Suze Orman opinions

[Nords]

Hmmm, I have a 24 year old D and a nearly useless 22 year old SIL, it's not that I have capitulated. It's the simple fact that ANYTHING I say is automatically wrong, possibly right if corroborated by independent associates, and it's just totally amazing I've lived so long without getting hit by a bus or starving to death because I'm too stupid to care for myself much less them.

When they have kids of their own you'll be amazed at how much smarter you've become.

Or else you can confess to them that they're right, and which one of them should you move in with?

 

[teejayevans]

Question: How many times was the money affiliated with the 401k loan taxed?
Answer: Twice.

No, the money is only taxed when you take it out, when you borrow it, it's not
taxed and you a return the same untaxed money. Taxed once.

What is taxed is the interest:
you pay $100 in interest, that money is from after tax earnings, taxed once.
When you remove the $100 later in life, it gets taxed again.
Tom

 

[mathjak107]

yes the interest is taxed 2x. however if you took a bank loan instead the interest is paid with after tax earnings to someone else. the interest on a 401k is paid to yourself. you dont get any gains on the funds you sold off to take the loan but the interest goes to you. at least in our plan . the interest will also be compounding tax deferred over time so it should pretty much be a wash

 

[jazz4cash]

yes the key is your income is taxed regardless of whether you take the loan or not. its irrelevant. you are merely replacing back the pretax money you took out . your tax bill dosnt change at all .. whatever it is before the loan it is after the loan.

I agree with mathjak 100% that double taxation bit is nonsense and this is also my major gripe about Suze. What really kicks me on the subject of 401k loans is the fact that the real cost of the loan is rarely discussed. I hear folks say the interest rate is low and they think its a cheap loan, but the REAL COST is the lost opportunity cost of not having the loan proceeds invested. So if you MUST take a loan, it's best to take the funds from a MM (fixed rate) allocation of your account......unless you KNOW the equity or bond allocation is going to tank! I fault Suze and others that say "never take a loan" rather than addressing some pros and cons. I think many folks are more comfortable contributing if they know it is available for emergencies, but I agree it is a last resort and it's usually better to use OPM, unless you can't get a reasonable interest rate.

 

[teejayevans]

I fault Suze and others that say "never take a loan" rather than addressing some pros and cons. I think many folks are more comfortable contributing if they know it is available for emergencies, but I agree it is a last resort and it's usually better to use OPM, unless you can't get a reasonable interest rate.

I think Suzie is just dumbing down the answer which will be correct for most; don't touch your
retirement savings. If she tried to explain pros and cons she probably would lose half the
audience, and the half that needs the advice the most.
Tom

 

[jazz4cash]

I think Suzie is just dumbing down the answer which will be correct for most; don't touch your
retirement savings. If she tried to explain pros and cons she probably would lose half the
audience, and the half that needs the advice the most.
Tom

yeahbut, that always make me curious as to who listens to the weekend programming on CNBC.......the callers certainly don't seem to fit the demographic of the weekday market programs (Cramer excepted). I guess you're correct about dumbing down, but I immediately reject (almost) any advice prefaced by "always" or "never", usually!

 

[mathjak107]

normally id agree with you about her playing down touching retirement savings except in the same breath shes promoting roths and emphasizing the fact you can hit it after 5 years.

for the group of people her show is geared for the last thing i would do is give them retirement money thats easy to spend. if these people cant make do on their full 100% income than they cant make do on 90% of the income either so they might as well save it

 

[NinjaPigeon]

Anyone else notice a scary similarity here?

Anyway, I agree with the idea that she is very helpful for beginners. I do not believe all of what she says, but for basic concepts, she is useful. But I'm also not as experienced or knowledgeable as the rest of you guys. I'm thankfully beyond the point where I believe the trash that comes out of Kiyosaki's mouth though.

 

[mickeyd]

Few folks here seem to like Suze, but there surely are a lot of opinions about her aren't there?. This is probably why she hangs onto her program on Saturday night at CNBC. Even if you love to watch a train wreck, you may tune in for that reason alone.

 

[jazz4cash]

Alf.............EXACTLY what I was thinking (even the same hairdo)!!!

