Podcast Episode - Ask KT & Suze Anything

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On this podcast of Ask KT & Suze Anything, Suze answers questions from listeners about; retirement accounts, saving for a new home, managing investments, caring for special needs relatives and more.

Podcast Transcript:

February 3, 2022. Welcome to ask KT and Suze anything. It’s usually asks Suze and KT anything. Yeah. I want my voice to be back. It's getting better. If I talk low, does it… Is it back if I talk low? No, it just doesn't sound like me. Does it? No Suze, you just have to rest your voice and stop talking about all this crazy roller coaster stock market stuff. So anyway, can I tell you today is an auspicious day and a lucky day because it's my daddy's birthday. I don't remember how old he would be if he was still with us. But February. How is that possible that you don't know how old your daddy would be? What year was he born? I don't know, 1928 maybe something like that. Oh KT. So anyway, I picked out. So, Daddy, Happy birthday. We love you. We miss you so much, its been so log. Daddy never met me. His name was Buddy. Yeah. KT always says that if he met me, he would have loved me. Oh my God, he would be on the phone with her every day everybody about stocks. He loved the stock market. He had no money but boy, he loved it. And he would read it. And if he, he had a little Microsoft share or two that would split, and he would go crazy with joy. But in anyways. So happy birthday Buddy. Yeah, Suze. I have a lineup today. That is unbelievable. Unbelievable. I have to thank you all in January. You're sending me great emails. I mean I picked these. KT, they’re sending them to me. Just kidding, they’re sending them to us. Well I picked I picked these last night, so I had them ready for this morning and I always have to read them over and over. I did not know the answer to any of them. Not a clue. So. Wait do you think that surprises me? No now be nice Suze. But anyway, let's start with the first one from Deb. Okay are you ready Suze? I have so many I have to go through these. I still have such a smile on my face because I love when she admits that she doesn't know now these were great questions and I'm clueless on every one of them. So, this is from Deb. She said hi KT and Suze. I'm 67 years old. I'm looking to retire at 70. I currently have a 401K worth $700,000. It's that's a lot. What happens after I retire with my 401K. We party, we party, we party! everyone talks about contributing to the 401K but then what happens to the funds after you retire is very vague. Cause we party! It is not clear if my employer will keep the money in the account or if it must be removed since I would no longer be contributing. Deb here's what you need to know, we party. We party. Truthfully with $700,000. You have a choice. You can most likely leave it with your ex-employer at that time. Or what many people choose to do is an IRA rollover with that money usually to a discount brokerage firm like Charles Schwab, like TD Ameritrade, possibly Fidelity, whatever it may be. And then that money goes directly from your ex-employer to your new IRA rollover at one of those places or whichever places you choose and then you get to invest it all over again. Most people do an IRA rollover so that you can have more to invest in than what your ex-employer most likely is offering you because probably all you can invest in is mutual funds, bond funds, things like that. When you do a rollover with it, you could do anything you want. You could buy individual bonds, probably certificates of deposits, individual stocks that pay high dividend yields, and so on and so forth. So that's what you will do. Can I ask a question? What if she's alone and she didn't take that is still with the ex-employer. She dies all of a sudden and no one knows where that is? That she even had it. Well, KT, every single 401K or any employer sponsored retirement plan has a beneficiary designation. Okay. Yeah. So, it will go to whoever she leaves it to. So, you have to do that up front, and then they would party. Okay. No, no more fun. This is now from Rachel. Did she get to party, party? No, but she probably is partying because she's only 38. You ready? I'm a longtime listener. I've learned so much from you over the years. I'm now 38 years old and newly married. My current investments are 80,000, do you have a prenup? Do you have a prenup? My current investments are 80,000 in the stock market. Give or take during this tumultuous time. Can you say that word? Tumultuous time. Because you sound like Colo go. I know and also about 80,000 in my Roth IRA account. I also have a 403B through my employer. My husband and I have about 20,000 in a shared savings account. So, Suze. My question is we currently rent, and we'd like to buy a home in the next few years. If the real estate market improves, where should we be putting our money towards saving for a house? It feels like a waste to put it in a traditional savings account. However, an I series bond seems to long term since we would need to wait five years to avoid a penalty. So, it said I read somewhere I should use my Roth IRA as a place to save for a home. Your thoughts? No, no, your Roth IRA is money that you are putting they’re for when you