller coaster,
[3:58] Suze: you go up and up very, very slowly, and then
[4:03] Suze: all of a sudden you get to the top and
[4:04] Suze: you go down really fast, and then you go all around,
[4:07] Suze: and then you start to go up again very, very slowly.
[4:11] Suze: That's exactly what this market is doing. It's going all around,
[4:16] Suze: goes up slowly, comes down, you're on it for a ride. So,
[4:22] Suze: just like I loved the ups and downs of roller coasters,
[4:26] Suze: I want you to learn seriously to love the ups
[4:30] Suze: and downs of the stock market, 'cause you're on this ride,
[4:35] Suze: not just for six months, one year. If you're in
[4:39] Suze: the stock market, you're on the ride for at least
[4:42] Suze: five years or longer.
[4:45] Suze: And so, when it goes down, enjoy it, and that's
[4:49] Suze: when you dollar cost average. But the most interesting thing
[4:53] Suze: to me...
[4:55] Suze: Last week wasn't the stock market, although I will talk
[4:58] Suze: about it again in a little bit here. It was
[5:01] Suze: the bond market. It was what happened with the Federal Reserve,
[5:09] Suze: because that is key. So are you ready? Listen.
[5:13] Suze: The Federal Reserve, you already know what the Federal Reserve is.
[5:18] Suze: They dictate what the Fed funds rate is going to be,
[5:21] Suze: which eventually dictates your prime rate and HELOCs and things
[5:26] Suze: like that. But what happened was that even though Trump
[5:31] Suze: has been wanting the Federal Reserve chair to lower interest rates,
[5:35] Suze: lower the Fed funds rate, lower, lower, lower, that is
[5:39] Suze: not what happened.
[5:43] Suze: With the new Fed chair, he actually raised the Fed
[5:48] Suze: funds rate.
[5:50] Suze: And that, even though it wasn't a surprise, is not
[5:53] Suze: what Trump wanted him to do. Now, whether he should
[5:57] Suze: have done it or he shouldn't have done it doesn't matter.
[6:00] Suze: Here's what matters is that the vote, there are 12
[6:04] Suze: of these Fed governors, OK.
[6:07] Suze: The vote was totally unanimous. I have not seen a
[6:12] Suze: unanimous vote where all 12 of them thought this is
[6:17] Suze: what we should do. They always dissented. There were three
[6:20] Suze: or four or whatever. All 12 decided to vote to
[6:25] Suze: raise the Fed funds rate by 0.25%, taking it from
[6:31] Suze: about 3.75% to 4%.
[6:36] Suze: Now, the reason that I'm making a point about this
[6:40] Suze: is that when you have a group of people, all
[6:42] Suze: of a sudden that are in one boat, they're all unanimous,
[6:47] Suze: that means they're all going in the same direction, which
[6:50] Suze: means that it's probably gonna continue to go in that direction,
[6:56] Suze: which means that they're going to most likely continue to
[7:00] Suze: raise rates. Now, why did they do that? Because all
[7:05] Suze: of them honestly believed inflation is still too high and
[7:12] Suze: the Fed wants inflation back to its 2% goal so
[7:17] Suze: you can hear all the things that some of the
[7:19] Suze: politicians are saying we're fine, it's not gonna be a
[7:22] Suze: big deal, gas will go down or no... inflation is
[7:28] Suze: too high and energy prices more than anything, believe it
[7:34] Suze: or not,
[7:35] Suze: is putting pressure on inflation because oil has been around, everybody,
[7:41] Suze: $100 a barrel, and I want you to remember something.
[7:45] Suze: Remember I told you a long time ago, oil is
[7:49] Suze: key because when oil goes up, you don't just pay
[7:53] Suze: for it when you put gasoline in your car, it
[7:56] Suze: eventually works its way through the economy.
[8:00] Suze: The truck delivering food to your supermarket needs fuel. Airplanes
[8:06] Suze: need fuel. Companies making and transporting products need energy. Those
[8:12] Suze: costs can eventually make their way to you. So the
[8:16] Suze: Fed is essentially saying we have had enough.
[8:21] Suze: We've had enough of the dissent. We've had enough of
[8:24] Suze: people thinking that interest rates should go down. We need
[8:28] Suze: to put more pressure on inflation.
[8:31] Suze: And how does it do that? By making money more expensive.
[8:36] Suze: Higher interest rates discourage borrowing and spending.
[8:40] Suze: And that can slow down demand and eventually help bring
[8:44] Suze: inflation down, or so they hope. But here's what I
[8:49] Suze: want you to understand:
[8:52] Suze: That this will not be over in my opinion, given
[8:57] Suze: what they said, given how they did not dissent. I
[9:01] Suze: would expect rates to move higher from here, and I
[9:05] Suze: wouldn't just expect it, they expect it as well, the
[9:09] Suze: Fed governors, all right, so I do not want you
[9:14] Suze: to make financial decisions based upon the assumption.
[9:17] Suze: That this was necessarily the last increase because again in
[9:22] Suze: my opinion it is not. This could last even if
[9:27] Suze: they don't continue to increase after the next one or whatever.
[9:31] Suze: They can leave the rates high all the way until 2028,
[9:37] Suze: so I would not expect any movement downward in 2027
[9:41] Suze: on any level, just so you know.
[9:46] Suze: So, who does this benefit and who does this hurt? Well, obviously,
[9:52] Suze: if you're a saver, if you have money in money
[9:56] Suze: market accounts, or if you have money in certificates, and CDs,
[10:01] Suze: in the, whatever, this is good for you, but only
[10:07] Suze: if you are paying attention. So I want every single
[10:11] Suze: one of you listening to me right now who has
[10:13] Suze: money in a savings account.
[10:15] Suze: A savings account at a bank. I want you to
[10:19] Suze: answer one question. What interest rate are you earning right now?
[10:25] Suze: Because this drives me crazy. It drives me crazy. So
[10:30] Suze: many of you say, Oh, I have money at a bank.
[10:34] Suze: It's a big bank. How much interest are they paying you? 0.06%, 0.8%.
[10:39] Suze: Are you kidding me?
[10:42] Suze: And then what I really don't like is when you
[10:45] Suze: see other banks or other advertisement that say, we're paying
[10:49] Suze: you 8 times the national average. Well, eight times 0.06
[10:54] Suze: or 0.8 or whatever it is, or nothing is not
[10:58] Suze: a whole lot of money. So stop looking at how
[11:01] Suze: much more people are paying you based on nothing. We're gonna,
[11:06] Suze: in a second look what people should really be paying you.
[11:10] Suze: So the question is, what interest rate are you earning?
[11:14] Suze: Do you know? Not approximately, not what the bank was
[11:18] Suze: paying you six months ago. What are they paying you today?
[11:23] Suze: And if you don't know, then after this podcast, I
[11:27] Suze: want you to find out because here is what is
[11:30] Suze: happening now. When rates go up, the Fed funds rates
[11:36] Suze: go up, which they just did, banks are usually very
[11:40] Suze: good at figuring out how to charge you more money
[11:44] Suze: when you want to borrow more money or you want
[11:46] Suze: to borrow something from them.
[11:49] Suze: Oh, they will raise your rates big time, but somehow,
[11:53] Suze: don't you find it interesting that many of them aren't
[11:57] Suze: nearly as fast when it comes to figuring out how
[12:00] Suze: to pay you more money.
[12:03] Suze: And why should they? Because if you're stupid enough to
[12:07] Suze: leave your money there, earning next to nothing, they will
[12:11] Suze: happily let you do that. So your loyalty to a
[12:16] Suze: bank because it's down the street from you, because you've
[12:19] Suze: been with them for 10 years, whatever does not make
[12:23] Suze: you more money. So what do I want you to do?
[12:28] Suze: I want you to find out what you're being paid.
[12:32] Suze: And if your bank isn't competitive, what's competitive right now? 3%
[12:38] Suze: in a savings account, 3.5%, 4%, whatever it may be,
[12:42] Suze: in certificates, move your money, period. Now with that, I
[12:48] Suze: do want to talk about CDs or as some credit
[12:51] Suze: unions call them certificates.
[12:54] Suze: I get that rates are good as of this podcast. Seriously,
[12:59] Suze: I get that, but I just want us to wait
[13:03] Suze: a little bit before we commit money right now.
