Suze Orman new book

**mjrube94** · 03-21-2005, 08:34 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I haven't checked out the book, but apparently she has a two-hour special on PBS with the same title. Check out your local station to find out when it's on. (I keep missing it!)

**MrsChambers** · 03-21-2005, 12:53 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I saw the PBS special, and It's just an extended version of what she has been saying on her TV show. it's more focused twards the younger crowed, just out of college with no kids

**gakline** · 03-22-2005, 06:10 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I saw the special and I really don't like her anymore. I think she gave some very bad, horrible advice. I have seen her regular financial show, and I didn't mind her, but now I don't care for her. Here's the story, advice and why I think she's dumb:

*****
A young woman came to her and said "Suze, I really want to be a shoe designer, and I've applied to all the places and haven't heard anything in months. My mom's friend offered me a job designing toys for $60,000 a year, I need the money. What should I do?" Suze responded by saying, "Wait, hold out for a shoe company since that's what you really love and want to do. It'll be tough and you might go into debt." Then the girl came back a few months later, and said "I found a job designing shoes, and it pays $30,000. Now what?" Suze replied "If work starts at 8am, come in at 7am. If everyone leaves at 5pm, stay till 8 or 9pm. Do everything anyone asks you, never turn down work. Never ask for a raise or any money, don't take vacations. Have patience, and you'll be rewarded." Of course 10 years later, the girls a top shoe designer pulling in tons of money.
*****

First off, I want to say that is BS and some of the worst advice I've ever heard, and I'm sorry so many people heard that, and probably took it to heart.

Second, there's nothing wrong with taking a job, while searching for another. I mean, c'mon, Take the $60,000 job, and keep looking for shoe designing position. No one is going to look down on you when you say "I'm sorry, I know I've only been here 2 months, but I've found my dream job designing shoes, and I'm leaving." Most people would say good for you, good luck. Besides, it's worth having money to tide you over.

Third, pulling in all those hours and not saying anything? Get real, if you do that at your job, people will probably get the idea that they can walk right over you because they have a little slave girl who'll do all the work and get their coffee. I'm not saying don't work all the time and take on extra projects, I'm just saying, take charge of your life. Nothing's going to get done unless you voice your opinion. No one's going to stand up for you, if you can't do it yourself. Ask for a raise, and you might get it, but the company's not going to say "Oh thanks for being here, we'll give you a second raise this year" That's money out of their profit. I know people that have threatened to leave because of money and have then gotten a raise to stay.

**txjman** · 03-22-2005, 08:28 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I agree with pretty much everything you said Gakline. Your goal should be to establish your value. You do that by proving you can handle your responsibiilties, and then you request more responsibility on top of that. I would never get to the point where I let people take advantage of me. Hopefully someone will take notice of your work. If not you should have a conversation with them. If you have established your value, a larger income will come in time.

**PRICEPLUS** · 03-22-2005, 06:48 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I liked Suze early on but the message has become redundant with little new info. I agree with gakline's post. I believe Suze was also hawking financing for a particular car company recently. Well. I guess making money is the bottom line. Suze, I am checking your next book out of the library to see if it has any pearls of wisdom. Geez, how ironic is that!

**mjrube94** · 03-23-2005, 07:29 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I echo the others. I used to really like Suze Orman on her CNBC show. But now I find her and her advice to be a little shallow. I don't know if it's because I became more knowledgeable about some of these personal finance things, or she became too much of a pop-culture icon, or both. Anyway, I'll check the book out of the library, but that's about it...

**jmjj215** · 03-23-2005, 09:33 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

She's becoming inconsistent w/ her advice and I think that's what really drives me nuts with her. And the fact that some of her advice is really, really bad (such as carrying a CC balance - in her new book she tries to say what a 'reasonable' amount of CC debt is).

I just can't jive w/ her advice to people. In her new book she also tries to paint the picture that the young generation (I belong to this generation) has had it pretty tough. That's bull. The one thing I worry about w/ my generation is that we aren't learning how to work and sweat for the things we want before we get them.

My two cents.