retire. Don't use it for a home purchase. Now here's the problem. I don't know Rachel if this $20,000 is all the money that you have to your name. Besides what you said the 80,000 in the stock market and 403B and your Roth. Because you need at least an eight month to 12-month emergency fund. And somehow, I have a feeling that $20,000 is not an eight month or 12-month emergency fund for you. So, what you need before you even buy a home before you put 20% down or 10% down on a home is you also need in addition to that an 8 to 12-month emergency fund. So, I'm assuming that this is all the money that you have outside of what you said your investments. Therefore, truthfully you should absolutely put it in the Alliant Credit Union. So, go to myalliant.com and number one take advantage of the .55% interest rate they're currently giving. But if I were you I would each put in like $8,800. I would open up two accounts put in 88 or $8,900 all at once. So, you're making the interest on that money all at once. Then send in $100 a month every month for the next 11 months and then you will qualify for what the $100 bonus. So that's a big deal. So, you're going to be doing great. But that's how I would do it. If I were you. And then they can have that flexibility if they need the money. Yeah. Well that's what an emergency account is for KT. All right. Next question is from Rose. Dear Suze, I'm 60. Wait, wait, dear, Suze. What happened to KT? Alright, I'm getting there. There's the next one is KT and Suze. Dear Suze. But everybody noticed she picked one that just said Suze. That's good, KT. Well, this is a really short one is why I picked it and I liked, I liked what you asked, Rose. Dear Suze, I'm 60 years old. An elementary school teacher with some money in a 403B. This is a second career. So, I won't get the full teacher retirement. I have five years left to work. I'm afraid I'll lose the money since I don't know what to do. Help me please. What money? I guess in her 403B. Help me please. Alright Rose if you want me to help you. It's so hard to help you because I don't really know what you really have. But here is a general guideline for everybody in your situation. If you're five years away from retirement and you know, you are absolutely going to have to retire, then I think what's important is that you really concentrate on any extra money that you have, you pay off or start to pay down more than normal. The mortgage on your home. You're totally out of credit card debt. You own your car outright. All of those things are important where you reduce your monthly expenses down as much as you possibly can because when you have less in monthly expenses, you don't need as much coming in from your retirement account to generate income to do what to pay for your expenses. That's number one. Number two at 60 years of age with only five years left to work. As you say here Rose, I would make sure that you had money in your Roth 403B. Do not be putting money into a traditional 403B because I want you in a situation where in five years if you need to take out a lump sum of money to maybe pay off a mortgage on a home or do something that it is available to you tax free at that time. If you're afraid to lose money, well then, it's a little hard because your money won't grow very much. But with five years left at this point in time For at least the next year or two, I would be dollar cost averaging into the market like you do every month then in two years or so to keep it safe and sound, it just depends. You have to find a place within your 403B account to keep it safe and sound so probably that will be a short-term bond fund. But if you're really scared right now, I don't know, you know, you got to take action here and your choices are just keep dollar cost averaging into the overall markets and or money into a short term bond fund now, KT, everybody listening is going, Suze just been telling us, don't put your money into bond funds. Don't do this, don't do this. But you're better off in a short-term bond fund. So, four years or under and maturities then money in the stock market. That's scaring you, especially if the market happens to really tank and anything can happen here. So, I'd rather it be in a short-term bond fund then in a market that goes down 20, 30, or 40%. I'm not saying that's gonna happen, but you've got to have rose do something that makes her feel what KT secure. You did it. I love that. All right, Okay. Next question is from a 50-year-old listener who doesn't necessarily wish to be identified, but it said, hey, Suze and KT, I have about 89,000 in mutual funds and 27,000 in stock from the end of December 21 to, mid-January 22. This is sad, Suze. I lost approximately $11,000 from the mutual fund. Now, why do you say that's sad, KT? Well, because no one wants to lose money, but that's a big chunk of her 89,000. Yes. But no, she has more than 89,000. Right? She has 116,000. Right, So the markets, a lot of them are down like 10% or more. But listen to this, here's what's sad, you're ready for it. But I just want you to know her loss if it's a her even we don't know if it's a man or a woman or a non-binary. We don't know. All right. Anything because you have to you know, allow for that KT. So, but it's $11,000 loss on 116,000 is not unusual