Classic Suze School: It’s Never Too Late To Fix a Mistake
episode
Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)
26 min
2 speakers
3 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
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Hi, everybody. Suzy O here. Now, what is the goal of money? The goal of money is for you to be secure. And there is no better way for you to be secure than having an emergency savings account. It is essential for your financial foundation. So all of you should be participating in the ultimate opportunity savings account at Alliant Credit Union. Go to myalliant.com to find out more and be secure.
August 6th, 2026. Welcome to the Women in Money podcast, as well as everyone smart enough to listen. Hi, everybody. It's Robert, the producer here. And for today's classic Susie School, we're going to go back to the spring of 2024 for a great episode where Susie tries to help someone who wants to retire, but their spouse isn't totally on board. Enjoy.
Today's podcast stems from an email that I recently received that I just want to read to you because I think it's really touching in many ways. This is from Ed. I owe this to my wife. I never realized how much pressure my wife endures in regards of me retiring. I am 62 and she is 54. I have chosen to retire this year although she doesn't want me to. I've explained numerous times to her that I just can't do it any longer. I am writing to you for some much needed advice. My wife handles everything. She pays all the bills, does the accounting, the medical, everything. I trust her with all the finances. I never realized the effort and time that it requires. She arranged a Zoom call with my employer's financial consultant.
She attempted to have all her questions ready, but was disappointed because every question she attempted to clarify, the advisor basically told her, don't worry about this or that, and we can fill out the paperwork for you. She was not happy about this, being that she is very detailed and organized and is very passionate about educating herself with these issues. Of course, I just brushed it off and told her not to stress it. But she was frantic, explaining that once I sign or commit to anything, it cannot be changed. And this is my money and we should know how it gets handled. Susie, I am ashamed to say that she is right. I should know what's going on with my finances, so I am writing to you with the hopes that you can help me or give me the best advice on my next step.
And also, I want to show her that I care enough for us to write to you together. So here is my situation. I have about $200,000 in my annuity fund. I was told I had three choices. The first one would be take the monthly lifetime payments at $1,211 a month with a 50% survival spouse. The second option would be to choose a payout either within five years, 10 years, 15, 20, 25, or 30, all spread out. The third would be for me to roll over my annuity into an IRA. Sure, I want total control over my money. My wife suggested I open up a traditional IRA and roll over the annuity into this, but to make sure to request a custodian to custodian transfer, or if my employer doesn't do this, then ask them to make a check directly out to the financial institution to avoid that 20% penalty.
Is this correct? Well, before I even go on, of course, it's correct. Your wife listens to me seriously and has totally gotten it down. She is a little Susie student to the max. He goes on to say, can I open up a Roth IRA instead? The answer to that is no, but that's besides the point. And if I do, do I have to wait five years before I can take out any withdrawals? I I will be needing this money monthly for income. And my last question is, my wife told me that the money that I will put into an IRA is not FDIC insured. Is this correct? How can I secure my money? If it's not secured, then I might have to take the first option, which is to take the lifetime payments. First of all, what makes you feel that secured?
That's I should have listened to my wife for all the times that she spoke about this. Maybe I would have been better prepared and not waiting at the edge. May my mistake be a to not worry about it. Thank you. Well, that email totally got to me, not in a bad way. I was so proud of Ed only because it's better to realizing something later on in life than not realizing it at all.
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