Suze Orman ticks me off (funds, average, children, get)

[John23]

How about educating kids in school about finance, so they don't have to rely on the suze ormans of the world so much.

How about preventing financial suicide? Most math and finance taught in school is far too generalized for real life scenarios. Its one thing to bubble in on an answer sheet....30% on credit cards is bad. Or rent vs buy. Or, pay this card down first. Its another thing to actually be doing it.

I think they should teach running through different scenarios in school, so you actually know what it feels like. Make filling out a mortgage application part of the highschool graduation requirement. Things like that. Everyone should have a base amount of financial literacy coming out of school.

Some of these terms like amortization can scare people to death. Demystifying some of these terms would be good. I bet a modicum of experience at 16-18 would lessen some of the mistakes people make at 30-35. Let kids juggle 3 or 4 credit cards at a time.

The inquisitive one would ask....why am I juggling 3 or 4 at a time? That's too much! Let them do that before they get into 5 or 8 when they're 29.

There's a big difference between renting and owning in this country. When you rent, you never own it. You have to ask each month, can I have this? You can do that for 12 months, 3 years, 5 years, 15 years. Owning means you can rent it out. Which would you rather have?

Kristen Wiig is funny on snl as orman.


YouTube - Hot - Saturday Night Live - The Suze Orman Show (Season 36 Ep 03) Jane Lynch

[jasper12]

I hate Suze too! I thought I was the only one...I bought into her, "Buy, Buy, Buy BS"...great...thanks. My own fault...I thought she was smarter than me...I was sort of on the fence about it...but she kept saying it was smart...and I thought she must know something...this was 7 years ago...

[mathjak107]

if your looking for a soothsayer who can predict whats next your chasing a ghost. no such thing.

never lisiten to anyone predicting anything.,not bill gross,not meridith whitney or your great uncle.

what you can listen to is solid advice about the here and now . setting up a will, planning a diversified portfolio, handling debt etc.

economics are always changing as we pass through different parts of the market cycles. the stars are the next losers and the losers become stars eventually. there is no one thing to do ever.

everything you do has consequences at one part of a cycle that is different from another part.

[skaternum]

Originally Posted by jasper12

I hate Suze too! I thought I was the only one...I bought into her, "Buy, Buy, Buy BS"...great...thanks. My own fault...I thought she was smarter than me...I was sort of on the fence about it...but she kept saying it was smart...and I thought she must know something...this was 7 years ago...

So what happened? You bought a house ... and ... ???

[Avalon08]

if your refering to me ,im left handed and type with 1 finger... i have learned to type so fast with the 1 finger that its really a pain to get to the shift key tucked away on that lower right side since i cant use the main one on the left.

I wasn't referring specifically to you -- there are others here who don't capitalize either -- but your posts are usually long, and I find them very difficult to read. It's ashame, because you're obviously intelligent and knowledgeable about the topic, but the lack of punctuation, spelling and "grammar" (not "grammer") at first glance make your posts (or anyone's posts) look like they were written by an illiterate. I don't like having to work that hard to decipher the message, when I'm trying to quickly catch up on pages of new posts. But I'm just a newbie here (on this particular thread), so I suppose most other folks don't have a problem with it.

[Avalon08]

Not to pretend that I'm some sort of financial genius, but the thing I like about the Suze Orman show is that the people who call in always make me feel better about myself.

That's exactly how I feel! I love when people say they have $4,000 in credit card debt and a $300K mortgage, etc. At least I'm in better financial shape than THAT person! However, then there are the callers who have $500K in their 401k's and $300K in liquid savings at, you know, age 37....that brings me right back down to Earth.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

Her latest advice is "rent, don't buy". Real estate is not a good investment, she says. That's great....after people went out and bought homes based on earlier advice that renting was throwing money away. .

If that is the same episode that I'm thinking of, then that advice was targeted at people who were probably enticed into home ownership during the whole scandal scam that never belonged in that position in the first place. And she was trying to sway them away from this...because believe it or not (shocking to me), there are still plenty of people out there who are taking nearly 100% loans and making stupid decisions like that with no reserve cash to their name.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by John23

How about educating kids in school about finance, so they don't have to rely on the suze ormans of the world so much.

I don't think you can teach common sense and self-restraint. And I think those are generally the seeds of the problem. It's not that people don't know better. They just can't resist having what they want when they want it.

I agree we should arm people better with knowledge so they don't rely on some skeevy third source...but keep in mind how many people really DO know better and will find anyone they can in the financial sector to make them feel good about their bad decisions. Case in point - those skanky mortgage lenders that helped us on our merry way to the housing fallout.

[Jellybean50]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler

I am a firm believer in paying off the mortgage. I had an adjustable rate, I paid extra every month on principle, then when the rate changes it is on a lower principle, thus now you can pay even more. before you know it, it is done. I own a co-op and have not had a mortgage in years. My savings account has also thanked me.......so this method worked for me.
i would never rent, it is throwing your money out the window.

It would be throwing your money out the window for YOU. But what about someone who cant afford to constantly be fixing up everything that (always) goes wrong with houses and all the things connected with them? That part isnt throwing the money away, but unless you sell the house while you are alive - or get a reverse mortgage whn youre 62 - you dont really 'get' anything from the house, right? Plus you have to pay Homeowners insurance, and usually a large amount of property tax (depending on where you live, of course).

I'm really asking becuz i dont know what to do at this time - and i have a couple of threads around about it.

I'm 52, on Social Security Disability, and get a small disability pension. My house is paid off. I want to move to a different state, and i'm trying to decide whether to buy a single family home or a condo, or to rent. If i rent, i can invest the money i sell my house for - but i think i have to pay a lot of tax on it, no??

I really dont think buying a house is for everyone. The recent problems have brought that to light... many young people think the main thing is to own a house, and they dont realize all the other bills and responsibilites that go with it. I would just say to someone who's buying - put a lot of thought and maturity into your purchase. Make sure every cent you have doesnt go into the downpayment, that's for sure.

As for Suze - most people cant afford financial advice, so she's really capitalized on that.

[mathjak107]

the only part i like is can i afford it.

you can't fix stupid and some of these folks are just plain ole idiotic with their pending purchases vs their financial health..