right now, just so you know. Okay. But this part is the part that's really sad. All right. You ready? The account is being managed by a local firm, but I'm not really happy with it. My broker doesn't call or reach out to me about adjusting or making changes to my portfolio. I have to contact him. I'm thinking about managing this on my own. What would be the process? Can I transfer all of my mutual funds into the Vanguard Total Stock and keep my stock since I like the way they have performed. So, that's the part that's sad. So, yes, absolutely. You should change because if you don't feel good with the relationship that you have with your broker. Ah, that's not what this is all about. So, therefore, yes, you can transfer however, you listen to me now. I don't want you to go from $89,000 in mutual funds all at once right now into the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. We don't know where these markets are going and what's going to happen. So, if you want to take like $10,000 a month and over the next nine months, put $10,000 in every single month or $8000 in whatever it is. And dollar cost average into the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. I don't have a problem with that. However, you might, but you don't tell me your age or anything. You're 50 at 50. You also might want to go into like the standard and poor's dividend portfolio or something like that, you know, or the Aristocrat, the NOBLs, is the symbol, ETF. So, it's so something that pays you a dividend also, there is absolutely nothing wrong since you like the stocks that you have. Maybe you want to take this money and little by little by slices of stock. That makes sense to you. There are so many great stocks out there that have been hit. That also are paying four or five or 6% dividends and you might want to think about doing that. But the biggest advice that Suze’s giving you our 50-year-old listener is that you can do you absolutely can do it little by little. But just know even if you had been doing it, you would have taken a hit no matter what, because there was no place to run or hide in this last down cycle and we've been going up and maybe we'll go down and we'll see what happens. It's not over yet. So, we'll just have to see. But you can do it, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. That's my say. I know. Suze always says to me I can do it well lately because whether it's taking a walk or doing something or playing pickleball or trying to play pickleball. KT says, do you think you can take a walk today? And what do I say? I can do it; I can do it. She says I can do, I can do it, KT. Alright, next one's from Katie and this is hi Suze and KT. It's your favorite topic. Can you guess? Roth, Roth, Roth. In 2021 my husband and I made more than allowed for a Roth IRA contribution? We filed our taxes, married filing jointly. We contributed all year to a Roth IRA in 2021 we invested that into an ETF. Because we made more than the limit, we will have to withdraw our contributions by the time we file our taxes. What happens to the investment proceeds? I'm assuming we need to withdraw that amount as well. Do we owe a penalty for that amount? You won't. I have; I don't have a clue. That's why something I picked these questions because I'm wondering, I don't know, Katie, I'd better ask Suze. Oh, you know what that makes me want to do for Sunday. What it makes me want to have an entire quizzie. From me to you and everybody on Roth IRAs and things that I bet 90% of the people out there don't have a clue about when it comes to Roths. Do I have to do homework now? You just have to be who you are. That's going to be an easy podcast for me here. Here's how KT does it? I don't know. I don't know. How am I supposed to know that? What a backdoor? A front door. No, but no, no, I won't even ask about backdoors or side doors or anything. All right. But anyway, I think I may do that. Katie, Katie, here’s what you need to know. As long as you take the money out before you file taxes, you won't owe a penalty or anything like that. Now you wrote this to us. I'm looking at it on January 29. It is very probable that any earnings that you made last year or growth on the money that you contributed probably is gone. So, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. But if you happen to be one of the lucky ones who invested in such a way and you're not down, you have to take out what you originally deposited and any growth on that money? Just that simple. Alright, so Suze next question is from Lawrence. Hi Suze and KT. I started listening to Women & Money a few months ago and learned a lot already. I'm now ready to transfer some of my emergency fund to the Alliant Credit Union. The amount is 24,000. Would it be a good idea to transfer this amount at once? If so, would I lose the possible $100 bonus at the end of the year? Yeah you would. Would dollar cost averaging be a better method say $2,000 a month? Please advise. Let's just tell them how to do it how to get that $100. KT. How would you answer that question? I would put a big lump sum just like you did earlier, get that high interest rate by if you have 24,000 Lawrence put in 20,000 transferred at once and get that big interest rate and then all you need is a minimum of $100 a