Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)
Suze Answers Your Mega Retirement Plan Strategy Questions
08 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, everybody. Suzy O here.
Chapter 2: What is the goal of money according to Suze?
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.
Chapter 3: How important is an emergency savings account?
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. Good morning Susie. Are we recording? Why are you asking me that? Tell them what we just did, KT. We just did the best podcast on earth. And she just looked at me and said, KT, you're going to kill me. And I said, don't tell me.
She didn't record it. I didn't push the button hard enough. She didn't push the button, baby. Push my button. Push the button. She's pushing my buttons right now. Okay. So today is... January 8th, 2026. I wish you could see her. We just had an extraordinary great week. And the one thing that we did that we haven't done in 14 years was see a movie.
Wait, did you welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast? I did not because I welcomed them three times already this morning. So everybody, welcome to the Women in Money podcast. And everybody's smart enough to listen, but not every host that's smart enough to push the record button.
But anyway, this is the Ask KT and Suzy Anything edition, although I'm not sure she's going to talk to me for a few minutes here. But if you want to write in and ask a question, write in to asksuzypodcast at gmail.com. And if you write in, Keep it short and KT picks it. Oh, we will answer it on the podcast. What were you saying now, girlfriend?
So I was telling everyone that we really had a great week despite Susie messing up the beginning of this podcast. KT, it was only a 45-minute podcast. Oh my goodness. It was so good, everybody. It was so great. So I'm not going to sing again. I was singing and she cut me out. I didn't cut you out. So tell them what I was singing. You sing it. I'm not going to sing it. You know I don't sing.
Yes, you can. Everyone can sing this. They don't even have a clue what we're talking about. So tell them what we did. Go on. We saw a great movie called Song. Song, song, blue. Everybody knows one. Yeah, baby. Okay. We saw the new movie Song, Song, Blue featuring my big hero, Hugh Jackman, and now Kate Hudson. Kate Hudson, who knew you could sing like that? Wow. She's great. She's up for it.
You know she's up for it. Both of them should get Oscars, Golden Globes, you name it, they should get them all. They were brilliant. Brilliant. So here's what's interesting, everybody, is that I was telling Katie in the previous podcast that never got recorded, is that I thought that maybe we should start telling people what we do during the week. Wait, let's ask them. Are you interested?
They wrote me and told me that they love the fact that we talked on Sunday, last Sunday, about Landman and what we did on New Year's Eve. And now I've had at least 50 emails that I've read saying, oh my God, I immediately went and I watched Landman. It's on Paramount Plus. And Fabulous. Fabulous, Susie. It's the best thing I've ever seen. It's really good. Good, good, good series.
And here's what's so fascinating is after we went to the movie on Sunday, we went last Sunday, okay? We go to the movie and on Sunday is when the new episodes show of Landman. We come back, we're watching it, And they go into this like bar. And what happens, KT? Neil Diamond. They were playing Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline, which was really, really fun since we just watched.
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Chapter 4: What is the mega backdoor Roth strategy?
Wait, can we just talk? Yeah, I know you hate when these people are... Listen, the people that you work for, that you make them money, you're great employees, you do everything you can so that you make a salary, but that they do great as well. In fact, many of you put their needs in front of your own needs in many ways. You take care of their money and their products better than your own.
Are you kidding me? And then you go to somebody who needs to know the correct answers about your money, that they're lazy enough to not even say, wait, let me find out and I'll get back to you. It's okay, everybody, for somebody to say, I don't know, but I'll find out. Rather than pretend like they know and it doesn't matter. I hate financial fakers, KT. Go on. All right.
Next question's from Marley. Marley said, Susie, I'm only 47, but I'm one of the lucky ones who've listened to you for over 20 years. I make $180,000. I max out my Roth 403B with $24,500. My employer matches $9,000 a year, but that goes into my traditional 403B. And then I do an in-plan conversion. Oh, you are so smart. Yes, this is what she wants Marley to do. Is Marley a woman? How do you know?
