Slate’s James Scurlock has some harsh words for Suze Orman. He says she’s a liar who is more interested in shilling cruises and luxury car leases than anything else.
From Slate:
Who is struggling these days, according to Suze? “People who grew up without much money and later earn a comfortable living sometimes spend too much to make up for what they didn’t get as children. … People who feel entitled to the good life, or are unconsciously copying a mother or father who lived beyond her or his means. … If you feel the need to impress people with what you have rather than with who you are, you are at high risk for credit card abuse.” This from a woman who spends $500,000 a year chartering private jets and who sells “Cruise With Suze” packages on an Italian luxury liner. (She has also hawked for GM, claiming that leasing a luxury car-you know, the kind that people drive to impress others-is a terrific financial decision: “If you ask me, that’s smart money!”) No wonder she winks more than Sarah Palin, girlfriend.
He also goes after Orman for touting stocks as the best investment out there — while at the same time telling the NYT Magazine that she only invests money in the stock market if she doesn’t care that she’ll lose it.
And although one of Suze’s mantras is how much she loves stocks-”[S]tocks, in my opinion, are the best investment vehicle for the growth of your money over time”-less than 3 percent of Suze’s net worth happens to be invested in them. Instead, she’s tucked away the vast majority of those royalties ($32 million-plus, after taxes) into insured, government-backed bonds. As she trilled to the New York Times Magazine a couple of years ago, “I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don’t personally care.”
What do you think? Is Suze Orman bad news?
If You Knew Suze Like We Know Suze [Slate]
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There is truth to what she says about trying to impress people or as most say trying to keep up with the Joneses .That is a major problem-living beyond your means-for image at that .
Alot of her advice is anecdotal .But there are people that need that basic,simple common sense taught to them .Even if by a TV star .
Suze and her audience deserve each other .
The writer of the slate piece obviously never watched the show! on the show Suze berates people for car leases period. She also is very clear about timelines to retirement and the best approaches to minimize risk while getting a decent return.
Watching the show regularly has given me a better perspective on priorites for spending and has improved my personal financial standing by giving me a lot of common sense info. on $$ that my parents never gave me.
So what if she leases jets? If she can afford it then what difference does it make on the quality of her advice?
I’m a convert. I didn’t want to like her but like I said by watching her show I have learned a lot and it has directly helped me in my quest for financial security.
No one should ever relinguish independent thought when listening to any talking head, be it Suze Orman or James Scurlock.
The one point that I agree with is her statement that no one can take better care of your money than you can.
Do your research and make your own choices.
Dave Ramsey > Suze Orman
Look, I think the message of common sense and personal financial responability expressed in her books and show is what I like about her.If she chooses to earn extra income by advertising some other product, that does not mean you have to run out and lease/purchase it. It does not change her message. And if you’re taking investment advise from anyone blindly, without doing any research yourself, then you can’t place the blame on her just becuase you decided to make a downpayment in the housing complex of sheer ignorance.
When Suzi was on Oprah, she admitted that she never got her start by saving and being economical and having business loans and such like the rest of us – she got a free check from an “admirer” for $50,000 to start her career. So her whole schtick is fake – you can’t get where she is unless somebody gives YOU an interest free check for $50,000. Her “advice” would have gotten her nothing but up to her eyeballs in bankruptcy had she had to use it herself to get started.
Lets not forget that she gave away one of her books for FREE via download in 2008. She truly does want America to be responsible and financially savvy and the truth is most of the country is not or we would not have 800k homes standing empty, people being gouged by ARMs and student loan interest out of control. Its epidemic and Suze is appealing to creditcard companies and the government to change the way interest is regulated.
Ask your parents if they know their credit score, ask your siblings, co-workers. You would be surprised by the number of people who walk into a bank for a loan who have no idea how the system works. Same goes for car loans and home equity loans.
How did you learn about finances? Your parents? College? I am intrigued by the number of people here who would seem to have degrees in finance and can speak with authority about Ms. Orman’s advice.
Most people who call into the show are trying to curb a spousal argument about what they as a couple can afford. Husband wants sportscar, wife says “lets ask Suze if we can afford your toy”, Suze says no, wife is off the hook. This is not a question you can ask your run-of-the-mill financial advisor.
Actually watch the show before you bash her advice as being for the financially illiterate.
I want to say awful nasty things about her, however, I haven’t even given her the time of day. She is money crazy. She is probably one of the founders of Amway. Oops. I meant Quixtar.
shes so annoying. the only thing she shows is that you make big bucks giving financial advice:P