month. So truthfully what you want to do, Lawrence is put in $22,900. Right put that in as your original deposit and you have to do that within 30 days of opening the account at myalliant.com. And then just keep that 1,100 extra dollars So that $100 a month you send in every month. And then you get that interest rate of .55% on the majority of your money starting right away. And then you also get that $100 bonus at the end of 12 consecutive months. So just like I told the original, the person who asked kind of that. Well they didn't ask that question. I just suggested it to them but that's how you would do it. Good KT you listen, I did listen. I was thinking that's great advice. Okay, next question is from Julia. Hi Suze and KT, I'm 30 years old. I live in New York. I have no debt. I contribute to my 401K; I have a Roth IRA and I have 12 months of an emergency savings. Good for her. I hope you have a Roth 401k. Oh I don't know. I just didn't say that. She said I also opened a savings account through Alliant. Thanks for that tip. There you go. My parents and brother live in a small town in the Midwest. My parents are in there, you're wait, wait before you even go on your face turned really sad because I remember this question but you look sad, you were so happy we sat down, you were happy I made you a great cup of coffee and now she looks sad because I want you to help Julia think about Julia to be honest. My parents and brother live in a small town in the Midwest. My parents are in their upper 60s. My brother is 35 with severe special needs mental and physical. My dad is 68 and wants to retire but with the stock market and additional care for my brother, my parents are feeling very uncertain about the future. I want them to retire. I've offered to help pay bills, et cetera, but they don't want that from me. My question is if my brother outlives my parents, I will be his caregiver. Now my KT's crying. I'd probably have to move home. I want I can't do this. All right let me finish it. Alright. It makes me sad for Julia, Suze. So, dad wants to retire. Dad is two years away by the way from owning her, his home outright. Just so you know. My question is if my brother outlives my parents, I will be his caregiver. I probably have to move home. I want to make sure I am doing everything I can to have the financial means to care for him. Most people my age have a partner or kids, I don't want kids and we shall see if a partner ever happens. But most people don't have the circumstance of caring for a loved one with special needs KT, here's the great part and I truly love my brother. I do anything. That's the part that makes me cry because Julia is only 30 years old and she's so selfless and she's loving up her little brother. Makes me sad. Or big brother because he is older than her right. So, here's so here's the thing that's really, really important. Her big brother because he's 35, you have to sit down with your parents and if your brother has severe special needs, mental and physical chances are he is on SSI, Social Security Income for disabilities and all kinds of things like that so that he is getting a monthly income. When your parents die, and it's going to be a when it's not if. When they die they have a house, they have some money saved, they have some of that, they cannot leave it to your brother because if he inherits money like that, he's going to be kicked off SSI. So, it's really important, especially if maybe you have to move into the house that they're currently living in or whatever is that they have a Living Revocable Trust set up so that everything is left to you. So, nothing is left to the to the brother or you have to have a Special Needs Trust set up so that the money is there. But it doesn't kick your brother off SSI. So, you need to see somebody to talk about this and how you should set that up for them and with them, that's what you're going to have to do. And we'll just see really how long your brother lives. You know I had a little niece by the name of Jolene in this exact same situation and she never really talked, she was severely autistic. She called me Sunshine. Sunshine Suze. It was the only thing she really could say. And my aunt and uncle, my uncle died, right, pretty young. My aunt lived. My mother's sister lived to her 90s. And our biggest fear was that my aunt would die, and Jolene would be in the house. And then what would she do with her mom dead? I mean it's a fact of life. You have to think about everybody. So, Jolene was put into a home that she had wonderful care at, and it was very difficult for my aunt to do that. And sure enough, well Jolene was in the home. My aunt did die. So, thank God we did that. But Jolene also when she was in her 50's had a heart attack and she also died. And it was always a concern because my cousin Beverly, what would Beverly, Jolene sister was always like what would Beverly really do because it's a tremendous thing to think about that probably as your brother gets older, that is something that you're both going to have to face the reality of and that's probably what you're going to have to do. And that's it. But in the meantime because, you never know what can happen to your parents and when, you have to talk to them, especially about setting up either a Special