The Problem with Suze Orman

If you happen to turn on MSNBC every now and then or have gone down to your local bookstore, chances are you've seen her television show, her radio show, or on the cover of one of her books. She bills her self as an "internationally acclaimed personal finance expert," which many people regard her as. She has certainly found quite a bit of fame in teaching people how to handle money, but what about the advice she offers, is it worth following? Let's have a look.

Most of the advice that Suze Orman is rather basic, almost too basic in some cases. Forbes made an excellent criticism of one of her books, "Buy her book for $23 ... and you get such tips as : 'Use self-service gas pumps rather than full-serve.' Or, 'Use coins, not your calling card, in pay phones.' On a recent Oprah, Orman advised viewers to search through their closets for misplaced money." Let's face it, most of what Orman teaches is extremely common knowledge, you'd have to be living under a rock to not know some of the advice that she offers. Perhaps she is just meeting the needs of her audience, which seems to be people who are very uninformed in the areas of finance, but let's face it, finance is a very complex issue and there's just more too it than the advice that Orman gives.