The Tax Mistake That Can Destroy Your Retirement | Suze Orman | Suze Orman Show Full Episode

Coming up on the Suze Orman Show Let's talk taxes One mistake you do not want to make We need to deal with the tax debt that we have hanging over our heads, which is very large When you say really large, how much money are you talking about? I'm guessing around $300,000 which is That you owe in taxes? Also, how much do you think it's going to cost you to go from California, where you're living now, to Vermont? The move would be about 4000 just for the moving service Your problem is you don't have any money in savings Is that correct? Correct Right And you asked me, can I afford it? I want to go to makeup artist school That is my dream Oh How are you going to pay for this? I was going to do, like, private loans Hi, everybody I'm Suze Orman and you Yes, you are watching the Suze Orman show Let's talk taxes Ten days from today, your taxes are due Now, here is my concern And I am talking to married couples out there So many times you call into the Suze Orman Show And the problem comes like this My husband does this He does that He does this I don't get involved And now I found out we're in trouble Or the wife I'm doing this I'm doing that My husband doesn't know about it And now we're in trouble I get that you don't like to do money together All right, so maybe you decide you want to live your life even though I don't suggest it one of you pays bills, one of you does this, that, and you don't do it together There is one thing and you listen to me closely now that if you are married, you better do your taxes together Because if you don't do your taxes together, and one of you is hiding the fact that they really didn’t take that money to pay the taxes, they're really not reporting all of their income no matter what the other partner does if you do it alone, the one who didn't get involved is legally responsible for whatever it says on their tax return And if there is one entity that you do not want to fight with, owe money to, it is the IRS So if you don't get involved and all of a sudden somebody comes knocking on your door and says, you owe $30,000 in back taxes, and you go to your spouse and go, what's that about? It is already too late You are not, and I am underlining this You are not to sign a joint tax return until you personally have gone through every single line of it So if you have a professional doing your taxes for you, both of you need to go and sit down with this person If you're doing your taxes online, you both need to sit down together and do it online You need to look at every figure that is entered Is it true? Is it not true? This is one area that you do not want to fudge with let your spouse do alone This is one area that you have got to do it together Got that? A let's go to Teresa coming to us from Saint Louis Girlfriend, what can I do for you tonight? Well good evening Suze My husband was self-employed for six years, and for four of those years, he did not pay income taxes and subsequently, he's gotten a regular job in a corporation And so now we're kind of digging out, and we need to deal with, the tax debt that we have hanging over our heads, which is very large And I just need to know, do we... I want to figure out how we can, either negotiate the, interest and fees and if we should use an, an attorney or one of those services that are advertised which I'm really skeptical about Teresa When you say really large, how much money are you talking about? I'm guessing because I don't know He's, I, it's kind of it's a point of contention with us It's something that he wants to handle, but obviously it's our problem, but I'm, I'm guessing around $300,000, which is That you owe in taxes? Yes That you owe in taxes With interest and penalties All right obviously this is not a thing for a service that gets advertised you to do on your own This is a thing where you really, really need to get a serious tax lawyer who will represent you and go in and see if anything can be done Maybe yes, but maybe no But there's a bigger problem here Did you know that he was not paying his taxes for those four years? I did not I and of course, foolish for me And you know the old saying about assume, assuming things, I assumed that it was for one year And then he would he was filing

