Suze Orman Fan Club Blog Community

Suze Orman’s Valentine’s Wish from February 2009 includes her thoughts on gay marriage and the disappointment of legislation in Florida and California against gay marriage.

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Suze Orman has given advice on almost every financial situation that you could imagine. One thing recently that I was particularly interested in is what Suze Orman calls her Action Pledge for 2009. In a given month Suze Orman wants everyone to take her pledge that says: “Do not spend money for one day. Do not use your credit card for one week. Do not eat out at a restaurant for one month.”

Obviously this had a huge impact on chef’s all across America especially in these days of recession. Suze Orman’s pledge doesn’t take into account the effect it would have on the food industry if everyone chose to eat at home for one whole month.

Restaurants, and the many people and businesses that supply them with their food, are already under threat and financial crises. Many restaurants are being forced to close due to bankruptcy. Although Suze Orman believes that her pledge will lead many to financial freedom chef’s across America are outraged.

I believe that Suze Orman has a valid point although instead of choosing to not eat in a restaurant for one whole month, spend according to your budget. If that means you can only afford to eat out once a month then so be it, but if you can afford to safely eat out more than once a month then enjoy. Maybe you could consider only eating out in less expensive diner’s that belong to struggling communities. That way you’d be saving money and helping out at the same time.

There are a large number of restaurants that do not serve wholesome food instead of using these types of restaurants use one that serves high quality food. Think healthy and purchase what’s good for our bodies, our taste buds, and our money.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

Suze Orman is a financial expert, if you have problems with finances then Suze Orman is definitely the person to seek advice from. Suze Orman would be a great friend to have espescially in financial crises.

Suze Orman has written seven New York Times Bestsellers in a row:

Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan
Women & Money
The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
The Courage to Be Rich
The Road to Wealth
The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke

It is definitely worth investing in Suze Orman’s books as you will learn how to save money rather than spend it. If you want to watch Suze Orman on television she hosts “The Suze Orman Show” on Saturdays on CNBC. As well as writing many wonderful books and appearing on several television shows, Suze Orman is a two-time Emmy Award winner.

She won two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2006 for her PBS pledge drive specials, The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life and The Money Show for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke, she is the winner of more Gracie awards than any other recipient, 2007 top female motivational speaker by Business Week, 2008 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine and contributing editor to O, The Oprah Magazine and The Costco Connection.All in all Suze Orman is miles ahead of the rest when it comes to financial advise and in this day and age we need more Suze Orman’s. I’d advise anyone to take a leaf out of Suze Orman’s book.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

During the “Make Your Life Better TODAY” series, Suze Orman shared good advice about hot to cope with five specific situations in your life that you could be facing. During this post I will summarise the advice that Suze Orman gave about saving for your child’s future.

If you are a parent saving for your child’s education you might find it a real worry or anxiety. Parent’s base their lives around children and saving for their education can be very important. You might have to make the decision whether or not you can afford to save for your child’s education.

With mortgages rising in price many parent’s are finding it difficult to contribute to their retirement savings and have no money for emergencies. Many families are finding that they have to put their own needs before their children’s.

September will soon be here and college education can run to as much as $35,000 a year. Although it is better to save sooner rather than later you need to take into consideration if you can afford to save. You can take out a 529 savings plan which is sometimes the solution for many parent’s. Your own state will probably run a 529 savings plan. With a 539 plan your money is invested either in a contract that promises to pay for at least part of the future tuition costs for your child (this is called a prepaid tuition plan) or in a combination of stock and bond mutual funds (this is called a college savings plan). Either way, the value of your investment grows tax-free until withdrawn. In the years when withdrawals are used to pay for college costs, the growth is taxed to the student, not to you.

Paying for your child’s education is an investment that you need to start saving for. If a family starts saving $100 a month and their child is in middle school by the time they are ready for college you could have $11,000. If you have continuously saved for your child’s education by the time they are ready for college you will find this money extremely helpful.

If you put your child’s education savings on autopilot the money will come out as an automatic deduction from your earnings. You might also like to look at financial aid options, but all the time you need to be realistic about what you can afford.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

After some crappy vacations I learned from some mistakes and I want to share my wisdom.

1) What is Cheap, it can become Expensive: Be aware of shady promotions on the net, they will offer everything you want and it won’t come cheap at the end.

2) Bring your own medicines. Some medicines can be expensive depending on the country you are visiting and some others are sold by prescription even if in your home country they aren’t sold that way.

3) Investigate the socio-political environment of the country you are going to visit: Simple as it sounds, if you want to avoid an incident of bigger proportions you better stay away.

4) Know the places where you can buy your memorabilia or things, it is better to avoid buying something bootlegged that will turn to be more expensive in the end and a big disappointment

5) If you are traveling with babies, always be prepared and bring extra formula just in case, as well diapers. Also research with your pediatrician about how to make the experience more comfortable to your child while flying.

Visit Gustavo R. LeQuerica’s The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica Today.com’s Pop Culturist.

Imagine you were just about to get married. You’d want everything perfect wouldn’t you? An ideal marriage, in an ideal venue with the ideal man or woman. Well… If you are not careful your wedding day could be the cause of your divorce.

That’s right, Suze Orman has been saying for a long time that it’s about how much money you can afford. Yet, if you spend too much money and go into debt then it could quickly spiral out of control.

Although in an ideal world that marriage you always dreamed of is a day worth spending more on. It is only one day in your life and if your marriage is to last a lifetime then the money you spend on your marriage day needs to be within your budget.

I hate to put a downer on things, but if you carry on spending more than you can afford sooner or later you will find yourself in a financial mess. That’s why Suze Orman’s advice is always worth listening to.