[13:08] Suze: Let's wait one week, maybe let's wait two weeks. Let's
[13:12] Suze: just wait to see what happens with banks and credit unions.
[13:18] Suze: Are they going to raise the interest rate?
[13:22] Suze: That they're willing to give you where you lock it
[13:25] Suze: up for one year or whatever. Let's just see, OK? So,
[13:30] Suze: we'll put a pin in you just looking, and if
[13:34] Suze: you have a low interest rate at a bank, all right,
[13:39] Suze: let's just give it a week or two and see
[13:42] Suze: maybe where we should move that money or anything that
[13:46] Suze: might come along. Now.
[13:49] Suze: Listen, you're not trying to be smarter than the Federal Reserve,
[13:53] Suze: do you hear me? You're not trying to predict interest rates.
[13:58] Suze: What you are doing is simply trying to create choices
[14:03] Suze: for yourself. That's important. So I always want you to
[14:07] Suze: have choices, but for now, let's turn this around, because
[14:13] Suze: if you're a saver and you benefit from higher rates,
[14:18] Suze: who gets hurt? Somebody always gets hurt.
[14:22] Suze: And here's the phrase really that I want you to remember,
[14:26] Suze: variable rates move, write it down.
[14:31] Suze: Fixed rates stay fixed.
[14:36] Suze: So if you have a fixed rate mortgage, last Wednesday's
[14:40] Suze: Fed decision did not suddenly change the interest rate on
[14:43] Suze: your existing mortgage. It is fixed.
[14:47] Suze: If you have a fixed car loan, same thing, OK?
[14:53] Suze: But credit cards, well, now I have to tell you
[14:56] Suze: that's a different story because most credit cards have variable rates.
[15:03] Suze: HELOCs frequently have variable rates. Some private student loans have
[15:10] Suze: variable rates, and these are the debts that I need
[15:14] Suze: you and you should want to pay attention to because
[15:19] Suze: if rates continue higher, which I think they're going to.
[15:23] Suze: Then those debts can become, and they will become more expensive.
[15:29] Suze: Now I know you're listening and you're thinking, oh please, Suze,
[15:34] Suze: is only a quarter of a percent, is it really
[15:37] Suze: make a difference?
[15:39] Suze: Are you thinking that if you are, I need you
[15:42] Suze: to stop it because that is exactly how you will
[15:45] Suze: get yourself into trouble when it comes to money. You
[15:49] Suze: look at one quarter of one percent rather than looking at the direction they're headed.
[15:55] Suze: And if this is followed by another increase and another increase,
[16:00] Suze: that variable debt is going to cost you even more.
[16:05] Suze: And if you then want to change to a fixed rate,
[16:09] Suze: that will be new fixed rates will be higher.
[16:13] Suze: So now is the time for you to take action.
[16:17] Suze: And are you already paying on your credit cards 20%, 25%?
[16:23] Suze: Are you, many of you write me and you tell
[16:26] Suze: me the interest rate you're paying on credit cards. I'm like,
[16:29] Suze: what are you crazy? So if you are carrying credit
[16:33] Suze: card debt, I don't want you obsessing over whether you
[16:37] Suze: can make another half of one percent on an investment.
[16:42] Suze: I want you to look at a guaranteed interest rate
[16:45] Suze: that is eating you alive.
[16:47] Suze: Because again, let's just put a pin in this. A
[16:50] Suze: lot of you, when you write me, you tell me
[16:54] Suze: you have $10,000 in credit card debt. Maybe it's at
[16:58] Suze: a store like Macy's or whatever it may be, and
[17:01] Suze: you're paying 1820, 23% on that interest rate.
[17:07] Suze: And then you tell me that you have $200,000 or
[17:10] Suze: $30,000 in an emergency fund at a bank making 0.6%.
[17:18] Suze: Or even if it's in a high yield money market
[17:21] Suze: account or wherever, making 3%, 4%.
[17:26] Suze: Do you understand that the 3 or 4% you may
[17:31] Suze: be making is taxable to you?
[17:35] Suze: The 18, 19, 20% or whatever you're paying on a
[17:39] Suze: credit card is not tax deductible. You are losing along
[17:45] Suze: with inflation, so much money having that credit card debt.
[17:50] Suze: I cannot tell you. So I want you to make
[17:54] Suze: sure that if that is your situation.
