If you’ve ever taken advice from Suze Orman (or listened to her at all), then this will have your stomach in knots.
In fact, it’s so vital I’m sharing it with everyone I know.
You see, we place a lot of “stock” in the so-called “experts” and financial celebrities. I mean, they’re on TV right? They must know what they’re doing…
And they do. Unfortunately what they do and what they say are of two opposing philosophies.
In fact, what Suze Orman does with her money couldn’t be farther from what she’s telling you and me.
But it’s not just hear say, this comes from a little known interview with the New York Times, and when I heard it, it was clear to me that even she hates the financial advice she gives.
Now before I expose her personal finances, here is
Suze Orman’s Advice to the “Average” Investor
When times got rough in 2008, she had a guest on her show that surprised me. You can watch the interview here.
This lady, after worrying about losing money in stock market, says,
“I sold everything in January, I couldn’t take it, my stomach was in knots.”
And while the rest of America was beat down a few months later, this woman was sitting pretty. She didn’t lose a dime.
Suze’s Advice to her?
“What I would be doing if I were you,” she says, is get my money back in the market.
In fact, she even follows with this:
“The biggest mistake you will make is if you stop contributing to the stock market”
Advice that, had she followed just a few months back, would have cut her retirement savings in half!
And if you weren’t feeling the pressure to get out of the market, or you leaned on financial experts like Suze, you took a big hit in the market that year.
You see, her advice “sounds” good, which is why it’s good financial entertainment, but it’s wrong.
Keep investing in the market.
Take risk to get higher returns.
And the like.
It’s advice that will keep your money in the market when the stock market has it’s biggest crash yet (which according to economists is soon).
A Snapshot Of Suze Orman’s Personal Finances
Suze’s advice has made her a multi-millionaire.
And as someone interested in how the wealthy manage their money, I found the following not only interesting but quite shocking actually…
Deborah Solomon (interviewer at the New York Times) asked Suze the following two questions:
What do you do with … your money?
Save it and build it in municipal bonds. I buy zero-coupon municipal bonds, and all the bonds I buy are triple-A-rated and insured so that even if the city goes under, I get my money. I take a little lower interest rate to make sure my bonds are 100 percent safe and sound.
For someone encouraging other’s to take risk, she seems to not like it much herself. She’s even taking a lower interest rate to make sure she doesn’t lose a penny.
But the next answer put chills down my spine.
Do you play the stock market at all?
I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don’t personally care.
Crazy right? And she has liquid assets of over $25 million!
But she only invests in the market the money she doesn’t care to lose.
So how are you and I supposed to rely on the stock market with the money we desperately need? The money that, if we lose it, will keep us working longer, or living on far less?
The irony the situation is this:
This interview was conducted just 1 month after her guest appeared on her show. Her and her guest were in the exact same situation:
No money at risk.
And while she encouraged her guest to dive head first back into the market, Suze wouldn’t risk more than 4% of her money.
What This Means For You
They say “actions speak louder than words.”
And with Suze Orman, actions speak volumes.
Suze Orman is brilliant in managing her own money, but horrible at giving advice.
Which is why you should be reconsidering how seriously you take her and other “run of the mill” advice. It’s seems to be opposite what they actually do…
But you tell me? Do you agree with Suze’s advice? Or do you find more value in what she actually does?
