Suze Orman: What To Do Now

(CBS)  As for our personal financial goals, we're bombarded with all sorts of advice. Financial advisor Suze Orman tries to cut through the clutter:

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Confusing times, are these not? However, I'm here to tell you they don't have to be.

You can turn your own personal financial situation around. And this is where I would like you to begin: I want you to start looking ahead, not behind.

What do I mean by that?

Stop looking in the rearview mirror. It doesn't matter anymore, people! If your 401(k) is down in value, if your home equity is down, there is nothing you can do about what has happened to you.

Look at what you have and make a decision about what you have right here and right now, so you can take the appropriate action - so you don't see what you still have go down the drain.

So, what should you be doing with the money that you currently have? Or possibly even the money that you don't have?

Let me see if I can help you here. Number one, if you happen to owe money on a credit card, and you don't have an emergency fund, can you continue just to pay the minimum on your credit card debt? Yes, but save for an emergency. 'Cause if you lose your job, chances are they're going to close down your credit cards anyway, and then what are you going to do?

If you happen to be investing in a retirement account and you have at least ten years or longer until you need this money, don't stop investing here. Continue to invest little by little by little. You're not going to outsmart this market. You're not going to be able to time it. So if you just keep going, years from now, you'll be happy that you did.

And if you're one of those lucky ones who happen to own a home and you want to stay in it for the rest of your life and you can afford it, well, guess what? You are far better off paying down the mortgage on your home than really saving all this money in a retirement account to generate enough income for … what? To pay the mortgage on your home?

If you can do those things, if you can just really stick with it here, I'm here to tell you that your future may be one that you love walking into.


For more info:

suzeorman.com

[JMom63]

Thank you CBS for raising awareness of helpful information in actionable and clear steps for viewers. For those cynics out there that claim that her advice is syrupy, they have clearly never watched her.
If more people knew about her advice (and followed it), many more of us would not be in such debt today. She helped me focus and get my financial act together and I have as a result raised my FICO score by nearly 100 points in the past ~year, lowered my mortgage rate dramatically, and feel I have much better control of my finances. All of this progress made in an area of life that can seem overwhelming (and even out-of-control) to many, especially in these economic times. Good advice in areas that are so critical to long term financial stability is much too few and far between.So, glad to see you get the message out there to more people, so we can be stronger overall.
Thank you CBS and Suze Orman!

[RHS001]

JUST A THOUGHT

What is the difference between this country(USA) and Third World Countries? It appears to be 'Credit'. We have moved credit to a high art. And now, we have a credit collapse to deal with. Everyone borrows from the future to get what they want now!

I would like to see more reporting on how we got here and if the heavy Obama government spending is going to turn our economy around. It has been said that we did not get out of the 'Great Depression' until the late 30s when the U.S. government went into heavy spending for the WWII effort. I have not seen a report like that dealing with our current economy.

[JMom63]

Obama responded with spending in specific and intentional areas, based on the Lessons Learned from the Great Depression. The Depression took years to resolve because the stimulus was delayed. Obama took the lesson from that and helped America stave off another Depreseeion. Yes, we now have some debt to contend with, but we need to be clear about who was responsible for the financila crisis, and give credit to the new President who stopped the speeding train from flying off the tracks.

[thelanks]

POOR timing - Literally

Only Sunday Morning would run a Bill Geist segment on how to sluff off at work immediatey after a segment on the worst unemployment figures in recent memory. Geist's segment should have come with a caveat - how to sluff off at your job - if you have one.

LLankford

[lakehouse1843]

Ms. Ormon's segment didn't bother me as much as the piece about looking busy at your job while you are playing a computer game, planning an escape to the beach, setting up your desk to look busy while you are wasting according to their numbers 28% of your time ripping off the company time. We all ring our hands but what happened to an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. To get back on track, everyone has to pull their own weight and not look for free ride on the back of their company or boss. I didn't find any part of it amusing.

[jrcoldinmn]

Am I the only one who sees the irony of following an article on Madoff with a plea by Orman that we shouldn't stop shoveling our savings into the stock market?

John Reed
Minneapolis, MN

[jhatchle]

For a generation Sunday Morning has been, in my experience, the most thoughtful and intelligent program on television. But I was so disappointed this Sunday to see Suze Orman doing commentary on your show. Sunday Morning is no place for her kind of syrupy, cliché-riddled self-help therapy masqurading as financial advice. I miss the days when I could turn on Sunday Morning and get the cutting wit, intelligence and insight of John Leonard. Now I am more likely to see stock tips given with a side of cheesy cheer.

Heath Atchley
South Hadley, Massachusetts

[JMom63]

You have clearly never watched her shows or read her books, or you would know that there is nothing syrupy about her or her information. She has helped many people focus on and improve their financial situations. When you speak about things of which you don't have enough information, that kind of cynicism is cliché.