[17:58] Suze: That you actually take money in your emergency fund and
[18:02] Suze: you pay off that credit card debt, but Suze, what
[18:06] Suze: happens if there's an emergency? Well, now you have available
[18:11] Suze: credit on your credit card to use it if you
[18:14] Suze: have to. Do you understand me? Do not be somebody
[18:20] Suze: who thinks they're doing fine because they have money in
[18:22] Suze: an account making interest.
[18:26] Suze: Or you have that exact same of money or even
[18:28] Suze: less on a credit card at a 7-8% interest rate
[18:33] Suze: or higher, so your first plan of action when this
[18:38] Suze: is happening right now is to get yourself out of
[18:43] Suze: credit card debt. Now, if you have a HELOC, a
[18:49] Suze: home equity line of credit, I need you to look at.
[18:54] Suze: What it is costing you because some of you took
[18:57] Suze: those out when borrowing felt cheap and you stopped paying
[19:01] Suze: attention to what they're costing you. Well now you better
[19:05] Suze: pay attention. Remember when you have a home equity line
[19:09] Suze: of credit, it is attached to prime, and they give
[19:16] Suze: you a period of time that it is fixed. Sometimes
[19:19] Suze: after that they can make changes depending on your HELOC.
[19:23] Suze: And it will be a 0.2 or 3% above prime.
[19:26] Suze: Prime is attached to the Fed funds rate, which is
[19:29] Suze: why you might want to go to myalliant.com, check out
[19:34] Suze: their home equity line of credit because it's 0 above
[19:38] Suze: prime
[19:39] Suze: and you might want to change your home equity line
[19:42] Suze: of credit you currently have to theirs. Now, currently it's
[19:46] Suze: only in like about 28 states, but they keep telling
[19:49] Suze: me shortly it will be everywhere. So keep your eye
[19:54] Suze: on that because it really has the best terms for
[19:57] Suze: a home equity line of credit that you are going
[20:00] Suze: to find anywhere in my opinion. Now let's move on
[20:05] Suze: from HELOCs that are variable.
[20:08] Suze: To fixed rate mortgages and a 30-year mortgage in particular.
[20:16] Suze: Mortgage rates are influenced not by what's happening in the
[20:21] Suze: Fed funds.
[20:23] Suze: And what they're doing, but the mortgage rates, and I've
[20:26] Suze: taught you this, are influenced by what's happening in the
[20:31] Suze: bond market, especially the 10-year Treasury.
[20:35] Suze: Now, the 10-year treasury is right around 5%. I haven't
[20:42] Suze: seen the 10 year that high in I don't know
[20:47] Suze: how long. Now, here's what you have got to understand.
[20:53] Suze: Before this whole thing happened with Iran.
[20:56] Suze: You could have gotten a 30-year fixed rate mortgage for
[20:59] Suze: under 6%.
[21:02] Suze: Last time I looked, they're like 7.17. They're going up,
[21:06] Suze: they could be at 7.5%. It is not impossible, that
[21:10] Suze: a 30-year fixed could go to even 8%, we don't know.
[21:18] Suze: Do not be tempted to buy a home right now
[21:22] Suze: and get an adjustable rate mortgage because maybe it's a
[21:25] Suze: little bit lower. Stay away from adjustable rates right now.
[21:31] Suze: Stay away from variable anything right now. If the only
[21:36] Suze: way you can afford a home is to get an
[21:39] Suze: adjustable rate mortgage, in my opinion, you cannot truly afford
[21:45] Suze: a home at this point in time.
[21:48] Suze: There is nothing wrong with renting until everything either comes down,
[21:54] Suze: prices come down, but prices of homes in most areas
[21:58] Suze: are still extremely high, interest rates are high, insurance costs
[22:05] Suze: are high, property mortgage, all this, so you have to
[22:09] Suze: know without a shadow of a doubt,
[22:12] Suze: that you can afford to buy a home, right? Can
[22:16] Suze: you make the mortgage payment, uh, comfortable? Do you have
[22:20] Suze: an emergency savings account? Do you have at least a
[22:23] Suze: 10 or 20% down payment and an 8 to 12
[22:26] Suze: month emergency fund? I could go on and on, but
[22:31] Suze: I'm just telling you, I want you to be careful.
