Amid covid-19 ‘the world has become the haves and the have nots’: Suze Orman

Suze Orman, The Women & Money Podcast Host, joined Yahoo Finance to discuss the importance of stimulus for main street.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: We want to bring in Suze Orman. She's the host of the "Women & Money" podcast. And Suze, great to have you on the show. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

We talk a lot here on Yahoo Finance about what Wall Street wants and what Wall Street needs. But let's shift the focus here and discuss really, what Main Street needs right now. What does Main Street want to be, or what does Main Street need to be, included in this next stimulus package?

SUZE ORMAN: You know, what's so sad, truly, Seana, is that Main Street has really fallen apart. There are millions and millions of people out there that spent their emergency fund, if they had an emergency fund. They spent the entire part of it or all of it last year just getting through last year.

They still haven't gotten a job. They don't know where to go. Their jobs may never come back. And they're truly at a loss. Even during the depression, I call it a depression, of 2007, 2008, and there, they could go out and find other jobs. They could go from being something to a driver for a limousine company or whatever it may be.

There's nothing that they can do right now, and they're facing eviction. They're facing all kinds of things. And I have to tell you, they're at a loss. So they number one, need for this pandemic to get under control, for the vaccines to work.

And they need to be given a break. They need to be given a longer eviction moratorium. Now it's only till March 31. They need, really, for people to understand that, for no fault of their own, there are millions and millions of people that are suffering, and they have no idea of what they should do.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Suze, I think a lot of people agree with what you're saying. But what about a break for, in the case of the eviction moratorium extension, what about the landlords? I mean, when I walk the streets in New York City, it breaks my heart. There are empty storefronts.

But then I know people who are trying to make a go of it, and yet they're still paying the rent that they used to have. And that's not sustainable when your business is down 80%. So how do we, or does the government, play a role in getting us to the next level, next step?

SUZE ORMAN: You know, it's-- that was what that PPP program was all about, Paycheck Protection Program. And listen, I don't have the answers to the mess that we're in. Not even the great, supposedly, Suze Orman can really fix what's going on here.

Obviously, if you have a mortgage payment and it's due, there still are places that you can call for forbearance and to try to help yourself that way. But somewhere we do need a stimulus package. We do need something that's hefty enough that lifts the landlords, lifts the renters, lifts everybody out so they can start paying their bills again.

But we need jobs to come back. These are people who really want to work. These aren't people that want to stay at home and whatever. They really want to work. And then also, on the other hand, Adam, you have millions of people that are actually making more money today than they were before the pandemic.

Because why? Maybe they get to stay at home. They don't have to buy clothes anymore to go to work. You know, I could be in pajama bottoms for all you know. Do you know what I mean? They don't have to pay the money to eat out because they're going to work.

So they're really, many of them, are making more money because they're spending less. So I've really got to tell you the world has become the haves and the have nots. And we're almost a divided country again, financially speaking.

SEANA SMITH: Suze, one of the things that may be included in this next stimulus package, something that the Democrats are certainly pushing for, and that, of course, is the stimulus checks. And you're talking about the fact that maybe not everyone who's getting a stimulus check necessarily needs it right now. So I'm curious just how you would advise someone to spend or what they should do with this stimulus check if they, in fact, are on the receiving end of it and they aren't in the position where they need it to pay their bills, pay their rent, or pay for groceries immediately?

SUZE ORMAN: So want to hear the answer to this one, Seana, and this one may surprise you. If you really are in that situation-- because, you know, $150,000 a year of joint income could be a whole lot of money, depending on where you live. So let's say you're doing great. You have your 12-month emergency fund. You're out of credit card debt. You're funding your retirement accounts. You're not behind on anything.

And all of a sudden, you're given-- and let's say the $1,400 goes through, in addition to the $600. So let's say all of a sudden now, you're getting $2,000 for yourself, $2,000 for your spouse, money for the kids, and now you have thousands of dollars. What I would be doing if I were you is I would be turning around and every single one of you, I know, knows somebody who is a have not.

They don't have the money to pay their rent. They're not even-- if eviction is over, they're not going to be able to pay the back rent. They're behind on everything. They don't know what they're going to do. Help them out and give the money away to them.

It was a gift to you. You didn't need it. You probably never should have gotten it. There should have been another way to figure out who should get these checks and who should not. I would say help people. We have now got to take this again, in my opinion, into our own hands.

What can we create so that we help people save more money? What programs can be instituted? And besides the programs and putting all this burden on the government, why don't we help those that we know need help? That's what I would be doing with that check.