Suze Orman: The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke: Riverhead Book Publishing (Published 2006)
Written by Suze Orman
Country: USA
Review: 2 Stars – Not Good

How the blurb describes the book:
The New York Times bestselling financial guide aimed squarely at ‘Generation Debt’—and their anxious parents—from the country’s most trusted and dynamic source on money matters.

Are you broke? Broke is paying your rent with a cash advance from your credit card – Broke is getting physically ill when you calculate how long it will take to pay off your student loans – Broke is treating credit card bills like kryptonite, you don’t open them because you’re afraid they will destroy you.

Dose this look like your parents’ money book?

Suze says: ‘You won’t catch me telling you to cut back on the lattes and “simply” save $10 a day. As if saving $3,650 a year when you are broke could ever be simple. Nor will I tell you that credit cards are the devil in plastic (on the contrary, I think they can be good for you), or you must have eight months of living expenses saved up as your emergency reserve fund before you are allowed past GO. I know that’s not realistic or reasonable at this point in your life. Besides, if you didn’t have credit card debt and you already had an eight-month emergency cash fund, why would you have picked up this book? You sure wouldn’t fit my definition of broke’.

You Know What You Need?

You need advice that deals with reality. A set of solutions for the problems you have. You need to be told what to tackle first—and Suze is just the one to tell you. She knows that you’ve been too busy or uninspired to figure out how a Roth IRA works, what a FICO score is, and why you should even care. Not a problem. Every section of this book was written so that you can quickly and easily comprehend exactly what actions you need to take—and why.

And this book directs you to a personalized financial action planner created specifically for readers of this book—a free bonus that over a hundred thousand YF&Bers have already taken advantage of. Simply answer a few questions and Suze will personalize for you (via this program) how to get started.

 You Know What Else You Need?

 You need to believe that you can come within reach of the dreams and goals that are yours to achieve. You need Suze to explain how to start and what to do. Come on, go check out the table of contents. Now.

 
Mr Home Budget’s Review: This book ‘is not your parents’ money book’. Suze seems to write this whenever there is a boring bit in the book. And she is right. My parents’ money book wouldn’t have silly advice like getting a credit card when you are young, using it when you’re a little light and then waiting till you earn good money in your 30’s and 40’s to pay it off. This ludicrous advice makes me lose a lot of confidence right away with the book, but especially with Suze Orman.

If you are unaware, Suze Orman is not big just in the USA. She has a TV show, books and a very hit-worthy website. She is a global financial celebrity. And with her advice to young people—which can be summed up as ‘Yes, you should keep buying things on that nearly maxed out credit card’—it isn’t hard to see why people like her. Suze’s plan makes you feel good about being bad.

Giving a credit card to a teenager or a person in his or her early 20’s and saying ‘Hey, if you are a little light, just whip out the card’ is a recipe for disaster. In fact, if there were a top 40 list for such recipes, this would shoot to number one like a bullet. But what really upsets me is Suze keeps referring to the young people reading the book as ‘Generation Debt’ as if it were a bad thing but then tells them not to feel bad if they reach for their credit card. Weird!

Suze’s justification for getting young people to reach for their credit card is that times have changed. Wages just have not kept up with costs, and even young people who are responsible with money in today’s modern times would find it hard to keep their heads above water. Suze implies that the current generation is on the edge: If you are a part of this young Generation Debt, just try to survive until you hit 40 and make more money. Then you can pay off all of your debt and bills.

Maybe she is correct, and youth wages have not kept up with rising prices. But don’t add fuel the fire, Suze. At no point in the book does she give advice such as ‘Hey, write to your government. Let them know your stories about trying to stay out of the breadline. Put pressure on them to try to find a solution to youths’ problems’. Because if youth are really failing behind with doing everything correct, then this does become a government problem. But because this is not a political website, this ends the talk on that subject.

Some of the more upsetting paragraphs include the following:

‘Credit cards are a great lifeline when you don’t yet make enough money to live on, but only if you are truly committed to using the card solely for necessary expenses, not indulgences’. Come on, Suze. You are giving this advice to young people who are just out of school—people who want to party, go out, get drunk and travel. This is like giving a drunk an open bar but then telling him he can only drink when he is really thirsty. This advice can be dangerous in fully grown, stable, middle-aged adults, let alone younger people.

And this gem: ‘I know passion alone doesn’t pay the bills. If the career that gets your motor running doesn’t bring in enough money during the dues-paying years, I want you to use your credit cards to fill in the gaps’.

Now, I’m all for paying my dues and earning a low wage in a job that I like. However, to suggest I can’t do this without resorting to credit cards is a dangerous notion.

As you can probably tell, this book really ran me up the wrong way. Suze does offer some good advice and ideas on saving money; however, she seems to tell youth to live the life they want now, resort to credit cards when things get tough and pay it all back when they hit their 40’s. It just is not sound advice.

Pros:

The book has some good information on stocks and bonds and how to purchase a house.

Cons:

Suze actually promotes credit cards to young people as a way to pay their bills when they are short on funds.

Suze seems to have given up all hope on what she calls Generation Debt.

Suze talks about posting checks to pay bills—sorry, Suze, but people don’t really do this anymore, and young people do it even less.