suze orman says....

mystang52 said:
I gotta confess...I watched her show last night. This time, as supposed proof of her wisdom regarding retirement age she brought forth: a woman who had no business retiring at age 52. It wasn't her age that was the problem - this woman simply didn't have the assets to do so. She lived in San Francisco (which no doubt is high expense area), still had a mortgage, and had a whopping $200,000 in retirement funds. No wonder that 3 years later she was in serious financial trouble.
But it certainly wasn't a good example for Suze to use. Guess I'll start watching more movies....
Click to expand...

I saw this - bizarre - she burned through $200k of funds and amassed $250k in debt.

She apparently got a law degree while retired (assuming on borrowed funds). She did not pass first attempt at bar exam, and was not sure if she'd try again.
 
The financial advicie that one can receive by just reading the E-R forum posts is so much better than Suze or Dave or anyone else on the tube.

There are 129 post so far on this thread and we already know the correct answer. Don't we?
 
mystang52 said:
I gotta confess...I watched her show last night. This time, as supposed proof of her wisdom regarding retirement age she brought forth: a woman who had no business retiring at age 52. It wasn't her age that was the problem - this woman simply didn't have the assets to do so. She lived in San Francisco (which no doubt is high expense area), still had a mortgage, and had a whopping $200,000 in retirement funds. No wonder that 3 years later she was in serious financial trouble.
But it certainly wasn't a good example for Suze to use. Guess I'll start watching more movies....
Click to expand...

I watched that same program, and wondered at the sanity of someone retiring at 52 with a mortgage and $200K in retirement funds. Then, she said she went to law school on evidently borrowed funds (good grief). If I remember correctly she said she hadn't tried the bar again because she was so "burned out".
 
I have seen her once or twice.

Like most of what I see on television it seemed to me that there was a good deal of sizzle but not enough steak.

I agree, this is about entertainment and self awareness more than it is about finance. She reminded me of one of those send in your money for some trashy trinket televison evangalists (or just send in your money)...then I turned off the sound (try it sometimes and just watch the presenter's body language/style) and she reminded me even more of one of those people.
 
Like all financial advisory shows, one has to separate the wheat from the chaff - and for those on this forum, to discern what applies to us versus the average person who calls into her show.

I always find it distressing to talk to people who have little or no knowledge of their finances, much less how to manage or optimize their returns. Many of them are only concerned about the amount of the monthly payment, as opposed to the total amount they wind up paying ( mostly for cars and homes ).

Some even refuse to contribute to their 401K despite matching funds from their employer, saying that they needed the money now, not later. :facepalm:

Oh yes, Suze's shows are for those struggling with debt and insufficient income, little or no ability to manage whatever they have, compounded with a Living Above Your Means lifestyle ( LAYM ).
 
bubba said:
I watched that same program, and wondered at the sanity of someone retiring at 52 with a mortgage and $200K in retirement funds. Then, she said she went to law school on evidently borrowed funds (good grief). If I remember correctly she said she hadn't tried the bar again because she was so "burned out".
Click to expand...

I watched the show this morning as I recorded it last night. I was going to comment on this genius who retired at 52 with a whopping $200k but I see it's already being discussed. Well now we know just who Snoozey is speaking to when she whines on about not retiring until 67 or 70! Maybe her advice on that is spot on... for people like this woman anyway! :facepalm:
 
veremchuka said:
I watched the show this morning as I recorded it last night. I was going to comment on this genius who retired at 52 with a whopping $200k but I see it's already being discussed. Well now we know just who Snoozey is speaking to when she whines on about not retiring until 67 or 70! Maybe her advice on that is spot on... for people like this woman anyway! :facepalm:
Click to expand...
Maybe she thought her $30k annual pension plus her savings (plus, is she getting any retiree health insurance benefits?) would be enough to see her through, at least until any future SS benefits kick in to supplement her $2500 monthly pension. She is "burned out" after all.
 
I am not sure why there seems to be some animosity against Suze Orman on this board. Her explanations are clear to people (like me) who are not investment / finance experts.
 
obgyn65 said:
I am not sure why there seems to be some animosity against Suze Orman on this board. Her explanations are clear to people (like me) who are not investment / finance experts.
Click to expand...

It's probably because she advocates against early retirement - which is why I think we are all here. She'd have me working for another 14-17 years, and that is not appetizing to me.
 
As others have mentioned, Suze Orman's basic advice might serve a purpose for some people. But my impression of her is that she is way too full of herself. I reignited this thread not so much to criticze the woman who retired, and shouldn't have. Rather, this woman was Suze's supposed example of why people need to work until age 67 before retiring. Orman gave no explanation, no qualifying comments, etc.
 
I was perplexed why she decided to use this woman as "an example to us all" like we are children. Of course "she" made a mistake by retiring when she did. Anybody with any bit of commone sense could have known this. She didn't really retire early..she simply quit her job because she hated it so bad. She had no plan or pray of making it on the assets she had.

As others have mentioned, the points to argue with Suze would be the 3 or 4 other couples I have watched call in with well over a million in assets and no debt, pensions, etc.. that she told to keep working.
 
rescueme said:
She is not the only one who suggests you "work till you drop", at age 70.
Click to expand...
An interesting sidelight is that if Suze Orman retires, nobody will care nor pay her any further attention.

