Orman in Fortune

Nothing like a little Chopin waltz to get the blood moving.

I was reading the latest Fortune magazine tonight, and noticed a profile of Suze Orman, the personal finance guru. I have read one of her books mostly out of curiousity called The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. It wasn’t a bad book. Fairly basic financial advice, though taken best with a grain of salt. Some of the book was straightforward financial material, but there was also the “feel good” section. This was absolute trash. I could see where someone with a more developed philosophy could turn her musings into something substantial, but as presented in that volume, her new age leitmotif was horribly underdeveloped and felt mostly out of place. The book would have been better without that material. But as for the Fortune article, they were a little harsh on her — mostly making fun of her as a person than for her ideas.

If you’re looking for basic books on personal finance, I’d recommend Ric Edelman’s The Truth About Money. There’s a lot of bullshit in the personal finance sector, but if you go down to your local library you may find a wealth of information. Write down some titles and authors and research them online to see what you want to read. I know my local library has stacks upon stacks of books on investing, personal finance, retirement, and so on. I’ve checked out literally dozens of books over the past four or five years to augment my knowledge of financial issues, and personally I think it’s helped me foment my financial philosophy.