Oprah's Best Life w/ Suze Orman
Did you watch Suze Orman on Oprah? I did! She did have a few good ideas but most of the advice was not worth the time.
Here is my 2 cents:
Paying for college- There was a couple who lost half their kid's college savings in the stock market. Suze's advice was to roll the funds that are left to the older child and then have their younger son take out a subsized loan in his name for them to pay back. That was her goal to keep their kids from getting college debt. Hum... Sounds like she pretty effectively put the younger one deeply in debt. Batting .500, Suze.
Pay minimum or not on cards- Well, I'm not sure what she wanted you to do because at first she said to only pay the minumim while you snow ball on the largest interest rate card. Then she said to help your FICO score to pay MORE then the min. on all your cards. Which one is it?FICO Score- Can you say, worship FICO? What more can I say? But what else would you expect from a personal finance advisor who's in-bed with FICO and busy peddling her 'fix yer FICO' kit. Maybe She's a tad confused about what is really important.
Credit Cards- She told a lady with issues with over spending to NOT close any of her 21 credit cards because it will effect her FICO score negatively. I just wonder what would be worse, her maxing them out again, someone stealing her inactive card numbers, or a few less opened unused credit lines? Nothing says 'out of touch' like enabling an adict, Suze.
5 Step Financial Action Plan- How many steps? The five steps where five different action plans. I personally was confused by all the different disjointed plans she talked about. That is scary since I'm one of the few people who actually has their financial act together.
I always try to listen with an open mind. Not all of Suze Orman's advise was bad. She did have a few good tidbits.
Here they are:
- Pay off credit cards
- Emergancy savings of 8 monthes
- Don't hide money or debt from spouse and make the plan together
- Suze's 2009 Action Plan Pledge -Don't spend money for one day, don't use your credit card for one week, and don't eat at a restaurant for one month
- Don't panic when the market goes down
- Keep investing in your 401k and IRAs
- Don't use the stock market for your short term investments (5 yrs or less)
Overview: The bad advise was very damaging and the good advise is just common sense that people like Dave Ramsey has been teaching for years. In good times and bad. I think that the important thing to always remember is that sound advise is valid in both good times and bad. If someone changes their advise it might be time to look for other opinions.
What did you think of Suze's advice?
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