[22:34] Suze: Do you got it?
[22:36] Suze: Buy a house that you can afford and you know
[22:40] Suze: you're gonna stay there for a long time and you
[22:43] Suze: have a solid job and everything, OK, I'm asking you
[22:47] Suze: to be careful and I've told you I haven't liked
[22:50] Suze: the real estate market for a while now. Let's talk
[22:55] Suze: about the stock market, because like I opened this podcast,
[22:58] Suze: that was one heck of a week. Here's what's so
[23:02] Suze: funny though. The Dow ended Friday at approximately 51,683 to
[23:09] Suze: be exact, and it was down only 1.7% for the week, OK,
[23:18] Suze: but the S&P 500, which I think is a better
[23:22] Suze: indicator because it, it does, you know, 500 stocks, it's
[23:27] Suze: far more inclusive than just the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
[23:32] Suze: and I'm not even sure it's an industrial average anymore, ended
[23:36] Suze: around 7,650, and that was like flat for the entire week,
[23:43] Suze: down about 0.1%, but here's what's interesting, the NASDAQ, that's
[23:51] Suze: where all of your, you know, your stocks, your technology,
[23:55] Suze: all those things are, most of them anyway, actually was
[23:59] Suze: up for the week, 7.11%. So, I want you to
[24:03] Suze: think about this.
[24:05] Suze: Same Federal Reserve now, all right, same economy, same week.
[24:11] Suze: The Dow is down. S&P is basically flat, the NASDAQ
[24:16] Suze: is up, which is why when somebody says to you,
[24:19] Suze: the market did this, my question is always, well, which market?
[24:23] Suze: Where are you invested? How are you invested? Technology and
[24:28] Suze: semiconductor stocks, listen...
[24:32] Suze: They continue to show strength while other areas of the
[24:36] Suze: market do not. They just don't. They're struggling.
[24:40] Suze: Now, you know, one of my favorite ETFs is SMH.
[24:44] Suze: It goes way up, goes way down. It's a semi ETF,
[24:50] Suze: but even with all of this news of, in the decade,
[24:55] Suze: AI is going to kill all of us. This happening,
[24:58] Suze: that happening, that's the big news right now. That's it.
[25:03] Suze: Listen, there's nothing we can do about that.
[25:06] Suze: Where hopefully they'll get it under control. I don't know
[25:09] Suze: if they will, they won't. I'm not saying that it's
[25:12] Suze: not dangerous, but even with a week where all this
[25:17] Suze: information came out, everybody was talking about it.
[25:22] Suze: Look at what the semis did, which is what backs
[25:27] Suze: all of AI.
[25:30] Suze: Because why? Because again I will repeat.
[25:35] Suze: Technology and semiconductor stocks continued to show strength even with
[25:41] Suze: all the negative news, while other areas of the market struggled. Now,
[25:47] Suze: that's important.
[25:49] Suze: Because the headline indexes do not always tell you what
[25:53] Suze: is happening underneath, OK, it's like you look at this
[25:59] Suze: beautiful home with fancy cars in the driveway. You see
[26:04] Suze: two people come out of their home and they are
[26:06] Suze: dressed in the most exquisite designer clothes.
[26:10] Suze: But you don't know what's behind that. You don't know
[26:14] Suze: if they have debt up to their eyeballs. Have they
[26:18] Suze: charged everything? Are they leasing their cars? Are they under
[26:21] Suze: water on their mortgage? You don't know what's behind it.
[26:25] Suze: And the same is true when it comes to headline indexes.
[26:32] Suze: So I know you're writing me and you're saying, Suze,
[26:35] Suze: should I sell?
[26:36] Suze: And the answer is no, and not because I don't
[26:41] Suze: know what's going to happen next, cause I don't, you know,
[26:43] Suze: I don't, and neither does anybody else, by the way,
[26:47] Suze: but I need you to remember why you're invested in
[26:52] Suze: the market in the first place. Obviously if you need
[26:56] Suze: the money within the next few years.
[26:58] Suze: Can you just tell me why is it heavily invested
[27:01] Suze: in stocks? That is money that you know you should
[27:04] Suze: not be invested. It needs to be somewhere else. What
[27:07] Suze: is wrong with you? But if this is retirement money
[27:11] Suze: that you don't need for 5, 10, 15, or 20
[27:13] Suze: years or longer.