 

[Nords]

Anyone else notice a scary similarity here?

%^&*ing coffee on the %^&*ing monitor... that's a scary sight at high bandwidth!!

 

[martyb]

Well............I think she's HOTTT!!! Hillary C. too!!! Did I mention I'm having trouble with these new glasses?

 

[frayne]

Yea baby

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Yea baby

You sure about that?

 

[mmg2681]

I am watching a new episode this morning of the show. This part of the show is the "Can I afford it?" portion.
A woman is 29 y/o - wants a $32K car. Makes over $3k/mo.
Has $1600CC debt, $1700 in savings, and $2k in 401k.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?
2K in retirement?
Where do these people come from?
Of course, Suze denied this one.

BUT - I dont really agree with the one she approved.
Woman and husband (mid-50's) want to buy a $350,000 home they would use for 6 months out of the year.

They make $6k/month take home
They have debt from a HELOC, and something else for their home.
They have some credit card debt.
They have $6K CC Debt
12K Savings
And about 250K in two retirement accounts.

They plan on using money from one of the retirement accounts as down payment on the home. Suze APPROVED this purchase.

I dont agree at all.
Not much in savings.
Not much in retirement (considering their age).
Assuming they will have a mortgage for the next 30 years, they would be in their mid 80's.

Am I the only one that feels that was not the right thing to approve?
Or am I just too conservative?

~M

 

[DRiP Guy]

"Mmmmmmmmm, Alf..."

 

[Martha]

I am watching a new episode this morning of the show. This part of the show is the "Can I afford it?" portion.
A woman is 29 y/o - wants a $32K car. Makes over $3k/mo.
Has $1600CC debt, $1700 in savings, and $2k in 401k.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?
2K in retirement?
Where do these people come from?
Of course, Suze denied this one.

Well the 29 year old is a lot better off than when I was 29. DH and I had nothing in any retirement accounts and had a substantial negative net worth due to student loans. But yes, we never would have bought an expensive new car and we bought cheap used.

BUT - I dont really agree with the one she approved.
Woman and husband (mid-50's) want to buy a $350,000 home they would use for 6 months out of the year.

They make $6k/month take home
They have debt from a HELOC, and something else for their home.
They have some credit card debt.
They have $6K CC Debt
12K Savings
And about 250K in two retirement accounts.

They plan on using money from one of the retirement accounts as down payment on the home. Suze APPROVED this purchase.

I dont agree at all.
Not much in savings.
Not much in retirement (considering their age).
Assuming they will have a mortgage for the next 30 years, they would be in their mid 80's.

Am I the only one that feels that was not the right thing to approve?
Or am I just too conservative?

~M

Odd she thought this one was fine. Bad idea. If they had to live somewhere else six months a year they would be better off renting.

 

[bssc]

The few times that I have seen Suze, her advice to the women who called in (and who she called girlfriend) was to dump their husband/boyfriend since their financial trouble was the male's fault.

 

[frayne]

The few times that I have seen Suze, her advice to the women who called in (and who she called girlfriend) was to dump their husband/boyfriend since their financial trouble was the male's fault.

Guess I don't see that as all that bad of advice. I have more than a few friends that are kept broke by their current SOs. And a few that have bit the bullet and dumped them as well.

 

[getoutearly]

I especially like the way she pronounces "Shouldn't", as "shunt"...

 

[rs0460a]

If it hasen't yet been noted, she worked as a waitress at the Buttercup Bakery in Berkeley, California from 1973-80. I'm sure that's where she learned about the "common folk ". See:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838016/

- Ron

 

[Empty Pockets]

I don't watch her regularly, but it seems like she likes to shift blame to other people "your partner should be doing more".

 

[Moemg]

I have to admit I do watch Suze Orman but I hate how she calls everybody girlfriend.
Plus her answer for everything is "Dump Him".

 

[FinanceDude]

I have to admit I do watch Suze Orman but I hate how she calls everybody girlfriend.
Plus her answer for everything is "Dump Him".

Even to hetero men

 

[honobob]

Even to hetero men

Hertero men don't call SO Gay guys either I think.