Thread: Suze Orman. Genius or clown?

I read somewhere that she doesn't practice what she preaches. She manages her money different that how she advises everyone else to manage theirs. I don't know why that would be the case if she was truly giving people sound financial advice, but perhaps she is getting some kind of kick backs for promoting a certain banking/investment service. I wouldn't put it past anyone these days. I'll try and find the article and post a link. I also heard the same thing about Robert kiyosaki. I tend to find all those major seminar types with products to sell to be full of it.

I personally have trouble getting to her "message" just because something about her (style, voice, tone, I am not sure what) I find grating. As far as style goes I like Dave Ramsey. However I am not sure either one of them is in "get rich" arena, I think they both are more focused on the "get out of debt" arena.

She seems to be a very intelligent articulate individual with a lot of great practical advice for the average American with major credit card debt and living above there income.

Not sure how business savvy she is ….but defiantly some great advice…

My two cents worth

We're not her target market.

Her target market is the lower to middle class.
The folks struggling with debt and making mortgage payments and putting food on the table.

I think her advice for that demographic is pretty darn good.
However, I'm not that demographic.

My opinion can be taken with a grain of salt.

Suze Orman, David Bach and others like them do have a place for their advice.
Maybe not for those of us that are a part of fastlanetomillions. Suze and David
are more for the average overly indebted American/Canadian that are near or at
the end of their ropes to get them back onto a fiscally responsible path. Credit
has become so plentiful and easy to get and the average person has fallen into
it's trap at least once in their lifetime. The average person won't do what's necessary
to move up the financial ladder. They're content to stay where they are, they
want to be average. To answer your question "Genius or clown?" it depends who
you are. For most of us here her teachings/lectures/books won't help us get to
where we want to go. For anyone who wants to get back on solid ground after
going through a financial nightmare she will help them achieve that.

Regardless of what you think of Robert Kiyosaki, his books make sense. It's well
known that if you want to be rich you either have to inherit it, marry it or create
it i.e. build a business or investments. For most of us, we have to create it
usually a business whether a bricks and mortar business, a real estate business,
or an internet business. Some can create wealth paper trading in it's various forms.

KC

KC and other Cdns...

Pls do NOT use David Bach's advice when it comes to specific strategies.
I went to hear the man speak
and it was obvious that he had NO understanding of the Cdn retirement system
(I believe he thinks an RRSP is the same as a 401K).
Half his advice was outright wrong.

He may have "translated" his books into Cdn
but something was definitely lost in that translation.

You have to look at the question on two levels:

Advice: Genious or clown- not either, it is just common sense.

What she has created with her advice: genious

At the risk of doing a thread hijack with another topic.... First of all, I agree different people - different goals - different advice.

BUT under no circumstances, do I think anyone should ever teach victimization to their audience. "Oh, it's not your fault, it's those bad loan officers who never should have put you in that loan." BS!!! SO has really been jumping on that band wagon lately - railing against the loan companies and the loan officers.

I think that belief (it's someone else's fault) is the single biggest reason why people can't be rich and empowered. They kinof think they are victims inititially and they then have a guru tell them it's not their fault...so they get to go away feeling all justified that it's not their fault. They've been taught that they are victims (as validated by someone they look up to) so they have something to complain about when they hang out their buddies. They never get rich, but at least they have someone else to blame. (So, I guess it does depend on your goals after all.)

You MUST take responsibility for your actions, even if the lesson learned is "don't trust a salesman who is a little too slick" You're still the person who hired him. If you don't believe you have control over your life, actions and consequences, then you are just like the guys who numb themselves to the life they have...no point in trying to change, you have no control (they think).

I think most of the people on the forum know who I am and my history, so I'm not just namedropping when I say I have known both Robert Kiyosaki and David Bach for years. I haven't followed David so much publicly, but I know privately he's a big one on personal accountability and is highly ethical. Robert is the same - but I know he also preaches accountability BIG TIME in his seminars. And sometimes does it in way that's difficult to hear way.