Well, it turns out that he's he told me that he couldn't file the subsequent years because, you had to file an order And do you understand that if anything happened, you are in as much trouble as he is Yes that it's on a joint tax return That so he literally put his wife, who he says he loves I'm sure he put you in serious financial danger of possibly losing everything And he did not tell you And now he wants to handle it on his own Does that make any sense to you? It's it's a big point of contention It's a point of contention And we will be handling it together But he's doing it on his own time unfortunately Well, you better forget about his own time You better get your own tax lawyer You better take control of this situation Because, you know, Maya Angelou has this saying, and I love the saying, you know, when somebody shows you who they are, you best believe them If I were you, I would be getting the tax lawyer I would be taking control over this I would not care what he was saying on any level I would be the one fighting for my financial life, because you just might be the one who will be Let's go to Morgan in Kansas What's up, my friend? Hi, Suze My grandparents graciously offered me to offer to lend me $75,000 for me to purchase my first home at 0% interest for 15 years However, after doing a little bit of research, I realized that either they'll have to pay taxes on the money or charge me interest on the loan So is there a better way for them to help me out financially that will benefit both of us? So Morgan, great to have good grandparents like that. Yes? Maybe so Maybe not Let me tell you why If they were to lend you that money, even if it was at an interest rate of 4 or 5% or whatever, the going rate has to be by law, you are going to have to tell the mortgage company that you have borrowed the down payment from somebody, and therefore you have to make that payment back Plus, you're going to have to make your mortgage payment back They may look at that and go, you know what? We're not going to give you a loan because that's like you don't have the money to get a loan because you're making too many payments back If your grandparents are willing simply to gift you this money with no expectation at all about getting it back, they can do that But I got news for you it's not going to be taxable to them. Legally They each can give you $13,000 a year, doesn't affect them, doesn't affect you Anything over that $26,000 or whatever it may be that has to come off their unified gift credit So just reduces how much they're allowed to leave people upon their death Not a big deal, because maybe they don't even have that much money So either way, you're going to have to either have them gift it to you outright, or you are going to have to divulge the truth that you had to borrow the down payment to buy the house, and you might not be able to get a mortgage for it, but that's what you should consider in answering this question Let's go to New Jersey Christina, you are on the Suze Orman Show Good evening Suze, how are you? Thank you for taking my call Thank you so much I love your show by the way I have a question I need you to tell me if I'm my expectations are incorrect My mother is 90 and has decided that she wants to start giving away what she calls our inheritance to her children, but it's her money She I am single, and my brother and sister are both married And every year she gives the three of us big envelopes And mine has half of what they have because I don't have a spouse Yep I, that hurts me And I want to know if I'm out of line, if my expectations are ridiculous or it just I don't understand Yeah, I do, because this is not an uncommon question This is something that happens in most households, by the way, especially if the parents or the mother or the father are wealthy and they want to start gifting money I have to tell you, I think your expectations are out of line And let me tell you why Because I've given much thought to the question that you are asking Your mother, I'm sure, loves you as much as she loves her other children She has also probably come to love their spouses like they are her children That she also probably sees them having children, so her grandchildren that she loves as much as anybody So she is not looking at you as money she's individual people that she loves

very, very much And therefore she's giving you this money She's giving your brother or sister that much money Your sister in law and Do you see what I'm saying here? So she's looking at all of you as equal because she loves all of you And that's probably why she is doing it So don't expect more from her Be appreciative of what you do get because it is her money and if that's what she wants to do with it, girlfriend, you're going to have to let her do that Trish in Virginia What's on your mind? Suze, thank you for taking my call I'm active duty military, and my husband is following me back and forth across country for the past 18 years, and it looks like we will be able to stay in Virginia Beach until I retire in about two and a half years And my husband's never liked this area And I promised him that at the end of this tour that we could move someplace, of his choosing We own a home, and we're not underwater He'd like to put the house up for sale now and give it more time to sell The thought of having to move now and if it's sold and then again in a couple of years Just drives me nuts thinking about it And, so the question is, should we put our home on the market and rent it until the end of my tour, or wait two and a half years and see if the market rebounds? I do think that in two and a half years, the market will have rebounded from where it is right now But, you know, I always say people first, then money, then things I am sure over these past 18 and a half years, your husband has not asked you for a lot Yeah He's gone everywhere He's done everything and he's really been there to support you If this is the first time that he is asking to do something, has a desire to maybe voice his own opinion or just take an action, who cares if you have to move twice? 