Welcome back Suze Orman is here with us on the InvesDiva Movement where we are aiming to help at
least one million moms and more and dads and aunts and brothers and grandparents all the people who
can benefit from taking control of their financial future, there is nobody better to answer questions
about debt and that is Suze Orman she is the legend in retirement planning and in debt
management actually financial advisor unlike me she's an actual financial advisor. So Suze thank
you so much for being on our show and taking the time to actually educating our audience.
Let's do it girlfriend what do you want to know next?
So debt management in America and in any other country I'm hearing is a big deal, now
not being from America I was born and raised in Iran I didn't grow up with much but debt wasn't a
thing we wouldn't buy things that we didn't have money for and then I went to Japan and Japanese
people also like they they don't go into debt like buying as as as long as I know um so it was a very
new thing to me coming to America finding out that people going into debt to go to college people
go to bed to buy stuff on their credit card and then people don't pay their credit card. I'm like
how does this even make sense so I personally don't have experience with it so my first question
for you Suze is, what is the biggest mistake people are making right now when it comes to debt?
First, before you understand what you don't have which is debt you know meaning
the money you don't have that's created debt you have to understand what money is.
And you have to understand that the goal of money is to make you feel secure.
Simple, that's it, nothing more needs to be said. You also need to understand that money
is the greatest teacher when it comes to teaching you about who you are. Because money cannot do
anything without you, you're the one who has to go out and get a paycheck you're the one who decides
do you invest that paycheck do you spend it do you waste it what do you do with it? If you are
walking down the street and you drop $20 it cannot call out to you and go wait wait you drop me come
back and get me. So money cannot do anything without you. So if your money isn't doing what
you want it to do and you find that you are in a total financial chaotic mess that is because you
yourself are a chaotic mess, your money is just a mirror and reflecting back to you who you are.
So when you have debt you have debt because when you feel less than you spend
more than, when you yourself feel like ugh I'm a nobody I don't have anything
I'll never be anybody I've struggled my whole life I deserve this and whatever you say to yourself
that all of a sudden translates into you buying something that you can't afford.
When you feel less than you spend more than and so when you look at debt the first thing
you have to understand is, this is a statement of how you feel about who you are this is your
mirror that you're looking at. That you hate to look at, that you don't want to pay attention to,
that you don't know how to get out of it, so why did you create that debt, to begin with? because
I can tell you easily how you get out of debt but if you can't figure out why you got into debt,
to begin with, you'll get out of debt and get right back in it again. So you need to look at
debt in a whole different way now anybody can say oh pay the highest interest rate first,
who cares about any of that truthfully. What I want you to care about is yourself
and what are you doing in your life to be an obstacle in your path to financial freedom or
financial independence? And normally it comes down to the three internal obstacles to wealth
fear, shame, and anger. Those are the three emotions that cause you to spend more money than
you know you should be spending to do all kinds of things because you're angry I'm gonna get back at
this person I'm gonna go buy a new car, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that oh you're at a store
and you see a sale and the sales ending today and you are afraid that you're going to miss
out on this sale you buy something you take it home and you never wear it again.
Why is that because when you look at that item that you bought it reminds you of the fear that
you felt when you purchased it and this is all going on subconsciously and all of a sudden your
life stops working if you have debt you have to go within to see why you are doing without that
is why it is so important that you understand who you are, that you understand why you do what
you do with money? Not in terms of investments and things like that but why do you buy something when
you can't afford it? why do you have 50,000 pairs of earrings? Suze Orman still only has one pair
for the past 40 years, I don't need more than that you can look at any book cover go back to Oprah 20
or 30 years every show I was ever on you'll never see another pair of earrings besides this. I don't
have a purse, I don't because I don't carry a purse and so like why do you need all that stuff
really? So when it comes to debt the most important thing for you to understand
is when you have credit card debt you are paying for your present-day desires but your costs
will be your future day needs. There will be things when you get older that you need but
you can't pay for them or get them because you paid for your desires when you were younger.
So just think about what I said to you and it's not the typical answer a financial advisor would
give you. The typical answer would be oh well there's good debt, there's bad debt pay that
snowball method pay the... no, I don't care how you get out of debt I care about you understanding
why you got into debt to begin with? What are you trying to fill up within yourself with the
things that you are buying that are putting you in debt? that is the question at hand.
That is so powerful and surprised that people don't know that.
oh, they don't know that.
People in America don't know that and I'm so glad that you bring it up and people don't
know that even though you've been saying this clearly for years and years and years.
But it's about who you are it's about so you can so it this really is this is a spiritual
thing like money is spiritual and you have to become the kind of person who's not,
who is not in debt you have to become the kind of person who earns a lot of money,
and that really is the gist of it is that hey don't be in debt. I am okay I'm not going to
be in debt is not gonna fix the problem, the problem is you, which is something that you were
actually talking about in our first interview like fixing yourself fixing understanding who
you are um really can be powerful when it comes to fixing your money issues right?
It's the only way to fix your money issues you cannot if you have money issues, it's because
you have issues because your money can't have issues without you. So stop blaming your money
for things that you're doing. Think about it your money I can rip up twenty dollar bills I could
can't they can't scream they can't go stop I hurt. You and your money are one.
