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Talk about an audacious title! But Suze (pronounced "Suzie") Orman means business in this anecdote-rich compendium of tips on 401(k)s, marriage, homes, and happiness. The PBS star/financial adviser has made plenty of the mistakes she warns against, like getting a 30-year mortgage instead of a cheaper 15-year, using Visa cards as magic carpets to calamity, and losing $20,000 in borrowed bucks to bum investment advice. Then she became a Merrill Lynch broker and an author capable of selling 10,000 books in 12 minutes on QVC.
Orman's point--in this and her No. 1 bestseller The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom--is that you'd better face fiscal facts and avoid fear, denial, and the self-fulfilling low expectations the novelist William Wharton called "the Poverty Mind." America is a nation of check-bouncing, late-fee-incurring, guilty bad planners. How long will it take to pay off that $3,000 Visa bill with minimum payments? Thirty years, you poor, dear fool! What would you gain if you bought stocks instead of your daily latte for 30 years? $165,152! Her book might've been titled The Courage Not to Be a Self-Sabotaging Neurotic.
Orman is the Andrew Weil of money health--she yearns to enrich your life emotionally, too. If you can't stand discussions of the psychological origins of fiscal decisions, or self-help lingo like "money is attracted to people who are strong and powerful, respectful of it, and open to receiving it," you'll want a more nuts-and-bolts adviser. If you want pep talk, true tales of woe and makeovers, and a jolt of a true pop culture phenomenon, Suze is for you. --Tim Appelo
From Library Journal
Having shown us The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, Orman now explains how we can achieve both financial and spiritual well-being simultaneously.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New Yorker, Nancy Franklin
Orman keeps reiterating the credo "People first, then money," but her guidelines are more about "clearing the way" for money to flow into your life than about encouraging life to flow into your life. She would say that the two are intimately connected, and she puts forth a strong case. Of course, every case Orman makes is a strong case--that's her talent. She's so happy being at the wheel that it's no wonder so many people want to climb aboard and go for a ride.
From AudioFile
Calling on her experience as a financial planner and spiritual pilgrim, Orman explains many avenues to wealth, such as budgeting, credit, savings and investments. Topics not necessarily equated with prosperity are also discussed, like organizational skills and family-of-origin issues. This reviewer enjoyed every minute because of Orman's unmistakable Midwestern accent. She's clearly reading a script, and so are the half-dozen actors who dramatize the personal stories sprinkled throughout. This is a useful vehicle with which to organize your thoughts about the various kinds of wealth. A.G.H. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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