If You Knew Suze Like We Know Suze
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If You Knew Suze Like We Know Suze
You wouldn’t listen to her advice.
Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 10:56am
"Tell me what I need to know," people often say to me. "Here is what you need to know," I answer.
—Suze Orman, The Road to Wealth
How a bottle-blond former waitress and self-described "55-year-old virgin" with a taste for the good life became the financial messiah for millions of Americans might be a fun Lifetime original movie. Why the masses continue to invest their faith in Suze Orman in the wake of a financial meltdown she never saw coming is a more timely question. The answer is complicated.
If you've managed to avoid Orman over the past decade, you don't watch Oprah, CNBC, or PBS, and you've probably never entered an airport bookstore, where her toothy, cougarlike visage graces the covers of numerous best-sellers, the latest of which, 2009 Action Plan, has more than 1 million copies in print and has, according to her publisher, been downloaded 2.2 million times at www.suzeorman.com. There, you might also be convinced to open an Orman-sponsored TD Ameritrade brokerage account or buy one of the products that she also sells on QVC, including: the Suze Orman FICO Kit Platinum Version w/Action Planner ($47.70); the Suze Orman Identity Theft Protection Kit w/Anti-Spyware ($39.78); and Suze Orman's Organize and Protect Financial System ($66 plus S&H; Easy Pay! Installment plan available).
Orman is that most modern breed of capitalists, the human-industry, self-mythologizing. "Suze has a unique grasp of the role money plays in our lives, as well as the gift of timing: she tells us exactly what we need to know, precisely when we need to know it." So, at least, claims the jacket copy of one of her books. She addresses her fans either as "my friends" (learned from John McCain, perhaps?) or as "girlfriend." Although she published a comprehensive—and very useful—guide to personal finance in 2001, her first two best-sellers focused on the "emotional roadblocks" to financial freedom. Suze has a lot to say about emotional roadblocks, among other things: "Falling in love is simple—or so it often seems in retrospect"; "Tears are God's way of forgiving you"; "You will never achieve a sense of power over your life until you have power over your money"; and "The stock market is like a pot of soup."
She has less patience for statistics. Although study after study has shown that personal bankruptcies are caused primarily by catastrophic events like divorce, job loss, and, above all, medical bills and that most of us are struggling with a gap between our income growth and the soaring cost of necessities like housing, Suze tends toward psychological causes that invariably blame the victim. 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.
But it is not Suze's hypocrisy or even her intellectual laziness that really bothers me; no, that would be something Suze "loves" called "dollar cost averaging," which involves buying the same stock over and over again as it falls. "It's a great opportunity for you when the value of the shares drops," claims Suze in the inaptly named The Road to Wealth, "because you can buy shares at ‘bargain' prices and average down your cost per share." Oh, where to begin? Maybe with the obvious: Since when does throwing good money after bad make you rich?
Comments
James is a tap dancer too
Or did you miss the finally of his speech? James Scurlock is the author of Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit, and director of the documentary of the same name. This was just a bloated hook rant designed to sell ad space for earthshare sandwiched between paragraphs of dull white noise.
I have never watched Suze
I have never watched Suze Orman and have no opinion about her. However, the author of this article apparently can't understand the difference between an AVERAGE return of 11% (as is claimed for stocks) and an EVERY YEAR return of >10% (as claimed by Madoff). Anyone who doesn't get the difference has no business writing on financial matters. There are valid arguments to make about dollar cost averaging. However, the argument presented here is "Look - the market is down. That proves that dollar cost averaging is wrong". This is idiotic. James Scurlock, you are embarrassing yourself.
Good Point About Avg Return vs. Annual Return
You correctly note, there's a huge and elemental different between the two. If Mr. Scurlock doesn't know the difference, he shouldn't be writing about financial matters. I am intrigued as to what you view are valid arguments against every day investors using dollar cost averaging.
suze orman
Ok, I get the criticism of the self described gurus. What I don't get are the personal attacks, and more importantly, I see no alternatives to counter the supposed bad advice Orman gives out. The author bashes dollar cost averaging and investing in no load mutual funds. Ok, so what alternatives can the author supply that would be more prudent? As far as missing the financial crisis, there are scant few in the financial industry that were warning people prior to the meltdown. The financial wizards on Wall St. apparently are as feckless and inept as average Americans, didn't bother heeding any warning signs either. Singling Orman out for not seeing the crisis isn't really fair. So, instead of bashing, offer us some real alternatives.
sad
I love people that want to bash others, point out problems, advise the public to not follow the advice of others but then don't offer solutions of their own. I also love people that take things out of context or decide someone's a hypocrite because they do things differently than they advise when they are clearly not part of the demographic they are advising to. Apparently I love James Scurlock! Who knew?! I'm trying to figure out why Suzie Orman, who obviously has accumulated more wealth than most middle american's should follow the advice she gives to middle americans on how to accumulate wealth (she already did it slick)...or how dollar cost averaging is bad in a down market??? I guess i'll be breaking up with my love
Suze
I personally found your article to be right on. As a transcriptionist I am able to hear the "real deals" talking about the economy when they are interviewed and what they have to say sounds nothing at all like Suze. Of course, they're not on the fast track to fame and fortune. They just have Ph.Ds and they teach at colleges and universities. Hmmm, now whom should I believe?