Needs Trust or making sure that they leave nothing to your brother, and everything gets left to you to take care of your brother. And then you set up a Special Needs Trust so that if something happens to you, your brother then is taken care of and you have to name somebody else as the trustee. I just thought it was so sweet that she's only 30 and thinking so much about helping her big brother. Yeah but I got news for you Julia. If that is what you end up having to do it'll probably be one of the greatest things you've ever done in your life. Just so you know you know obviously you may miss out on certain things. Maybe you have to move from where you live and things like that but in the long run it will be the greatest thing you have ever done in your life. Yeah. Okay. Next question is from Jill and this one is on a lighter note. Hi Suze, hope you're doing well in love in your new haircut. You like it's a little short right too short for me. I like when your hair is really long in the front, I just chopped it all off everybody. I couldn't take it anymore and I just cut it all off. Alright. It says toward the end of Thursday's episode on January 27, you suggested staying put in short-term bond funds not pull out to invest in something like VTI. Well here's a duplicate question. Alright. Yeah. Alright. Was that suggestion revolved around that specific move? I ask because I would be surprised if you didn't think it was a good time to invest in an index fund while the prices are down. So, I said, this is from Jill, she said thanks Suze. So, Jill. Yeah, I'm not sure. I love my new haircut but it's okay it will grow. You want to know what I do love Jill. I love that. I had the courage to just say cut it all off, cut it all off because really my hair is really a big part of who I am. People love my hair and I was like it's just too much, too much; it's cut it all off and I love that I was able to do that and I'm happy. I don't care. Do I love it? Not exactly. Alright. Anyway. Yes it was specific for that question because here's the thing, some people Jill need to have their money safe and sound and if they don't have the ability to put it in a savings account or a money market account they’re in a 401K or 403B and their only option happens to be a short-term bond fund. Okay because that short-term bond fund won't be hurt that much if at all. So again, it just depends on the situation and how old you are and how much time you have on your side. If you're younger you have 10, 20, 30 years till you leave until you need money, then no I wouldn't be having money in a short-term bond fund but I wouldn't be putting all of it into any index fund or anything right now in a lump sum, I would be dollar cost averaging in it or I would be bottom feeding on stocks that are selling at low multiples have, you know, produce something, they make a product, they have good earnings, they have a lot of cash and they're, they're worth it and there are so many companies out there like that, you know, I just have to say something to everybody here and you're all going to think, what did she just say? I love Jim Cramer, you don't have to love Jim Cramer, but I love, Jim Cramer of Mad Money on CNBC. And Jim Cramer has an investment club right now, that's like $2 or $300 a year. But the truth of the matter is a lot of what he talks about in the investment club, he just talks about on Mad Money or other things, but you're really looking for some guidance at an affordable price really that by this sell, this, do that, do this. It's something for you to consider now. Does Jim make mistakes? Absolutely, but it's also something for you to just think about as a guidance, am I making any money by recommending it? No, but I can tell you one thing, I listen to what Jim says, he's one of the people that I, you know, want to get information from, I listen to the people on CNBC. Especially the traders on fast money and things like that because all of those things that I hear help me. I subscribe to the Motley Fool's Newsletters and see what they're saying. But those newsletters are expensive, and a lot of people can't afford them. So sometimes you need an alternative. But those are all things many newsletters I subscribe to so I can take all that information and make decisions. But I happen to like Jim a lot. I do well we know Jim for years for years and years. So, it might be something you know that you just tune into and listen to and see what you think. He talks really fast, everybody real fast. You have to listen carefully. But he really does care about you and cares about him making money for you if it doesn't work out. Okay, sorry about that. But really, he owns it when he makes a mistake. Okay, so next one is from. Last one KT. So many questions. Okay, this last question is from Sheila. Hi Suze thank you for the great information and CDs that I purchased with your Ultimate Retirement Guide. My husband and I retired nearly two years ago and are getting our documents in order for when they may be needed. That's the Must Have Documents. Fabulous. I have a question regarding the Revocable and Irrevocable Trust you talk about the Revocable Trust and give some forms for them. I don't see where you talk about Irrevocable Trust. If at all, would you recommend the Irrevocable