2 or 3 times? Who even cares if that house goes up in value more into and a half years? I think the mere fact that he wants to do something, does he just want to hear from you? Okay, honey, what you want to do? You've given so much for me, to me, whatever it may be that you say yes So if I were you, I wouldn't think about the money having to move I would think about my husband wants something It's such a little thing Why not just give it to him? You don't have any money in savings, is that correct? Correct Right How much credit card debt do you have currently? I think it's about $50,000 And later, been wanting something? Ask me can I afford it? My husband, would like to continue working out with a personal trainer So what you're saying to me is you quit your job and he doesn't want to quit going to the gym, working out with his personal trainer Is that what you're saying to me? That's correct Welcome back, everybody Tonight, some fast financial help for a couple in a time crunch Dacia and Jeff live in Southern California, 34 and 33 years of age They've been married almost seven years I love that they have two children, a five year old daughter and a 15 month old son Dacia works for a nonprofit, and Jeff works for the government Jeff applied for a job in Burlington, Vermont Now he just got word that he got it So congratulations, everybody But here's the isSuze Burlington is exactly where they want to live It is near their family And the cost of living is a lot less But things are very tight And they are not sure if they can afford to make the move So Dacia and Jeff, welcome to the Suze Orman Show What is tight? Why don't you think that you can make this move? You just got a new job, Jeff with the same company Why can't you move? Just with the added moving expenses, just the cost to move and to get everybody relocated and all this stuff there And also to get a new place Also, we have a house right now that we're not really sure what to do with We're trying to put it on the market, in the next couple of weeks but we're not sure whether to do that or rent it out So, because we're currently upside down on it All right So the truth of the matter is, your problem is you don't have any money in savings Is that correct? Right No savings, no credit cards and no savings No credit cards, but credit card debt Right How much credit card debt do you have? Currently, I think it's about $50,000 And that $50,000 of credit card debt are you just letting it go by the wayside, or are you being responsible

and are you paying it? We're actually paying it We went through a nonprofit It's a debt management company So, it's been about a year and a half now that we've been in the debt management program So we've been able to pay it down substantially They've lowered our interest rates and made the payments for us, and it's helped us out a lot So when it comes, though, so your debt is being taken care of So probably you'll be out of debt If you said a year and a half now you probably have three and a half or four more years to go and all your credit card debt will be gone Yes And just in about three years Your big problem is the house that you currently live in How do you sell that house? Because isn't it true that it was your uncle, Dacia that gave you $30,000 to buy that home? Yes And you are afraid that if you sell the house now and you're underwater in it, where is this $30,000 ever going to come from to be able to pay your uncle back? Right Exactly And so you're thinking you have to keep the home because you owe him $30,000, even though you are underwater big time in that hole Right Actually, we did get some good news It looks like we talked to a realtor last week, and we're not exactly underwater on the house We thought we were, but we had her come and look at it and compare it to others in the same neighborhood And it looks like conservatively, we could actually make about $13,000 if we sold the house Jeff, I just have to ask this how much do you think it's going to cost you to go from California, where you're living now, to Vermont? Well, I looked at the, moving expenses, and the move would be about 4000 just for the moving service With the one we selected and then just the transportation costs and get the whole family over there is going to be about $2,000, maybe a little bit more And you don't know where you would get that $6,000 because you don't have $6,000 to your name Well, we have a half of it right now, but yes, the other half we don't We're not really sure where it's going to come from