Suze Orman Fan Club Blog Community

While running around the Suze related videos, I came across a meeting between Suze and the crew for Fast Money.  What an interesting mix of body language going on between Orman and the people behind the Fast Money desk!

This encounter was broadcast on January 12, 2009, and the Fast Money crew was polite, but obviously on a different playing field.  They looked seriously uncomfortable, as though they had welcomed her on the show under duress.  No amount of noodling about Taco Bell could break the obvious freeze between those behind the desk and Suze up front.  Suze admitted that she had disagreements with them in the past, but emphasized that dollar cost averaging is the way to go.  She even pointed out that many times brokers themselves could not pay their own mortgages, and gestured to the man seated on the left, as if he were the example such a broker.

So who is right?  Fast Money, which obviously advocates specific, targeted investments that turn over after they are profitable?  Or is it the dollar cost averaging?

Consider it from Warren Buffet’s point of view.  He doesn’t dollar cost average, but he does buy and hold, and hold, and hold.  Orman knows that not everyone has Buffet’s pocketbook, so that leaves putting money into a retirement account as it is possible.  Therefore dollar cost averaging is appropriate.

For people who like to follow the market, invest in stocks, and then take profits,  Orman’s comment about the stock broker who can’t pay the bills is not fair any more. For one thing, she was brokering at a time before trading online swept away the world. That’s not to say there aren’t brokers and a place for good brokers. But brokers today are no longer the same as they were when Orman began.

Likewise, the folks on Fast Money should know that sometimes slow and steady gets to the gate first.  Repeated infusions of cash into a portfolio will build a portfolio substantially.  It would be curious to see how many portfolios of the Fast Money team had the kind of returns last year that all of us would envy.  And obviously Orman doesn’t even have to worry about money at all.

Visit Beth Rose’s Wear Many Hats for a different perspective for the informed investor.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS