Podcast Episode - The Big Idea for 2024

On the last new episode of 2023, Suze talks about how to start 2024 by breaking the silence around money, so that these candid conversations about finances can empower you to be secure.

Listen to Podcast Episode:

Podcast Transcript:

December 31st 2023. Can you believe it? This is the last time that we're all gonna be saying 2023. If you think about it, it's 123123.

Oh, that's kind of interesting. Right. December 31st 2023. Anyway, besides that, welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast as well as everybody smart enough to listen, Suze O, here with the very last podcast of 2023.

So what does one say as we bid goodbye to one year and we say hello to another?

And I know that it's a celebration and it will happen tonight with fireworks and watching the TV. And everybody else celebrating if you can't be there yourselves.

But life in itself, especially the life of money always has to be a celebration.

So to that end, I just want you to listen to some of my final words for this year.

You might want to take out your Suze notebooks.

You know, it's no secret, this world of ours that's driven by innovation and change.

So there's one big idea I have for 2024 that in my heart, I honestly believe could potentially transform our lives and our relationships.

And what is that big idea? That idea is breaking the silence around money.

So as we all go into this new Year, I want all of us to set our sights on really fostering candid conversations about the truth of our finances so that we can empower ourselves. And really, I want all of you to empower those around you. Because when you think about it, money is so often seen as this taboo topic.

But this topic of money, I promise you has the power to shape our lives and to shape our lives in just the most profound ways it can impact your choices, it can impact your dreams and even your well being. Yet for many of you discussing money remains such a source of discomfort and avoidance. I can't even tell you.

So as we go in to 2024 it is time to change this narrative.

I want every single one of you to really prioritize open conversations about money in this coming year. Can you do that? Do you want to do that? You might not want to do it? So let me tell you why you should, when you have financial understanding about money, meaning the more you talk about money, the better your understanding, not only about money becomes, but you learn more about your relationship with it as well.

And as you have learned on all the podcasts, all the TV shows every book I've ever written, you and your money are one and you have to know the relationship you have with yourself to really understand the relationship that you have with your money.

When you start sharing your truths and your fears and your knowledge and experiences about money, it can help everyone, not just yourself but everyone to be more so that they can have more when you start to talk about it, others will want to join in the conversation. When you avoid the conversation, most others won't have the courage to start it. So it all begins with you

and sharing your truth and your fears and your knowledge and your experiences about money.

And when you do that, believe it or not, it can reduce the stress that you have in your life because money related stress, I'm telling you everybody is a leading cause of anxiety. It's a leading cause of your strained relationships that you have with your spouses, with your children, with your boss, with your friends. If you can have open and honest discussions about everything to do with money, these discussions can help alleviate this stress because when you keep it inside, when you don't speak it, when you don't share it, then it causes stress on you and others. So as individuals and couples and even if you're all by yourself, the conversation you can have just with yourself.

I want all of you in 2024 to just start to talk about money and then you will be able to start to work together to find the solutions to maybe some of the financial problems you've been having and also just maybe establish common financial goals between the two of you that are living together, want to spend your lives together. And it's in that commonality, that success in relationships really can thrive.

And again, when you openly discuss money, you empower others to talk about it as well. And I can't say this enough because you have to learn not only to share your successes and what you bought and your new car that you have or whatever that is, I want you to share your failures, the truth about money. Because when you do that, you will see that you will start to change the paradigm of financial insecurity and shame. And what have I said to you? Fair shame and anger are the three internal obstacles to wealth. But if you just start talking about money, all of it, all of those things go away because you don't give them a home to live in.

So you're to build trust, you're to have honest conversations about money because honest conversations about money are essential in building trust, whether it's in a personal relationship or within organizations. But please remember what I'm about to say that trust is the foundation of true success and everlasting relationships.

So you're thinking all right, Suze, that's great. Keep going, keep going. But Suze, how do we make this big idea happen in 2024 Suze? I listened to you and I know what you're saying is right. I can feel it in my heart but I don't even know where to start.

All right, everybody, I want you to start at home.

I want you to start to initiate discussions about money with your family. That means your parents, your children, your spouse, your in-laws, whatever it is. I want you to all talk about your financial goals and savings plans. I want you to encourage your Children to ask questions and learn about money from a young age. Don't make it so that money is a topic that should not be discussed. It needs to be discussed and it needs to be discussed by you.

You really think your teachers of your children are people that can discuss and teach your children about money.

It has to come from you and you have to believe me when I say to you kids do what you do. They just don't do what you tell them to do. So you have to live your truth about money, not just at home, but in the workplace as well.

If you're an employer out there, you need to create a more open environment by offering benefits that your employees need and want, which is why everybody I helped co-found my new company called Secure Save. And if you don't know about it, you should go to Securesave.com because I have found that what employees really need right now and want right now is an emergency savings account that they can access at any time that you employer, you match that contribution. Maybe they put in $25 a paycheck, you match it and put in $3 then you do it out of their plan so that they don't have to go to their hr person. They get to do it and access it whenever they want. And if they leave, they get to take it with them, empower them to do that.

And if you can encourage employees to also seek financial advice and discuss financial challenges that face them without fear of judgment, you could transform the culture at your place where you have employees and what's always important.

You have to lead by example.

Again, you have to be open about your own financial journey. You know, if you read my book starting at the nine steps to financial freedom, as well as the courage to be rich, you'll read about the days when I didn't have $40 to my name when I had $250,000 in credit card debt when a waitress had more money than I did. That was waiting on me at a Denny's that I was having breakfast at,

I was such a financial faker and liar. It wasn't even funny and it wasn't until I was willing to be open about my own financial journey, both the successes, obviously, but especially my setbacks. When you do that, your transparency can inspire others to do the same and then you can break the stigma surrounding money.

So as I end my final podcast for 2023 I ask all of us every single one of us to step in to 2024.

And let's make it a year of positive change. How do we do that by encouraging open conversations about money and by doing so you can unlock a world of healthier relationships and empowerment for yourselves and those around you. So from KT Robert Colo and of course myself, we wish you a happy and a healthy New Year and I can't wait to start 2024 talking with all of you as I love to do about money. And I can promise you if you take this big idea to heart and you start doing it tomorrow morning, I promise you you will be unstoppable.