I also know Suze (not personally, just from the seminar circuit) and I know she does NOT preach or believe in accountability to the same degree. In fact, lately, she seems to really be railing against the loan companies for bad loans with NO responsibility given to the people who signed and guaranteed the "liar loan" information (ie, the homeowner).

Hijack over...soap box put away for use another time...

Moved thread to Off Topic Discussion.

I personally do not agree with what she preaches, or as Kimberland says, I am not her audience. I don't feel good bashing her either. Thank God for the remote control, so when I see her on a channel I just change it to something else, and problem solved.

Diane, very good input about this topic. In general "Do as I say, not as I Do" and "You are a poor victim, they abused you" are not policies I tend to agree with (unless I want to feel like the victim and have the perfect excuse for my incapability and lack of success, wink, wink).

Suzie Orman ... genius or clown?

How about a hypocrite?

Suzie Orman is a classic example of what is wrong with the financial gurus and I will flat out call her a hypocrite as well as David Bach.

How do you think Suzie Orman got rich? By her own advice? By her 401K? By investing in stocks? No. No. and No. Ms. Orman got rich writing books after she was a very successful stock broker. You see, its pretty easy to "Get Rich" when you're earning $100K/mo and have the ability to save most of it. However, these "gurus" go out and tell everyone to save 10% of their paycheck when they are earning $40K/year. They tell everyone to "Stock your 401Ks!" and "Cut Your Credit Cards Up!" ... Their advice is pure slowlane garbage that will become quite handy if you intend to "Be Smart And Die Rich" like one of Mr. Bach's book.


The hypocrisy is this: These people are "Getting Rich in the Fastlane by Selling the Slowlane".

I was told that David Bach was your typical middle class financial planner -- that is -- until he started selling books. Now he's loaded. Again, "Sell the Slowlane ... Get Rich in the Fastlane".

They're all hypocrites ... none of them practice what they preach. Their wealth is a product of the fastlane; not the slowlane concepts they preach.

ok, putting aside the victim mentality which I disagree with as well, and overlooking the fact that her voice makes blood spurt from my ears, I do not consider her a hypocrit, unless she is telling them that they can be like her by following these steps.

Her audience by and large are unable to fastlane. She is not taking them to vast wealth, but to financial stability and a chance at being 'rich'. Billy bob with two teeth and 3 wifebeaters does not have the mental faculties to become fastlane.

If you check out the bono videos in my passion thread, at some point Bono referrences his gift is music that God gave him to do. I have a friend who wakes up in the morning and goes to work for a plumbing company. He is completely fulfilled, the puzzle piece has found its fit, this is his gift.

I guess a better way to sum it up is, if a person cannot manage their own life, i.e. working retail, living in mobil home, etc. I highly doubt they have the ability to manage any sort of fastlane project. However, they may be able to get to the point of being debt free, or retiring comfortably, or not having their mobile home reposessed.

MJ, I agree with your analysis of what technique they are using. However, there is a place for these gurus.

I agree with the fact that we are not the target audience.

Before deciding to move toward financial independence, all the goals that I could see were around being able to retire at some point. I used my 401K and purchased some stocks. Living within the income was difficult and required an occasional rebalancing.

The entire world changed at some point. None of that seemed relevant anymore. Once the wheels were in motion and passive income/net worth were being generated, the other items around financial security faded into the past.

The article I read stated something similar to what PhxMJ posted. She tells people to invest a certain percent of their funds into a market or service to gain wealth and financial freedom but it turns out that she doesn't have any of her own money invested in them nor did she gain her wealth through any of her investment strategies, which is what she leads people to think and is the reason most people put faith in her word.

Does anyone else think she looks like she could be the love child of Tony Snow and Anne Coulter...LOL

Does anyone else think she looks like she could be the love child of Tony Snow and Anne Coulter...LOL

Nope. I just don't see it.

-Russ H.

Well, OK, maybe . . .

.

Originally Posted by PhxMJ

These people are "Getting Rich in the Fastlane by Selling the Slowlane".

Oh, but MJ, there's a lot of money in poverty.

Originally Posted by PhxMJ

How about a hypocrite?

Suzie Orman is a classic example of what is wrong with the financial gurus and I will flat out call her a hypocrite as well as David Bach.

How do you think Suzie Orman got rich? By her own advice? By her 401K? By investing in stocks? No. No. and No. Ms. Orman got rich writing books after she was a very successful stock broker. You see, its pretty easy to "Get Rich" when you're earning $100K/mo and have the ability to save most of it. However, these "gurus" go out and tell everyone to save 10% of their paycheck when they are earning $40K/year. They tell everyone to "Stock your 401Ks!" and "Cut Your Credit Cards Up!" ... Their advice is pure slowlane garbage that will become quite handy if you intend to "Be Smart And Die Rich" like one of Mr. Bach's book.


The hypocrisy is this: These people are "Getting Rich in the Fastlane by Selling the Slowlane".

I was told that David Bach was your typical middle class financial planner -- that is -- until he started selling books. Now he's loaded. Again, "Sell the Slowlane ... Get Rich in the Fastlane".

They're all hypocrites ... none of them practice what they preach. Their wealth is a product of the fastlane; not the slowlane concepts they preach.

Not saying I disagree, but is it really bad to become wealthy by giving people middle-class financial advice to become financially secure? If that's the case, she's just providing a service, and becoming wealthy from it.

Now if she is telling people that the method to WEALTH is to "save, invest, etc..." meanwhile she is doing it the fastlane way, well that is different.

The thing is the majority of people out there aren't the types to start a business to become wealthy or whatnot, some don't even seem to want to, they just want financial security. If she is just telling people how to become financially secure and becoming wealthy from it, I think that's okay.

But as said above, if she's claiming wealth creation via those methods, that's wrong.

I don't know a whole lot about her, I always assumed she was one of those financial gurus who became wealthy by giving middle-class folk slowlane advice for financial security and getting out of debt, not on how to become wealthy.

I disagree very much with her blaming the loan companies and the like. People should take responsibility.

Originally Posted by WheelsRCool

Not saying I disagree, but is it really bad to become wealthy by giving people middle-class financial advice to become financially secure? If that's the case, she's just providing a service, and becoming wealthy from it.

Now if she is telling people that the method to WEALTH is to "save, invest, etc..." meanwhile she is doing it the fastlane way, well that is different.

The thing is the majority of people out there aren't the types to start a business to become wealthy or whatnot, some don't even seem to want to, they just want financial security. If she is just telling people how to become financially secure and becoming wealthy from it, I think that's okay.

I completely agree with this...

I remember when I was in college, and I signed up to play on an Intramural soccer team. All the other players used to play in high school, and I was probably the only one that hadn't ever played competitively. And I remember the team captain used to get us together several days a week to perform drill after drill after drill.

I quit the team and joined another team. On this other team, the team captain was just as good a soccer player as the first team captain, but he didn't push us so hard with the drills (most of the players weren't very good); we just spent a bunch of time playing and having fun. We didn't win any trophies (which sucked) but we had fun (which was ultimately my goal).

Should we conclude that the first team captain was better than the second? Or that the second was a fraud? Of course not. Both team captains knew their team's skill level, goals, and reasons for being there, and coached based on that.

Suze Orman is no different; she recognizes that most of the people out there don't have the drive, talent, or energy to become independently wealthy, but that they very much would like financial freedom. So, she strives to give them that.

In fact, Suze Orman has gotten rich because she recognizes the needs and desires of her customers, and she satisfies those needs very successfully.

If anything, we should congratulate that...as that's what being a good business-person is all about...