I mean this obviously makes sense but I have a follow-up question, and that is
college debt? because that is something that again the society kind of looks like it again in America
like you you just go into college that you have to go to college and you pay like what do people
do with this do we do they have to continue to do this? if they already have college debt what to do
because that's a question that I get asked a lot and not having had college debt my only solution
is that go make more money and but like just learn how to make more money but what would you say?
Well right now student loan debt, so you have all different kinds of debt you have
mortgage debt you have credit card debt you have 401k debt and loans sometimes you have
personal debt hopefully you don't have payday loans but you have all different kinds of debt,
and then you have student loan debt as well. Out of all of those debts that you can possibly have,
student loan debt is the most dangerous debt you can have bar none. Why? because
all those other debts including IRS debt can be discharged in bankruptcy, you could get
rid of them if you needed to. Student loan debt is the only debt that you cannot take
through bankruptcy in 99.5 percent of the cases. So it will follow you to your grave. So therefore
student loan debt is the one debt that you really really really need excuse me to pay attention to
and to make sure that you are not in default, you are not in deferment, you are not in forbearance
that you are really dealing with it. Now you haven't had to deal with your student loan debt
if they're federal student loan debt over the past year or so and that's going to come to an
end in January because you have been really on a moratorium granted by the federal government.
Where you aren't being paid in charged interest right now, and you haven't had
to make any payments, oh shortly you will so it is really important that you have a plan
of how are you going to pay off your student loan debt and that's a whole course into itself.
So I do want to have a question
um about debt versus getting funded for something that is going to generate you more money.
Do you think there is a difference?
Yeah so right now I've started up my I co-founded a new company by the name of Securesave and you
can all look at it at securesave.com and it's the first employer-sponsored emergency savings
plan for employees, first of its kind. Now I could have funded it myself but I didn't fund it myself
instead we went for seed funding and everything and other investors invested in this idea in the
hopes that they're going to make a lot of money off of it. Right now that's debt so to speak
but not debt that I'm personally responsible for, I'm responsible for doing the best I could
possibly do to make this company a serious success so that they win big as well as I win big but most
of all the employees of all the corporations in the world win bigger, and so that's somehow using
other people's money who are intelligent enough or not to invest in you and your idea and you
haven't forced them to do it that's their decision if they want to do it or not great. Debt when
you're starting your own company you're taking out credit card debt, you're taking out equity lines
of credit, you're using up all the money that you have, and if it doesn't work then what? then what?
so if you have an idea that you want to start and go on your own save the money and you want
to invest just your money but save it that it was extra money don't go into debt to fund a business,
in my opinion. That's just my opinion. You know there was that um curves I don't know
if you remember this but it was this big fad of a franchise of all these women opening up these
these companies where women would go from machine to machine to machine they were called curves
and it took off like wildfire everybody was making a fortune and all these women were doing
it and then the whole thing went belly up and then all these women had absolutely no money.
So just be smart with what you're doing when it comes to debt also know how to run a business,
if you're taking money from yourself or for somebody else it's not just base because you
have a good idea and you just want to try this, you have to do the research you have to do a
profit and loss statement you have to know that you can carry that business for one or two years
like I expect that we have to carry secure save although maybe not all the way through 2023
to even start making a profit, but we have the money to do so. So just be intelligent with your
ideas and just because you can't find a way to make a living doesn't mean you start a business.
You start a business because you have a passion and a desire and a great idea and a business plan
and you know what it's going to cost and you know all of those things.
Then start something but I would really like to see you start it with other people's money or a
small business loan or something more than you yourself going into debt and one last thing on
this and part of the reason of that is there's a lot of money power attracts money powerlessness
repels it. Just like I said to you a few moments ago that money can't do anything on its own people
are the ones who buy your products, people are the ones who hire you and give you a promotion,
and or whatever it may be so when you're powerful you attract people to you since people control
money you attract money when you're powerless you repel people. Since people control money you repel
money when you are in debt debt is bondage and it's the thing that all of you are most afraid of,
so here you are you're in debt and it's now rendered you powerless but yet you need to be
powerful to attract customers and everything so it's like this catch-22 that's my thoughts on it.
So good I think the way I went about it at least was when I was broken almost in a welfare house
was um self-education, educate yourself it goes directly with what Suze Orman is saying,
it gives you power knowledge gives you power and you don't have to go in my opinion really
and get a fancy college degree to get that power to get that knowledge. Like literally knowledge
is now a commodities readily available for everybody on YouTube, self-educate
and try to find your passion, in my opinion, everybody needs to have their own business
at this day and age I feel like just working at corporate America is not going to cut it
learn how to create multiple revenue streams and the more power the more knowledge you gain
the more you have to give to people and the more willing people are to give you money to serve them
and it goes round and ha and then hand in hand and then instead of accumulating that debt you're now
accumulating that compounding effect for your money to grow and grow and grow and
turn into a million-dollar family. I'm gonna throw this out there. And Suze you are like literally
it, you talk about like how to become the person to earn money and be out of debt and how to get
out of debt you are the whole package. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity
to be on our show this tiny little show which we are hoping is going to grow and you guys watching,
you know what to do go ahead and smash that like button share it with people who need to
hear this they need to change themselves in order to resolve their money issues
and remember to always Make Your Money Work For You. I'll see you next time.