Classic Suze School: Living a Life of No Regrets

Suze Orman's Women & Money (And Everyone Smart Enough To Listen)

In this episode, Suze Orman explores how living a life with no regrets requires prioritizing courage over fear in both personal relationships and financial management. She identifies

Key takeaways

• Suze Orman identifies fear as the primary driver of regret, noting that people on their deathbeds rarely wish they'd earned more but often wish they'd acted with more courage or forgiven sooner.
• She outlines five frequent money regrets: not investing earlier, trusting the wrong financial advisor, staying silent about household finances, spending to impress others, and waiting for 'someday' to take action.

Main topics

• Financial security & emergency savings
• Overcoming fear & living without regrets

Notable quotes

"Regret is almost always about fear."

Conclusion

Listeners are encouraged to conduct a personal audit of their financial

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) 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 my... Alliant.com to find out more and be secure. Speaker 1 (0:39) October 1st, 2026. Welcome to the Women in Money podcast, as well as everyone smart enough to listen. Hi there, it's Robert, the producer here. And for today's classic Susie School, we'll go back a little bit for a fantastic episode about living a life with no regrets. Enjoy. Speaker 3 (1:05) Our main goal in life. is, yes, I know the goal of money is to be secure. I get that. You get that. But our main goal in life is to live a life where we have no regrets, everybody. And if we live a life where we have no regrets, then we are secure not only hopefully financially, but emotionally, psychologically, every possible way. And I'm so afraid that so many of us really are living a life that's going to lead to regrets because we are afraid to stand in our own truth. We are afraid to take our own power. We're afraid to tell people that we don't want in our lives anymore to get out of our lives. We're just afraid to take actions. that one day we make it so that we wouldn't have a life of regrets, but instead, we live in a state of fear in most cases. So today, we have a Susie School about living a life so you have no regrets, okay? Because I have, by the way, taken out your little Susie notebooks because I'm just rambling today, and that's... what I'm going to do for the rest of this podcast. I'm going to ramble, hopefully, right into your heart. So I just have to tell you something. After all these years, and so many of them, after sitting with people who were dying, after talking to women who lost their partners, after hearing from people who had millions and people who had nothing, do you know what nobody has ever said to me? They have never said, I wish I had made 2 % more. on my portfolio. They just don't say those types of things. What do they say? They say, I wish I had forgiven sooner. I wish I had taken that trip. I wish I had said, I love you more. I wish I hadn't stayed so afraid. So regret is almost always about fear. It just is. It's the fear of truthfully everyone looking foolish, losing money, being alone, starting over, saying no, saying yes. And I have met women who have stayed in marriages. They knew were wrong for 20 years because they were afraid they couldn't survive financially. I've met women who had $5 million and were afraid to spend $5,000 on something that would bring them joy. So regret comes when fear runs your life instead of truth. And here is the truth. You are far more powerful than all of you think. Are you kidding me? Last night, I was talking on the phone to my really good friend who is a powerful, powerful woman. She is a CEO. And she has been living in fear of telling a friend, she doesn't want to be a friend anymore. She doesn't want her in her life anymore. And there were valid reasons why. She didn't want her in her life anymore, but she couldn't bring herself. to do it. So all of you have got to understand you are far more powerful than you think. So this is a financial show. Speaker 1 (5:09) Usually Speaker 3 (5:10) that's what we always talk about. So let's go to money for one second here. Because when I talk about money, you know I'm talking about you. You know you and your money are one. So if you can't do what you need to do with your money, It's because you can't do what you need to do with yourself. So let me give you the top five money regrets that I see all the time. And the first one is not investing earlier, okay? You tell me all the time, and I know there are men that are listening, but It's mainly the women that write me and tell me these things. So I'm sure there are men out there that do the same thing, but I'm addressing this to everybody who is smart enough to listen. So women tell me all the time, Susie, I waited. I was scared. I didn't think I knew enough. All right, what you all have to understand right now, and you have to write this down, time is the most valuable asset, everybody, you will ever have. And you will never, ever Speaker 2 (6:25) get Speaker 3 (6:26) time back. So your biggest regret of all is if you are wasting time because you think you don't have the knowledge, the ability, the capability, or whatever it may be to invest. The next