All right Let me quickly just give you your action plan and what I would do if I were you If your main concern is that you want to pay your uncle back, holding on to the home, renting it doesn't pay him back It just postpones longer as to when he gets his money So why not just cut free of where you are? Because when you own a home, even if you rent it out, anything can happen You need a new roof It's caught in a, you know, earthquake Anything can go wrong So why not just sell it? If in fact you get that extra 13 or $14,000, you give that back to your uncle Now your uncle has gotten almost half back That's better than nothing at this point in time You are now going to move out to Vermont and again from your notes So you're going to take the kids and live with your parents And Jeff, you're going to live with a friend so you don't need all of this furniture these things to come out with you because you don't really have a place to put them right now So why not just rent a storage facility? I don't care if it's an hour or two away from where you're living, but just get it there so you spend 100 or $200 a month to store all your furniture Now, what you're doing is the house is gone You're living with your parents You're living with a cousin Just plan to do that for the next six months It is not that big of a deal If you do that, it's not going to cost you very much to live You're both still going to be working because you get to keep your job I hear and you get to do that from Vermont So you're going to be bringing in close to $5,300 after taxes Your expenses are only going to be about $3,000 per month, including the debt payment back So you're going to be able to save $2,000 a month You will save that for six months You will then have $12,000 in savings You will then be able to go and rent an apartment right where you want to be You'll be able to give the landlord the first and last month rent after you are settled there In just another three years, the debt payment is going to be gone You're paying $1,500 currently a month right now That's right Gone In four years from now, your payment on your car is gone So you are going to have a considerable sum of money for you to save, as well as give your uncle $1,000 a month so that your payment to him is done sooner than later than in a few years When that's done now you have all of that money that you can save Invest in your future for your kid's college education You will be standing on firm ground So how are you going to then get from California to Vermont? When it costs you so much money, you're going to get in your car

You all are going to take a trip I dom’t care how long it takes you I don't care how uncomfortable it is You are all, as a family, going to drive out to Vermont You stay in little hotels on the way Whatever it is, motels It won't cost you very much at all And then when the time comes and you have more money, you'll ship your furniture out Once you have rented a place six months from now, that is your action plan, sweethearts How does it sound? Sounds good What do you think, Jeff? Whaddya mean, yeah, we'll go with it? that was just brilliant, sir You better go with it and let us know how it goes Good luck to both Definitely Thank you so much Up next, you can't Afford to miss Can I afford it? I want To buy, the Kindle Fire For $199 Allison, is that a lot of money? Yes Also I'm interested in getting a show quality Clumber Spaniel puppy They run about $2,500 The trade off would be that I would back off on the Irish and Gordon and phase into something that's slower and slower as I get a little bit older I can relate to that sweetheart What do you want to buy? Show quality Clumber spaniel puppy Makeup artist school Kindle Fire Welcome back everybody to the can I afford it segment This is where you call in You tell me what it is that you want to buy and Oh, yes, I tell you, if you can afford it or not Let's go Cheryl, what do you want to buy? Hi, Suze I'm interested in getting a show quality Clumber spaniel puppy that I have been raising Gordon and Irish Setters for about ten years, and I don't want to give it up as I, as I get a little older Yeah. It's cute Look at that But I that's one that I borrowed that puppy Oh but you want one just like it, I it or better All right But girlfriend show me the money and then we'll know Okay Well, I, I'm a nurse by trade, so I net $7,500 a month I have expenses of 4330 in month, per month in rent, etc I have a car loan that's at 5. 