Trust to people who might have difficulty affording long term care insurance and want to protect their assets from the cost of assisted living or nursing homes. No, no, no. And the reason for that and you don't hear me talk about Irrevocable Trust is an Irrevocable Trust. Once you put money into an Irrevocable Trust, you cannot change it. You cannot, you don't have ownership of it anymore. It is totally irrevocable and you do it to get money out of your estate so it can grow out of your name in case you have a huge estate so that it doesn't have to be included in your estate when you die for estate tax purposes. So, for the majority of you know, I would not be doing an Irrevocable Trust. I would be doing a Revocable Trust, which is what the Must Have Documents are all about because Revocable, you can change your mind anytime you want. Now, with that said, I just have to say something about this and it's so good. KT because I totally forgot about this. This is the month of February. February. Valentine's spread the love Suze. So, here's the scoop the Must Have Documents that I've been telling all of you, you must have have been offered on this podcast for $69, $2,500 worth, really everybody a state-of-the-art document for $69. If you just simply went to SuzeOrman.com/offer That is where you can get them for $69 but not for long but not for long anymore. The price for many reasons is going up. If you go to my website, you will see you know SuzeOrman.com there for $199. If there are other offers out there it's for $99. So, for this month only for February of 2022. I asked our partner who creates this with us, can they just extend the offer to podcast listeners for one month before they raise the price. So, if this is something that you have been wanting to do and you've been looking to purchase it or whatever. Now is the time to do. So again, you would go to S U Z E, Orman, O R M A N .com/offer and that is how you can get them for $69. Alright, so I just have to say that because that's going to be going away. They really need to have a Must Have Documents and if you get one share it with your family. Yeah. Remember what's great about this is it's not just for you, it comes with an activation code and you can give it to as many people really up to nine I think you can give it up to nine people give them the activation code and then they create their own passcode and then they got it. So, it's something that all of you really should get. All right, KT quizzie time. Okay, I'm ready. I'm going to get all these quizzes on Sunday. Right. Alright. You got to turn into here this one. All right, so hi KT and Suze. All right. So, love the podcast. A quick question on series I bonds, I invested $10,000 in series I bonds with the 7.12% interest in November of 2021. Following Suze's advice. It's been three months. But every time I look at my Treasury Direct account it shows my balance of exactly $10,000. I thought the interest is compounded. I'm laughing because you should see KT’s face. That's not nice Suze keep reading the quizzie. Alright which is I'm wondering where is that interest? I thought the interest is compounded monthly. Should the interest get added to my account every month? So, think about that everybody thinks about what she said. I thought the interest is compounded monthly. So, should the interest get added to my account every month? Yes or no. KT. If she already opened in November and she doesn't see interest. I'd say no. I'd say that there's no interest yet. You have to wait till what? Well isn't there like a period of one year that you have to keep it in then you get it. Not exactly. Well what do you mean? Not exactly. She has to wait for a year then you get, all right, so, wait how come? It's not in there? She can't find it. I don't know. She probably doesn't know where to look for it. Here's why everybody the interest on a series I bonds are not compounded monthly. It is compounded semiannually. So, I said a year was I was half wrong. Which means that twice a year the interest that the bonds earned in the previous six months is added to the bond principal value. So that the second six months the next interest rate that happens to be declared starting in May is applied on that. So, her original money plus the interest. So, you will see it on your statement or when you go to Treasury Direct after six months it's compounded semiannually not monthly. Kind of got it right, but not really. But I'll give it to you sweetheart. You want me to ding, ding, ding you? Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Alright. So, we're signing off because we went long. But hopefully that's all right. And what I was gonna say, Sunday, Sunday Roth IRA quizzie day. Am I really in it? Yeah, you're really in it because it's a quizzie that I think everybody needs to know the answers to. And I have a feeling people don't have really a clue to not just a Roth IRA but the five-year rule and all these things that I think people would be surprised to learn. Alright, everybody. So, until Sunday, where Miss Travis will be joining me again. There's really only one thing that we want for you, and that is for you to do what KT? Be safe, strong and secure. All right See you Sunday. Bye bye.

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