[27:15] Suze: Then please do not make this 20 year decision based
[27:19] Suze: on what's happening during one week. That makes no sense,
[27:23] Suze: or even during one year. You're all dollar cost averaging, hopefully,
[27:28] Suze: you're all not putting everything in all at once. You're
[27:32] Suze: all diversifying into certain things that make sense.
[27:36] Suze: So, again, I'm just gonna repeat here, if you're investing
[27:40] Suze: every month, especially in your retirement account, cause that's how
[27:43] Suze: most of you invest, you work for a corporation, you
[27:47] Suze: put in some, they take it from your paycheck, they match,
[27:50] Suze: month in and month out. Do not, do not stop
[27:55] Suze: doing that.
[27:56] Suze: Right? Because remember, when markets decline, what happens? Your contribution
[28:02] Suze: buys more shares. When markets rise, the shares you already
[28:06] Suze: own become worth more, and that's why consistency matters. So
[28:11] Suze: do not be an inconsistent investor. If you're inconsistent.
[28:17] Suze: Your returns and your results will be inconsistent and if
[28:23] Suze: a normal market decline has you frightened that you can't
[28:27] Suze: sleep at night and you wanna sell everything, how many
[28:31] Suze: of you felt that way a few days ago?
[28:35] Suze: Then listen carefully to me.
[28:37] Suze: The problem isn't the stock market. Maybe the problem is
[28:42] Suze: your allocation. Maybe you have more money invested in stocks
[28:48] Suze: than you can emotionally handle or financially handle, and if
[28:53] Suze: that's true, you need to fix your allocation, OK? I
[28:58] Suze: obviously helped some of my friends out, and there's one guy, Phillip. Phillip,
[29:04] Suze: you you're listening, you know who you are.
[29:06] Suze: And he started investing now and doing all these things,
[29:11] Suze: and I looked at how some of his stocks have
[29:15] Suze: grown over the past year.
[29:18] Suze: And I sent him a text and I said, all right,
[29:20] Suze: I want you to sell this, this and this, and
[29:22] Suze: I want you to put that money in this, this
[29:25] Suze: and that.
[29:26] Suze: And I went from more of technology and semiconductors to biotechnology,
[29:33] Suze: things like that, and diversified him that way. Now we
[29:38] Suze: didn't get out of technology, we didn't get out of semis,
[29:42] Suze: we lowered how much it had grown and made it
[29:46] Suze: a nice diversified portfolio for him that he felt secure about.
[29:53] Suze: So maybe you need to look at that. Maybe you
[29:55] Suze: have some stocks that have gone up way too much,
[29:58] Suze: which is essentially what happened to me with IONQ everybody,
[30:02] Suze: which is why I was like, no, I have too
[30:03] Suze: much in here, and I sold it. I didn't sell
[30:06] Suze: all of it, I sold half of it.
[30:09] Suze: It's just make sure that you can emotionally and financially
[30:15] Suze: handle how your money is invested, and don't try to
[30:20] Suze: time the market.
[30:22] Suze: So, remember, there is a tremendous difference between changing your
[30:28] Suze: investment strategy because your goals have changed and maybe they have,
[30:33] Suze: and changing it because you're scared because what have I
[30:39] Suze: always told you? Fear is not an investment strategy.
[30:45] Suze: Something big also happened last Friday that I just want
[30:48] Suze: to talk about.
[30:50] Suze: And what happened was Berkshire Hathaway announced that Warren Buffett
[30:55] Suze: at 96 years of age.
[30:58] Suze: He became chairman emeritus. All right. He obviously remains on
[31:03] Suze: the board, and his son Howard Buffett has become chairman,
[31:08] Suze: and Greg Abel, who's already CEO, is going to continue
[31:12] Suze: to be so. Now, when I read that, I didn't
[31:16] Suze: immediately think about Berkshire Hathaway stock. What it made me
[31:21] Suze: think about was succession.
[31:24] Suze: And how Warren Buffett spent decades building one of the
[31:28] Suze: most extraordinary companies in history. But what else did he do?
