That episode's on the DVR, and I just pulled it up. Here are some details:
She's 46 years old, has two kids 19 and 21, both in college. In the past 5 years she lost her job, went through a divorce, and sold a house at a $300K loss.
She lived off credit cards for a year, but is now self-employed, and has the debt paid off. Her goal is to retire at age 60, and Suze gave her an "F" on that one.
She has $70K in an emergency fund, $35K in retirement, and $12K in investments. Only outstanding debt is a $19,200 car loan. She rents, so no home to factor in.
Her monthly income is listed at $8350, which would be take-home. Expenses are $5763, and she puts $1416 into savings, and has an excess of $1176 per month.
As for the IRA thing, Suze told her to stop contributing to a traditional, and only do a Roth from here on out. And to, little by little, convert the traditional to a Roth.
Y'know if her take-home is $8350 per month, isn't it possible that her AGI might be enough to exclude her from a Roth IRA? I guess she could do the conversion still, but wouldn't she be precluded from putting new money in?
Also, this woman is mainly "investing" in cash, money markets, etc. Suze recommended she start investing.