4%, and I have 10K in liquid and 75K in retirement So they run about $2,500 for a show puppy And they're, I'm, I'm the trade off would be that I would back off on the Irish and Gordons and phase into something that's slower and slower as I get a little bit older I can relate to that, sweetheart you girl I know they’re not going to be faster that's for sure Right so denied And the reason that you are denied is at the age of 57, you do not have enough money in retirement liquid I understand that you're bringing in $7,500 a month and that there's some money saved there, but you don't have the things in place that you need as you get older, when you're no longer a nurse or something happens to you, or you have this dog that you paid $2,500 for, and then all of a sudden it gets sick as you know, that happens Right You have to spend $10,000 to save your investment of $2500 And now you're in deficit I'm so sorry You are denied bow wow Ashley, what do you want to buy? Suze, thanks for taking my phone call Any time what do you want to buy? I want to buy a Myrtle trip vacation Myrtle Beach trip vacation for my husband and I We haven't really been on a vacation since our honeymoon about three years ago and had our daughter in September So we'd like to go on like our first family vacation Let's hope you can afford it Show me the money Together we take home 8900 a month Yeah, expenses are 5728 a month We live rent free because of my husband's work, We have debt of 65,000 student loans, 23,000 in car loans, 7000 in a wedding loan Because we paid for our own wedding, Savings We have 11,000 in liquid and 500 in retirement And we've just set up my husband's 401K to max it out Denied again Look at the loans that you have You had to borrow money for this Borrow money for that $11,000 all you have in savings Now, I know you think $800 doesn't matter, but that is how you got in trouble Let's borrow this Let's do this, let's do that. $800 It matters Every single penny matters, girlfriend You cannot afford it Dana What do you want to buy? Hi Suze thank you so much for taking my call Well, actually, my husband would like to do something working out with a personal trainer, which he has been doing since June of 2011 About three weeks ago, I quit my job to become a stay home mom So I love my husband

What you're saying to me is you quit your job and he doesn't want to quit going to the gym working out with his personal trainer Is that what you're saying to me? That's correct And so you really want me to deny him no matter what, right? Well, I just want to get your opinion Okay Show me the money All right, so my husband brings home $8,000 a month Yes Our expenses are $5,968 a month Yep Our debt is $425,000, which is 30 year fixed mortgage Yep We have 31,000 in our liquid savings and $8,000 in retirement funds Denied again I’m going right for it, everybody Can you see that? I'm not holding back on this show You do not have enough money in an emergency fund You don't have anywhere near enough money for a 33 year old in retirement Your husband, rather than pumping up the muscles he needs to be pumping up the retirement account, pumping up the savings You seriously cannot afford it Kelly, I am not in a joking mood tonight What do you want to buy? I will go - hi Suze I want to go to makeup artist school That is my dream Oh, do you know how I just want to tell you know how important it is for people who are on television and are seen like that How important a makeup artist is? Your sk... And when their skilled and they’re great, they are worth their weight in gold $17,000 to go to makeup artist school Show me the money All right, well, I bring home $3,222 a month Yeah Right, go ahead No, keep going Oh, my expenses are $1,657 a month And that includes my monthly rent Yes My debt is 6700 in credit card debt Then I have $7,000 in student loans My savings is 2200 in liquid 3000 in investments and 700 in retirement And how are you going to pay for this? Well, it's a private school, so I'm really working on scholarships And, I was going to do like private loans Denied The last thing you want to do is take out a private student loan that, they are not discharged in bankruptcy In almost 99 nine percent of the cases, their interest rates are unlimited They can do whatever they want Here's what I would do if I were you Find a makeup artist that you really like, find somebody and ask if you could apprentice with them for free People, when I hire a makeup artist, I don't ask them, where did you learn to be a makeup artist? I look at their portfolio I look at what they've done If you can just apprentice with somebody for free and start to help them and they can help you, you can go anywhere without creating $17,000 of a student loan No way Girlfriend Allison, what do you want to buy? Hi I want to buy, the Kindle Fire A Kindle Fire for $199 Allison is that a lot of money? Yes But I think it'll be it will pay off itself in the long run All right, well, show me the money, then how much you got, girlfriend All right, I have, I take home $500 a month, and I have 1200 saved up in liquid I have about $70 in expenses And what do you do to make $500 a month? I actually make $9 an hour working at a fast food restaurant You do? At the age of 19, you do know that every single person prior to you, I have denied people who are making $8,900 a month, $7,500 a month, people who are making thousands of dollars per month I have denied But for you, my dear Allison, making $500 a month and you want to spend $199 on a Kindle, you, my dear Allison are approved You can afford it See, a 19 year old that actually can afford something that all these other people could not want to be part of The can I afford it segment I hope you do All you have to do, however, is go to my website Suze Orman dot com, and you will find the information that you need to know there to come and play with me right here Next I tackle trending topics in Ask Suze, what's the best way to invest $30,000 now to yield $1 million in 30 years? You are asking for almost the impossible here A better way to do it is this Hi Suze, this is Tracy and my twin sister, Tammy