[31:33] Suze: He planned for the day when he would no longer
[31:36] Suze: be the person running it. So why am I telling
[31:39] Suze: you this? Because every single one of you has to
[31:44] Suze: have a succession plan too, and the only question is
[31:49] Suze: whether you created it yourself, or whether you're going to
[31:54] Suze: let the state create it for you.
[31:58] Suze: So the question is this, do you have a will?
[32:02] Suze: Do you have a living revocable trust? Do you have
[32:05] Suze: a durable power of attorney for finances? Do you have
[32:10] Suze: uh advanced directive and health care document? Do you have
[32:13] Suze: any of those?
[32:14] Suze: Do the people who may someday have to step in,
[32:18] Suze: know where everything is? Do they know where your accounts are?
[32:24] Suze: Do they know what you want?
[32:26] Suze: Or have you left them a financial scavenger hunt? Now
[32:30] Suze: listen to me. Estate planning isn't about how much money
[32:34] Suze: you have. It's about how much you love the people
[32:37] Suze: you are leaving behind. So do not leave them in chaos.
[32:42] Suze: And why am I talking about this now? I have
[32:45] Suze: 5 emails that I read this last week where their estate,
[32:49] Suze: their parents, everything left them in chaos.
[32:54] Suze: Chaos and I can't help them because after it's done
[33:00] Suze: it is too late so don't leave them in chaos,
[33:05] Suze: everybody if you don't have them, you should go to musthavedocs.com.
[33:13] Suze: And check out the must-have documents that Hay House offers.
[33:18] Suze: I'm simply the educator on that product. Check it out.
[33:22] Suze: $2,500 worth of state of the art documents, good in
[33:27] Suze: all 50 states.
[33:28] Suze: I believe it's $153 but remember you can share that
[33:33] Suze: with as many people as you want. You get an
[33:35] Suze: activation code with your family members, do whatever you want.
[33:39] Suze: The goal is for every one of you to have
[33:41] Suze: all of those documents, and you can make changes anytime
[33:46] Suze: you want when you go back. I'm asking you to
[33:50] Suze: check it out. It is a chaos killer, so go
[33:55] Suze: ahead and do it.
[33:57] Suze: So, what did we learn today? We learned that you're
[34:01] Suze: going to check what your savings is earning. If it
[34:04] Suze: isn't competitive, you're gonna do something about it.
[34:08] Suze: You're going to be careful because if you have a
[34:10] Suze: variable rate debt, especially credit card debt, I need you
[34:13] Suze: to attack it.
[34:15] Suze: I need you not to assume that a Fed rate
[34:17] Suze: hike automatically tells you mortgage rates, what mortgage rates will do.
[34:21] Suze: It's all based on what? The 10-year Treasury. You learn
[34:27] Suze: not to destroy a long-term investment plan because a short
[34:30] Suze: term market move is making you nervous, but most important.
[34:36] Suze: I want you to stop waiting for the world to
[34:39] Suze: become a certain place before you make good financial decisions.
[34:45] Suze: Because in my opinion, everybody, it never will.
[34:48] Suze: There will always be another Fed meeting, another inflation report,
[34:53] Suze: another market decline, another election, another war, another crisis, another
[34:57] Suze: headline telling you that this time everything is different.
[35:01] Suze: Financial security doesn't come from knowing what's going to happen next.
[35:05] Suze: Do you hear me? It comes from arranging your financial
[35:08] Suze: life so that you can handle what happens next. That
[35:13] Suze: is the goal. That is what the Women and Money
[35:16] Suze: podcast is all about. That is what my entire life
[35:20] Suze: has been trying to teach you. You have an emergency fund,
[35:24] Suze: you get yourself out of high interest debt. You don't
[35:27] Suze: spend more than you can afford. You invest for the
[35:29] Suze: long term.
[35:30] Suze: You protect yourself.
[35:33] Suze: And you protect the people you love. Got that, everybody.
[35:38] Suze: So until next week, oh well, that was a passionate one.
[35:43] Suze: And sometimes I can get going, can't I? Anyway, so
[35:47] Suze: until next week, there's really only one thing that I
[35:50] Suze: want you to remember when it comes to your money,
[35:52] Suze: and it is this people first. That means you, people first,
[35:57] Suze: then money, then things. Now you stay safe.

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