**orquidea** · 03-24-2005, 10:13 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I have never watched her show except, right after I purchased the book, I recognized her when I was flipping channels and stopped. She had a woman and her adult son on the show. The woman's husband was divorcing her and Suze asked her why her husband was leaving her. Wired question for a financial advisor, I thought. The woman said she didn't know, THEN Suze had the son admit to his mother that the way she handles money makes him sick to his stomach and that could be a reason why his father is leaving her. OUCH. This is coming from a financial advisor? I turned the channel. The book, however, has proven quite useful to me. My husband and I are in our mid-twenties (no kids). We are at a point when we have numerous financial goals and only a vague idea of where to start. The book is good for helping you assess your situation and set priorities. I had a hard time deciding if I should contibute more money to my 401k or put money in a Roth IRA. Try to pay off my (3.25% fixed rate) student loans faster, or put the extra money aside toward a downpayment on a house. The book helps a bit making these types of decisions, even for those of us who do not consider ourselves "broke." You just need to ignore some of the stories and the picture on the cover and stip around to the information you need. If you don't think the advice is right for you, it can be used as a starting point to get more information. Don't buy it for the access code for the online resources. The few extras the site offers aren't very useful and are often links to other sites, such as bankrate.com.

**financialguy** · 08-29-2005, 11:23 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

From what I have read about her and her advice, I find her very misinformed. I'm in the insurance industry and the way she speaks about permanent insurance is a joke. Permanent insurance was the first type of life insurance to be developed.
There is nothing wrong with having Term insurance. But what happens after that 20-year period or any other "term" someone selects. I know, you begin to pay through the nose to maintain that insurance. Many companies provide you with the option to convert the term insurance to permanent insurance for that reason. Permanent insurance can be used to supplement income in retirement. It�s very simple. It can also pay for itself, which Term cannot do. And the premiums are guaranteed to be the same for till you are 100 years old.
She frustrates me to no end.
She mentioned once that you should never buy insurance on a child. This is the worst statement ever. Yes no one wants the death benefit. But that�s not why you are doing it. It is done to guarantee the child�s future insurability. And some companies have amazing riders which if the child becomes disabled the company will pay for the policy until that person is not. And if they are permanently disabled they will pay forever. There are many types of life insurance. One should meet with an agent to have a review. Discuss goals and priorities. Sometimes more than one insurance type is necessary. I have both term and perm along with LTC insurance. And I�m only 27. Oh and LTC insurance should be bought before 50 years of age because from 49yr and 50 yrs there is about a 30% increase in premium costs.

**gakline** · 08-29-2005, 12:09 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

Ok, I just finished reading the book...well skimming. There was really nothing new about it. I had learned the same stuff while searching the internet. It really reminded me of the the "The Idiot's Guide to..." So if you know nothing, go to the library and rent it. If you have half a clue about your FICO, insurance, IRAs, or anything with money, don't even bother.

**jmjj215** · 08-29-2005, 01:52 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

Most pf books are just a 'twist' of all the others. Latte factor comes to mind...

**cercis** · 08-29-2005, 04:20 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I agree that is a bad idea on the job. I know that it isn't people who are studiously working who get noticed in most corporate jobs. In small offices? Yes, if you are actually producing work. If you are working longer hours and not producing anything more than the people working normal hours, it will work against you.

Now in a corporate job, do the long hours, but talk about it as much as you can without sounding too martyrish (fine line). Most managers won't actually assess your job performance (for output). I worked in a job where I didn't put in the overtime, but produced a lot of work, one of my coworkers put in a lot of overtime and produced roughly the same amount of work but was quiet, another coworker put in overtime, talked about it a lot and produced less work than either of us (could be the 2-3 hour lunches) and she was the one they promoted.

I will never work in a corporate environment again. It was too demoralizing. I may not make as much working for a small firm, but the attorneys I work with notice what I do, appreciate it and tell me "good job" a lot. It's worth a lot more than money.

**36Rock** · 08-29-2005, 07:19 PM

Re: Suze Orman new book

Took Suze's advice once.... lowered the insurance on an 86 silverado truck to save money. Liablitly only, well the truck was stolen and we where out 5K. She never mention that risk in the book. Won't ever do that again. Guess I should have know better!

Her world is not my world! I think all her books are the same, first one was good but now they all say the same thing. She is rude and uncaring for most people.

**Tree0164** · 08-31-2005, 03:08 AM

Re: Suze Orman new book

I have skimmed most of her books and just read The Laws of Money The Lesson of Life published back in 2003. Her stuff about emotions and money is good but the pratical advice is way way off base. However I do like her phrase the enemy of financial security is debt and I have borrowed it for my siggy.

She stays get a line of credit on your home, have extra credits available. Now to me that is just the opportunity to have debt around.

I like Dave Ramsey books alot better-cash is king. And maybe I will change my siggy now that I think of it.

Suze Orman new book