You were on your show last year and we asked if we can afford to go to Twins day in Twinsburg, Ohio Is that really a place called Twinsburg, Ohio? Yes, there is Twinsburg I'm going to have to give you the identical answer Approved! Have a good time, girls It was like nothing else we have ever done before For once it was normal to walk around with someone who looks exactly like me We were also recognized by a fellow Suze Orman viewer who saw us on your show Thanks again for approving us We had an amazing time Welcome back everybody Here we are in the control room of CNBC headquarters So many ways for you to play with me here right on the Suze Orman Show You can send in an email, join me on Facebook Or if you tweet me @SuzeOrmanShow just put hashtag Ask Suze It comes in here We might just choose it and answer it on air Let's see what's trending right now at - I love this Who going to check me? Who is I'm going to check you What's the best way to invest $30,000 now to yield $1 million in 30 years? Okay, you are asking a lot because $30,000 to grow to 1 million, not adding any more money would have to yield you about 12 to 13% a year, which means that money would have to make 12 to 13% a year That is more than the stock market over average has ever made in that period of time So you are asking for almost the impossible here A better way to do it is this rather than just taking $30,000 and wishing and praying and hoping that it turns into $1 million, why don't you just add $15,500 a year at a 4% annual average rate of return? That's absolutely doable over a 30 year period of time Oh, you will have $1 million Now, I know you might be saying $15,500 a year Suze That's a lot of money If that is to you, and you better adjust one way or the other, because good luck getting to that million dollars the way you want to do it I don't think so Let's see what else is trending right now Miz Boss Lady 2011 Hi Suze, my question is my partner and I are planning a civil union Should we consider a prenup? Well, the mere fact that you're asking the question kind of says to me, you better go and do it because something is making you ask that question Do I think it's a smart thing to do? I absolutely do just both go get your own lawyers, meet together, do this Make it legal That way, if something happens, you'll be glad that you did If nothing happens, doesn't matter that you did Let's now go to web cam and we have James coming to us from Texas Boyfriend What do you need to know tonight? Hey, how you doing? Thanks for having me on the show tonight Any time, sir All right My question is, I, I'm a firefighter and will probably retire before I'm 60 I have a home that can be paid off for the next three years But I do not plan on living here for the rest of my life The question I have is, should I continue paying extra on my mortgage, to try and pay it off? Or should I use that extra money to, put into a retirement account If you were to have your home paid off in full? I just have to ask a question back to you Would that make you feel more secure, more powerful? Are you a good investor so that if you took that money and rather than put it on your home, you would know how to invest it so that you wouldn't lose it? Can you answer those two questions for me? Well, yes In either I mean, it'd be great to obviously own your home outright, but, and I actually, I, I do not have any major finances other than obviously my home, I’m financially stable It would be a beneficial, I guess, to go ahead and pay it off So when you're in a profession such as you, you never know what can happen when you get injured When you get sick, who knows what's out there for us So if you don't have financial experience right now with investing in the markets and you know that in a few years you may retire or whatever that may be, the largest expense that you currently have is your home, the mortgage If you put that extra money towards the mortgage and then you decide to sell, at least you know, because I think we've relatively have hit the bottom in the real estate market, at least you know that you will get X amount of money back, and possibly even more if the House appreciates in value If you invest it we never know will the markets go up? Will they go down? When you retire will they be down dramatically so that you there isn't as much money there?

