Suze Orman Vs. Liz Pulliam Weston - Who’s Right?
May 4th, 2009 @ 5:41 PM by Alden Smith
You have to love Suze Orman. For some unknown reason, this former waitress has become the financial Messiah for a lot of people. Her current book “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan,” has one million copies in print, and has allegedly been downloaded 2.2 million times from her website. These figures are impressive, but I have to ask myself just exactly what her credentials are.
It’s pretty obvious that Suze has a taste for the good life. We’re talking about a woman that spends half a million a year chartering private jets, and did some commercial work for GM. Her advice? Lease a luxury car - the kind that people drive to impress other people. She claims this is a terrific financial decision. Her comment was “If you ask me, that’s smart money!” Please! What’s with that?
I’m of the opinion that MSN Money isn’t too bad of an authority on things such as stock market and investing over all. I use their site a great deal for research. According to them, Orman claims to be in love with the stock market. MSN reports her as saying “Stocks, in my opinion, are the best investment vehicle for the growth of your money over time.” MSN goes on further to say, however, that less than 3% of her net worth is invested in stock. So where’s her money? It seems that Orman has socked it away into insured, government-backed bonds. Do we smell a little hypocrisy here?
Although I have no desire to get in the middle of a catfight, I read tonight on MSN an editorial by Liz Pulliam Weston. In her editorial, she brings Orman to task for saying that she had advised her fans to start paying only the minimum amount on credit cards, and stash the money into savings. Orman is a big fan of the eight-month emergency money plan, and her thought s are that it is wiser to keep building that fund, and not worry about credit card debt. She isn’t alone with this advice, either. But you have to ask yourself this - if people are in trouble with their credit cards, then they surely have no savings, and paying the minimum payment on your credit card makes you look like a loser to lenders. Also, credit card companies are tightening up credit, and making some big changes to terms of services and interest rates. Pay them the minimum, and you get dinged by the good people at FICO. Consider the credit card interest you will pay over time.
We all know what a cancer credit card debt is. The sad fact is that many people are right now living day to day off their credit cards, and are merely holding on by a thread. To take the advice of someone like Orman seems to me to be very bad advice, indeed. I think it best to listen to someone like Warren Buffet, who talks the talk, and walks the walk. What do YOU think?
- Posted in Credit Card Debt
- Permalink
- 2 Comments »
• Madeleine Albright sold bras at a department store
• Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Computer Corp., washed dishes at a Chinese restaurant
• Sidney Kimmel, founder and chairman of Jones Apparel Group, was a shipping clerk
• Madonna worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts
I’m not saying I now have to believe every word that Orman (or anyone) writes, I’m just saying that dissing someone because they started low is a weak argument.
Excellent article. It is a true disservice to the public to have someone who is basically telling you the opposite of what you are supposed to do. Buy a luxary car? Pay the min on your credit cards? If there was two things that you should stay away from those are it.