Who watched Suze Orman tonite?

[rduell]

There is no money education out there. School children would benefit from learning how to follow stocks, learning how to budget, calculate tax, interest, and mortgages.

Actually, there are personal financial curricula out there and there is a growing movement to get it into schools and libraries. I attended a personal finance symposium a couple of weeks ago and brought home teachers' books to try to get our local libraries to offer classes to the public.

The Jump$tart Coalition has a map that shows which states have incorporated personal finance into their educational requirements. Unfortunately, not many require any.

[moneybags]

There are still people working cash registers that when the power goes out (at the store) and they have a calculator (and are allowed to continue) are simply unable to add up a couple items, figure the tax, and take in money and make change. I've seen it happen in stores that lost power.

I've seen the cashier totally confused when she enters $20.00 instead of $10.00 and can't compute what the change should be.

[rob62521]

We are big Suze Orman fans and loved the fact she was shocked when this person called. She may have talked to her off camera as well. I wrote in last fall and was a caller and first the producer emailed me and cleared everything, and set up a time for them to call me back. So, some facts might have been available before the actual phone call, that we didn't hear.

We thought she might actually go into how she would pick a financial advisor since she has done segments on that so we found it interesting that she talked about her personal favorite of municipal bonds.

[gamecock43]

Rob-
when you called the Suze show, did you end up using her advice?

Was her advice specific enough for you? Sometimes she gets the ball rolling and gives callers a thought process and end goal, but since she does not outline specific steps to get there, I wondered if the callers still feel overwhelmed and uncertain after they talk to her.

And also, did you already know what she was going to tell you just because you have seen the show? She can be predictable, and sometimes if I am trying to justify buying something, I play the "what would suze say' game and I write down all my money and keep the suze music going in my head while I make a quick decision. LOL

[rob62521]

Hi, Game!

My question was my boss wanted all of us to get the Target red card because it pays the schools a percentage when things are charged. I had a two fold question...one was would applying for one hurt my fico score and second if I didn't need it, would it be a good idea. She answered the first question on the air and said since we had no credit card debt and our fico scores were OK, it shouldn't hurt the scores at all if we applied for one. But her producer told me off the air that unless my boss was really bossy, that personally she (Suze) thought being pushed into applying for a card was ridiculous. Thanks for asking.

[gamecock43]

Well that is ridiculous telling someone to get a credit card. Though I know it came from good intentions. Your boss has no clue about your financial picture and telling someone to get a credit card could be the equivelent of telling an alcoholic to only buy a certain brand of beer for one reason or another.
Anyways, thats cool that you got to be part of the whole suze process.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I love laughing at her show. BUT wow $40M inherited. Nice.

[rob62521]

Well that is ridiculous telling someone to get a credit card. Though I know it came from good intentions. Your boss has no clue about your financial picture and telling someone to get a credit card could be the equivelent of telling an alcoholic to only buy a certain brand of beer for one reason or another.
Anyways, thats cool that you got to be part of the whole suze process.

It was cool and everyone was really nice and explained everything before it happened.

And you are exactly right, my boss has no clue about my financial picture -- she keeps informing me what I need to buy or spend or whatever. It's bizarre -- she and her significant other are up to their eyeballs in debt and she makes fun of me for being frugal. However, other than daily living expenses, I have very little debt. Oh, well.

[disneysteve]

she keeps informing me what I need to buy or spend or whatever. It's bizarre -- she and her significant other are up to their eyeballs in debt and she makes fun of me for being frugal.

Isn't it always that way? I know a lot of people like that. They are quick to tell you how you should be spending your money but their personal finances are in shambles. Just the person I want to take my advice from.

[Exile]

I used to enjoy Orman until she crossed over to the dark side by climbing into bed with Fair Isaac, (the FICO people).

Suze, can you say "conflict of interest?" I knew you couldn't.

[disneysteve]

I used to enjoy Orman until she crossed over to the dark side by climbing into bed with Fair Isaac, (the FICO people).

Suze, can you say "conflict of interest?" I knew you couldn't.

What exactly does she do with/for Fair Isaac? In what way do you think it is a conflict of interest? I'm not familiar with her relationship there.

[saversaba08]

What exactly does she do with/for Fair Isaac? In what way do you think it is a conflict of interest? I'm not familiar with her relationship there.

Suze Orman sells her FICO Platinum Kit at myfico.com for an annual fee of $49.95. It is supposed to give all three credit scores and reports plus some extras like Debt Eliminator and FICO Simulator.

[Exile]

Suze Orman sells her FICO Platinum Kit at myfico.com for an annual fee of $49.95. It is supposed to give all three credit scores and reports plus some extras like Debt Eliminator and FICO Simulator.

And there's the rub. As a financial adviser who is supposedly looking out for the interests of consumers, she should be advocating for the right of free access to our FICO scores. These indicators are no less important than our credit reports which by law we can now obtain annually without charge.

But as a representative of Fair Isaac, how can Orman be objective in this matter? That's what I mean by conflict of interest, disneysteve. Her shilling for this "Platinum Kit" (Platinum for whom?) like a peddler in a fish market proves my point.

[rob62521]

Isn't it always that way? I know a lot of people like that. They are quick to tell you how you should be spending your money but their personal finances are in shambles. Just the person I want to take my advice from.

Amen, disneysteve, Amen! She is also quick to give me unasked for marital advice. Hmmm, let's see, I'm married and she's divorced. Could it be the same kind of situation as with finances?

[rob62521]

But as a representative of Fair Isaac, how can Orman be objective in this matter? That's what I mean by conflict of interest, disneysteve. Her for shilling this "Platinum Kit" (Platinum for whom?) like a peddler in a fish market proves my point.

I can see your point, but when a caller did call in and ask about getting FICO scores, she told them how to do it, or they could buy her kit, but she was very upfront about having the kit. It seems like so many of these financial people are capitalists and will sell something.