Normally in this situation, I would say invest, but in your particular situation, I'm going to tell you I would pay off the mortgage before I invested money, when I wasn't quite sure how to invest All right everybody, we are heading back to the studio Here's what's coming up next Suze School Tonight, what are treasuries? T-bills, notes, bonds Do you need them? And I'd really like to start investing in stocks But you have to be 18 and I'm a minor Are you sure that you can't open up a Roth IRA? To be honest, I don't even know what a Roth IRA is Welcome back, everyone April is financial literacy month, so this month we're going back to basics with some financial fundamentals Tonight What are treasuries? T-bills, notes, bonds? Do you need them? How do you buy them? As you can see on your screen, Treasuries That's very funny As if you wouldn't know how to pronounce it But anyway, do you notice how it says that they're negotiable U. S. government debt obligations? Let's first now talk about what is a debt obligation? A Treasury The United States government needs money to run You all know they're in deficit, so they have to borrow money to pay their bills Who do they borrow money from? They borrow it from you They sell you a treasury bill, note or bond You buy them So you give your money, it goes into the treasury, and they use that money to pay their bills It's backed by the full faith and credit of the U S government So as long as you believe that the government is going to be able to be stable and pay you back Years past, they were known as the absolute safest way to invest your money because the government could always raise taxes or put more money to pay you back What do you get when you give them money? You get this debt, this bond, bill or note that says it will pay you interest at X percent every six months And the maturity date, this is how much money you will get back what you gave them It tells you everything So you essentially are lending money to the United States government A bill is a short term loan up to about 52 weeks That's it So you're only making a short term loan, but when you do, so comes little tiny interest rates A note a treasury note is for a longer period of time, whether it's two years, five years, seven years, ten years So that is a note A treasury bond is just for years like 30 years Again, supposedly, the longer you go out in the maturity dates, the higher interest rate treasuries are to pay you But to find out every single thing that you need to know about them, you should go to Treasury direct dot gov It will tell you what you need to know Go there and then you'll be smart when it comes to treasuries So let's take a quick question We have Alfredo He is 16 years of age and is coming to us from Orlando Hey Suze, how are you? Good Alfredo, what's on your mind? All right I have a question for you I take in about $400 a month, and I have roughly $2,000 in savings And I'd really like to start investing in stocks But you have to be 18, and I'm a minor So what are my options? Are you sure that you can't open up because you're making money on your own right now that you open up a Roth IRA and within the Roth IRA, you can invest? Have you checked that to see if you can do that? To be honest, I don't even know what a Roth IRA is All right, so that so here's the real thing You have to know about all of your options And if you are actually earning money, which you are, you're earning it You can then take that money and open up an IRA, which is an individual retirement account, which then allows you to put money in there And within the retirement account, you get to make investments A Roth retirement account is simply a retirement account that you open with money that you've already paid taxes on A traditional IRA is with money you have never paid taxes on Since you're in such a low tax bracket because you're only making $400 a month, why not do that? So you could very easily take 100 or 2 or $300 a month, put it into a Roth IRA and invest it there Up next, one more thing that I want you to know You may find yourself in a situation that you're really not making any money, or you're making far less than you used to Are you unaware of some possible tax credits that are available to you?

Welcome back to The Suze Orman Show Okay, that brings us almost to the end of the Suze Orman Show But before we go, there is still one more thing that I want you to know Many of you may find yourself in a situation over this year, maybe even last year, but you may find yourself in a situation that you're really not making any money, or you're making far less than you used to And as I said at the beginning of tonight's show, we are ten days away from when taxes are due So the question becomes, are you unaware of some possible tax credits that are available to you now that you maybe aren't making as much money as you used to? The main one that you all need to look into is the Earned Income Tax Credit If you are married, making $49,000 a year or less. Single, making $44,000 a year or less, you can actually get a tax credit, which means dollar for dollar So you owe $3,000 in taxes It reduces your taxes by a dollar or $2, whatever the amount is The tax credit goes from about $500 up to about $5,700 You should look into it You should also know that there are tax credits for you out there If you have kids, there are tax credits for you If you are actually paying somebody to take care of somebody, that is dependent upon you, all kinds of things that you need to know But here's how I'm going to make it simple Just go to Suze Orman dot CNBC com Everything you need to know will be right there before you file your taxes Make sure you go there and check it out because it could just save you hundreds up to thousands of dollars Nice You know But before we say goodbye there's always one more thing It's the only thing that really matters if you ask me And it is this people first, then money, then things Now you stay Safe