Suze Orman would advise that although your marriage is a special day you need to stop and think about whether you can really afford all the money you are thinking of spending on it. After taking a reality check and looking at the world of recession we now live in you might decide that what you were going to spend is out of your price range. That doesn’t mean you have to become like Scrooge or stop spending all together. It just means that you need to be careful and think about how you are going to spend your money before you spend it. Maybe you could choose one special treat that you always wanted to do on your wedding day and budget around that. So, instead of inviting all the distant relatives you only invite close friends and family. Or instead of going to Jamaica for your honeymoon you go to Spain instead. It is all about making smart decisions. You don’t have to lose out, you just have to think wisely. You could actually have more luxuries if you took the time to juggle the expensive treats around a little. Instead of getting a marriage planner you do it yourself. Or instead of that expensive photographer you give out disposable camera’s and ask family and friends to take photo’s instead.

The number one reason for divorce is fights about money. Yet this could be so easily avoided if couple’s just stopped and planned their finances better. So many couples go into marriage with rose tinted spectacles on thinking their money is going to last if they keep spending more than they can afford. It seems ironic that the number one reason for divorce is fights about money when most people spend more than they ever will do on that one day of getting married. Your marriage could actually cause your divorce if you are not careful. Following simple steps that Suze Orman suggests could mean that you enjoy a very special wedding day and a long, prosperous marriage.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

Getting into debt is a horrible feeling where you feel like you are not making any progress. It can be stressful and soul destroying. Many people spend too much at Christmas time and as a result have to pay for it afterwards. It is easy to over spend at Christmas time especially if you have children who demand that you buy them a particular toy. After Christmas you are left with debt piling up and the letter’s start dropping through the letter box. What is the answer?

Well, fortunately Suze Orman has some great advice that can help keep you out of debt if you apply it to your life. A woman wrote to Suze Orman saying that she owed $20,000 on her credit cards, $165,000 mortgage, car payments and a home equity loan and lives life to the fullest. The lady who is struggling to pay off debts manages to take her kids to all the best water parks, museums, the YMCA and Disneyland frequently. The lady is of the belief that being in the red doesn’t matter and carries on overspending.

Whilst debt in itself isn’t bad explains Suze Orman to this lady. It is the manner in how you cope with it that’s important. Although on the surface it looks like this lady cares about her kids if she ignores the debt and carries on spending the way she is then her kids will eventually suffer the consequences.

Whilst this might seem harsh, if you over spend at Christmas and carry on getting into debt then your children will suffer eventually. As Suze Orman explained to the lady if she cares about her kids then she also has to care about how she spends her money. The example this lady is teaching her kids is wrong as they will think that money doesn’t matter and that over spending is all right.

Orman makes the point that this mother will not be able to afford her children’s education and will probably rely on her children in later life when she has no retirement money. It makes sense then that over spending is wrong and looked upon as bad debt versus good debt.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

This is going to be a short review. I want to say that the book is really good, but it doesn’t reflect reality at all of personal economies, it can give an idea if you don’t know about home economies but overall is not the best book about personal finances. If I have to recommend a book about personal finances, I don’t think I would recommend any because they all can give an idea but not the complete truth as home economies varies from people to people.

Visit Gustavo R. LeQuerica’s The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica Today.com’s Pop Culturist.

This is not a joke, but is rather a short article. If you want create a great New Years Eve but you don’t have the money and you don’t know how to cook well, my advice is simple, go to Wal-Mart, Dollar Store (or Tree) and Publix and you can find great items at a really low price.

The first thing you need to consider is food, buy frozen food; is easy to prepare, really easy to serve and no one will know that you didn’t make it if you throw away the boxes where the food came. Second entertainment, chairs and decoration, go to Wal-Mart and you will find a lot of good old music CDS, but buy instrumental that is an instant win with your guests. Third accommodation and ornaments, but I don’t have the money… go to Dollar Store there you can find a lot of things if you have patience.

And with this simple advice you can have a budget New Years Eve celebration.

[For a moment, I, Beth, will put on the hat of an actor. I’ll play Scrooge, to be exact, in honor of the holiday season.]

Scrooge here, Ebenezer. I’ve been asked to talk to you today about that Orman woman, you know, the one that thinks that generosity is essential to gaining wealth.

Bah, humbug, I say.  Where does she get her proof for this idea?  It sounds nicey, nicey, but is it really? This Orman lady says that you have to get rid of the money in your hands to get some back.  Now that just makes no sense at all.  Everyone should be able to take care of themselves.  And keeping your money close to you is one way to do that.

I like that guy, Kyosaki, who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  Like the way he thinks. But he’s another one that thinks like that Orman, that generosity leads to riches.

Don’t get me wrong: that woman Orman is right on when it comes to planning your estate. Very smart, she is.  She knows about getting out of debt and saving, too.  Very smart.  But this generosity issue, I just don’t know how she can be so off  of the mark.  She bears no facts, no statistics, no evidence beyond coincidental anecdotes.  And why couldn’t she just take time off of making millions on that squawkbox and get the research done! Put the money where her mouth is, that’s what I say!

Having money troubles? she says.  Give it away by the bucketfulls, she advises.  Now what kind of sense is that, I ask you?  And where’s the evidence behind it to make it so?  Is she just trying to make herself sound good?

Well, I’ll go now. I feel a breeze, and methinks I hear a fell sound of chains.  Bah, humbug to Orman and all who think like her.

[Beth here.  That was jolly fun.  Though I agree with Suze Orman that we need to be generous, I feel it for a different purpose.  Generosity bestows our better nature upon ourselves. It lifts us up to be more human, to be the kind of people we need to be.  Sometimes money really isn’t as important as all of that.  So from our home to all of yours this holiday season, here’s to you and your families.  May the Scrooge in you find redemption for the new year, and all good things in your life shine.]

Beth writes daily at her WearManyHats blog.