Scurlock trying to get attention
James Scurlock is irresponsible with this article. Instead of challenging the volumes of no-nonsense advice Orman gives to everyday people, Scurlock spends his time comparing the income, activities and investing strategies of this multi-million dollar financial helper with the people she helps. Of course Suze Orman is not going to invest the same way that the average person does. She also does not advise older people, nearing retirement, to just invest in stocks as Scurlock insinuates. What he has ignored is the tremendous value Orman has brought to her audience with responsible financial advice on emergency funds, avoiding credit spending, and importance of a person’s credit score. Scurlock is just stirring the pot to get more views, and I hope MSN and Slate will think twice before posting more baseless garbage like this to their website.
Ad Hominem Attack
I am no fan of Suze and her New Age, feel-good financial advice, long on pop-psychology and short on details or facts. But this whole article made me cringe. It was a ridiculously sexist attack on her hair color, sexuality, "cougar-ness", waitressing past and more. I can only assume that if the author had described a gay financial guru with references to his sexuality, or a black financial guru with references to his skin color or nappy hair, the editor would have recognized these sorts of criticisms as crude, offensive, biased stabs. So how did this ad hominem attack make it to the site? Mr Scurlock, you have some valid points and certainly I'm glad that the media is willing to critically evaluate pop gurus' recommendations. But this article was so sexist that your credibility and any valid points you may have are completely shot.
James Scurlock ?????
What a tool this guy Scurlock is! We are to listen to his personal attacks on Suze? Who is he? Is this the very same James Scurlock that dropped out of college before he received his Finance degree at the Univ of Penn? Not even a single business related college degree and we're to listen to his assessment on a finance advisor? WHAT A POGUE YOU ARE SCURLOCK! Shut the hell up and go back to school where you belong!
Check your facts
I was very dissapointed in this article because it was just plain wrong about what Suze Orman promotes in most cases. I'm not sure exactly how Mr. Scurlock does his research but apparently it is very shoddy. This saddens me as I was planning on watching his documentary soon (I have it in queued at Netflix) and now I am not comfortable doing so because this article has made me believe that his movie is likely similarly poorly done. Are all articles on thebigmoney.com usually this bad (I came here from a link on MSN)? I watch the Suze Orman Show and have done so for years. While I enjoy her I am not a crazy fan girl. She can be grating at times with her overblown energy but her advice is pretty consistent and isn't what was portrayed in this article. Sexist insults aside, the article states: "Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan," has more than 1 million copies in print and has, according to her publisher, been downloaded 2.2 million times from the author's Web site" Wow thats a lot of downloads. A quick fact check that the author didn't bother to do shows that you currently can't download the book from her site. If you wish to purchase it from her site it links to amazon or B&N. So how'd she get 2.2 million downloads? Oh yeah she offered it for free for a week as a download on her website, so almost double the people paid nothing for it than purchased it which put money in her pocket. As a viewer of her show she has also offered for free in the past her will and trust kit and I've seen her tell callers on the show to borrow her books from the library to gain access to web content she thought would be useful. So yes she makes money selling books and financial products but I have certainly not seen signs of massive greed. I'm not sure what expectations the author has for someone who provides financial advice. Are they supposed to never get paid? The author then rants about her addressing psychological reasons for money problems instead of catastrophes like medical bills, divorce, and job loss. While these are certainly big issues (that the queen of the emergency fund often addresses)it seems unfair to suggest that the financial mess our country is in is only the result of these 3 items. I actually suspect that the author and Ms. Orman would be more in agreement than not in there opinions about the greed and mismanagement but financial institutions and government but Suze dares to suggest personal actions for people to take regarding their money. Perhaps Ms. Orman isn't the best person to address psychology and money but I don't see anyone else coming forward to do a better job. The author then rants about how Suze spends her money and complains about her endoring leasing luxary vehicles in a GM ad. I think that as long as she can afford it she or anyone else can spend their money anyway they like. Check out the ad on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGhx5bydBg I certainly did because the authors claim seemed fishy to me as a Suze Orman show viewer who has heard her repeatedly rant against leasing cars. This is an ad for 0% financing on Pontiac cars. Now correct me if I'm wrong but since when is a Pontiac a luxary car and how is getting 0% on a car loan bad financial advice? Sure it would be better to pay cash but realisically most people will need some financing to purchase a car. I am also then not clear exactly what the author's problem with dollar cost averaging is. Maybe he didn't bother to look it up either? I've never seen her advise continuing to invest in bad stock. She repeatedly suggests investing small amounts into a diversified mutual fund often rather that once in a lump sum. What is wrong with this advice? The author then complains about how Suze is investing her own money and indicates she is being disingenuous. Where she has her money was no surprise to me as a viewer as she has often stated exactly this on her show. She even advises others to do the same when they call in asking what to do with larger sums of money that they need to keep safe. I've heard heard over and over again from Suze that income tax free highly rated municipal bonds are a good choice for those who don't need to grow their money. I could continue to go on against this article but this is allready too long and I'm feeling really saddened now as I reread the end of the article. I have not had a lot of exposure to James Scurlock's work but I thought he was someone who advocates for the everyman. I suspect that he and Suze Orman actually are more in agreement than not. I am saddened that instead of being allies he has attempted to turn her into an adversary. Mr. Scurlock may I reccomend for you viewing this clip on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj5CcYSAjq8 and tell me if you still think she is as evil as you suggest. I don't think you know Suze at all.