She's not just doing what she loves. She has so much of herself wrapped up in it that I think she's trapped. Good thing that she has enough money and motivation to keep her prison cell looking so pretty.
 
Didn't see the episode.

$200,000 is more money than most people have ever had access to. A large number of them might believe that $200K is a fortune that will last forever, and maybe, just maybe the point of this was to say that $200K is not really that much. I dunno.

The consensus here seems to be that Suze is not worthy of anybody's attention. I am not agreeing or disagreeing, but it is interesting that the topic has had 141 posts already.

She has gotten your attention, whether you realize it or not.
 
I don't watch, Suze, I prefer to keep the IQ points I currently have. She is condescending and arrogant and there are enough folks like her on the Internet and TV already. Since she is FI already why is SHE WORKING?? :)
 
It was obviously foolish for this lady to quit working with just $200K in her pocket (so to speak) living in San Francisco, but it sounded like she went through a very bad breakup and that's when she quit. (Maybe it was an office romance that went south?) She was getting a pension, but she had a part time job to supplement the pension, but then, she lost her P/T job. Anyway, like some of you say here, if she had a P/T job, she didn't really retire. The way she went through close to 400K in 3 years (can't remember exactly, but I think sha had a debt of like $260K and only $60K left out of the 200K) makes me think she just lost her mind (or maybe law school cost that much). The breakup can do a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so it's hard to say.

I am not that financially savvy, so Suze doesn't really bother me, except of course when she talks about not retiring until 67/70 yrs old. (She always compares how much money you would have if you worked until you are 67/70. I feel like saying to her "you would have even more money if you worked until you were 85! 95! 100!!" I don't see anybody that old (67) working in our company. Maybe the oldest is like 62 or 63, if that.)

One thing I like about her show is I can get to snoop into people's financial lives, like how much people make and they spend and how much they have saved in savings, retirement, etc. These are not things my friends/acquentances/I would share with one another.

Is there any other show that lets me have a view into other people's finance?
 
tmm99 said:
Is there any other show that lets me have a view into other people's finance?
Click to expand...

One could say this forum is kind of a financial show, I have seen many people post private financial and personal matters on here! :blush:
 
FinanceDude said:
One could say this forum is kind of a financial show, I have seen many people post private financial and personal matters on here! :blush:
Click to expand...
Right, but this forum is not an average slice of America in the slightest. :cool:
 
Rustward said:
The consensus here seems to be that Suze is not worthy of anybody's attention. I am not agreeing or disagreeing, but it is interesting that the topic has had 141 posts already.

She has gotten your attention, whether you realize it or not.
Click to expand...
Hey, isn't that the drill here? To go on for a very long time in great detail about something that we are sure is useless and boring?

Beats something that might be useful, but unfortunately might also require thought and an open mind and perhaps even action.

Ha
 
Rustward said:
Didn't see the episode.

$200,000 is more money than most people have ever had access to. A large number of them might believe that $200K is a fortune that will last forever, and maybe, just maybe the point of this was to say that $200K is not really that much. I dunno.

The consensus here seems to be that Suze is not worthy of anybody's attention. I am not agreeing or disagreeing, but it is interesting that the topic has had 141 posts already.

She has gotten your attention, whether you realize it or not.
Click to expand...


You are right that $200K is a lot of money to the vast majority of people... but even with a little math you can pretty much determine that it is not enough to retire at 52 without some other source of income...

Say that you expenses are in the $70K range... you have 3 years of expenses..

If you were closer to median at $50K you only have 4 years...

Say you lived on $30K.... that still is only 7 years of expenses.... what do you do until you get to SS (which probably is not $30K)....

And none of this takes inflation into account...


Edit to add: Lots of people get my attention... the question is was it worth the time or effort (for both them and me)... I saw Billy Mays (or whatever his name was).... you could not forget his screaming etc... but I also turned him off as soon as I could....

I see Suze quoted on various shows and news segments... I see her on some public TV shows... but I do not watch her or care what she says... if either of these two got a cent from me it has to be from a source I can not control... I have never spent money on either of them.... however, they both wasted my time....
 
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tmm99 said:
Is there any other show that lets me have a view into other people's finance?
Click to expand...


I have only seen maybe 20 minutes in total of two shows, but there is one called Till Debt do us Part (or something similar)... on one of the cable channels...

The lady seemed to use the cash only and a jar system... simple...
 
Texas Proud said:
Say that you expenses are in the $70K range... you have 3 years of expenses..

If you were closer to median at $50K you only have 4 years...

Say you lived on $30K.... that still is only 7 years of expenses.... what do you do until you get to SS (which probably is not $30K)....
....
Click to expand...

Simple math for most who frequent this forum. Not so simple for some others -- sad to say.

Texas Proud said:
I have only seen maybe 20 minutes in total of two shows, but there is one called Till Debt do us Part (or something similar)... on one of the cable channels...

The lady seemed to use the cash only and a jar system... simple...
Click to expand...

I have seen a few episodes of 'Till Debt Do Us Part, and most of the people featured cannot do that simple math -- at least not before they were featured on the show.

Edit to add: Not to go off on a tangent, but I was told by a phone caller that I won a new GE Security System professionally installed for free. The catch is that you have to sign up for the monitoring service "for only about a dollar a day". Did some quick math and told the girl what it would cost me over some arbitrary number of years. After a little silence she sounded a little "wowed" and said "I never thought of it like that!". Goes to show they are out there.
 
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