We have a boyfriend who's a Marley. This is a lady Marley. All right, go on. I do an in-plan conversion and pay taxes on it. I've been putting about $45,000 a year in an investment account at Robinhood where I have over $200,000 thanks to the stocks you told me to buy, Susie. Some of them aren't doing so well right now, but anyway.
What is the max after-tax contributions I can deposit via the 415C rule in the traditional 403B? So Marley is so smart because she's already doing in-plan conversions of the $9,000 match that her employer gives her.
You know, when an employer gives a match, although many of them starting to change this KT, a match is you put in a dollar, they give you 50 cents or a dollar up to about 6% of your base pay, whatever it is. They all have different calculations there. It's in a pre-tax one, which is how they usually fund it so they can take it off as a tax write-off. right?
Then what happens is Marley takes that money and does an in-plan, it's still there, and puts it into the Roth account. Now, she has to pay taxes on it, but she's willing to pay taxes on it now, so it grows all those years tax-free. But here's the thing. Marley puts $45,000 a year away, listen to me everybody now, into an investment account. with Robinhood because it's in the investment account.
Obviously, if she buys something, she sells something, she owes taxes on it. It grows, maybe tax deferred. She's not paying taxes on until she sells it, but they're always going to have to pay capital gains tax or income tax on the money there. If Marley was able to take that money and rather than put it in
Robinhood and she likes the investments in her 403B, what she could do is now employ the 415C. How much can Marley put in? Ready? This, Marley, is how you would figure it out. You're already putting in $24,500 a year. To that figure, you have to add the $9,000 of your employer's match. If you had profit sharing, if they put any other money in there, you would have to add that as well.
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Chapter 5: How does the pro rata rule affect IRA conversions?
Their after-tax TSP. If in fact they just leave it in their regular pre-tax TSP and Their original contribution will always remain tax-free when they take it out, but then the growth on that money will be taxable. So if they could just get it over to the in-plan Roth TSP or
and also have a Roth IRA on the outside that later on in life, when they're no longer in the armed forces, they could then take the money, transfer it to their Roth IRA, and 100% of it would be tax-free. Or if they leave it in the TSP and it's been in there for at least five years and they're 59 and a half, they will be able to take all of it then at that point out tax-free. That's great.
So they should just know that. So KT, did that help you at all? Susie, I only have one last question. And I guess I was a little bit confused because we didn't really address it. How long can you do this? I don't think it applies to me. Now, listen, if you're still working for a corporation. Right. Maybe you're a solo employer, meaning you have your own 401k, a husband and a spouse.
Spouses can do this. Everybody can do this. You can get a fortune if you're making a lot of money into these accounts. However, once you're no longer working, you don't have income, or you're taking your required minimum distributions, which is things like that, you probably wouldn't be doing this anymore. However,
the majority of people, believe it or not, that listen to this, even if they're in their 60s, 70s, they are still working. They have extra money, especially if you're out there and you are 30, 40, 50, you have extra money and you can do this. I'm telling you. Do it. Do it. But you have to make sure, again, who you work for has a Roth 401k or 403b and they allow in plan conversions.
All right, everybody. Okay, Katie. Take us out, girlfriend. There's only one thing I want you to remember besides that implant conversion. I thought you were going to say something else. You know what, how I thought you were going to say? There's only one thing I want you to remember and it's this, push the button to make sure that we're recording before we do an entire podcast.
And on that note, everyone remember this, people first, then money, then things. Now you stay safe. Bye-bye. We are strong. We are wise. We will not apologize. We are here. We will thrive. Together we will rise. With a little bit of faith and everything it takes. We are strong. We are wise. Hi, everybody. Suzy Oh here.
And I have to tell all of you, there is one benefit that I know all of you need and your corporations need to offer. And it comes from a company that I helped co-found over five years ago by the name of SecureSave. So whether you're an employee or or an employer, I want you to go to securesave.com slash Suzy, S-U-Z-E, and take a look at what I have for you there.
I promise you, you're gonna like it. Alright. Neither Suzy Orman Media nor Suzy Orman is acting as a certified financial planner, advisor, a certified financial analyst, an economist, CPA, accountant, or lawyer. Neither Suzy Orman Media nor Suzy Orman make any recommendations as to any specific securities or investments.
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