In our opinion, all financial gurus are not created equally. That’s why we were pleasantly surprised to see Suze Orman on The Breakfast Club morning show.

We used to watch her show religiously when it was on the air because she always gave great advice to the people that would call in.

Here’s what she had to say to the Breakfast Club crew:

Women & Money

She just released a new revision of her book called “Women & Money” and I really liked some of the things she talked about in regards to this topic:

She mentioned how women aren’t always involved in the finances as much as they should be. In our household, this is definitely not the case, but I’m sure you’ve heard stories of how this typically plays out.

Women are usually the most likely to take a back seat and let the man handle the finances, which leaves them completely in the dark. If something tragic happens to their partner, they suddenly take the reigns but have no idea what to do or where to find the passwords. This leaves them stranded right in the middle of sh*t creek without a paddle.

As if that wasn’t enough, our society is also set up to reinforce this idea that women should feel the need to nurture and take care of everyone. Even when they have nothing for themselves…

Suze said, “…they say yes out of fear of what people will say about them instead of no out of love for themselves...” I thought this was so important because you see women talk about spending their last dime on their kids, their parent, their friend, some special cause, etc etc.

They wear that fact as a badge of honor without considering the full picture. I agree with Suze wholeheartedly, you should never feel like you HAVE to help others if it’s going to come at the expense of your OWN life and well being.

We All Start Somewhere

During the interview, Suze gave the rundown of her personal story:

• She was a waitress for 7 years until the age of 29
• A few customers invested $50,000 into her dream of opening a restaurant
• She invested the money with a broker and lost ALL OF IT in 3 months
• She became a broker herself, sued Merrill Lynch and repaid her investors with the settlement
• The rest, as they say, is history! (Read her full biography)

This was such a clear reminder that, even though she’s a multi-millionaire now, she had very humble beginnings and got a late start in life. Her story reinforces the fact that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone else because we honestly have no idea what it took for them to get to the level they’re currently at.

When you listen to the things she’s been through it helps you understand where her advice comes from. She speaks from experience because she has actually walked the walk and demonstrated the power of frugality, investing and being smart with your money.

It helps us all see that you can literally start from anywhere, but if you make the right choices, you can dramatically change the trajectory of your life.

Get Your Sh*t Together

During the interview, she listed off a few things people need to do in order to get their financial lives in order:

• Pay off your debt and save an 8-month emergency fund
• Invest in your 401k (especially if they match – invest even if you don’t have anything saved because it’s free money)
• Prepare for the worst by completing all of your important paperwork: wills & trusts, medical directives, estate plans, etc.
• You should have some amount of life insurance in place. Term life insurance policies are your best bet because you can get the cheapest coverage sufficient enough to cover you until you have enough money saved/invested to self-insure.

These aren’t the only steps you need to take but they are a great place to start for sure. (Our “Basics series” is also a great starting place!)

Never Forget Where You Come From

Dannie often struggles with the problem of thinking that she is “still” broke, even though she isn’t anymore. Even though this is the case, thinking that way is actually a good thing in some instances because it helps her continue to maintain a frugal lifestyle, even when she has the money to live differently (if she wanted).

Suze mentions in the interview how her early life still shapes the way she views things today. When you start making big changes in your financial life, you will have times where you have flashbacks of your previous life. Those flashbacks can either hold you back or help propel you forward.

“Everyone will tell you that I believe I’m still a waitress. When you’ve lived the life that I’ve lived you don’t take that out of you.” – Suze Orman

No matter how much success or freedom you achieve, never forget where you started.

Let the past serve as a reminder that will help you succeed in the future.

The American Dream Is Dead

Forget about a family, a new car and the house with a picket fence. Suze says that the American dream, as many people have known it, is dead.

The new dream for most Americans is to simply make it through each day.

Many people just want to survive, and that is a sad thing to realize…

We want to thrive and we think everyone else should have the opportunity to do so as well.

We changed our financial lives so that we could move beyond a mindset of survival and into a mindset focused on becoming wealthy and flourishing from the hard work we’ve put in.

“There is a highway into poverty but there’s not even a sidewalk out…” – Suze Orman

Truthfully, we can all be rescued from the poverty cycle, but it involves a complete mindset shift.

She said that people honestly believe that they’ll never be able to retire, raise their credit scores, own a home or reach any type of financial freedom in this lifetime without winning the lottery or receiving some type of inheritance.

That belief definitely holds many people hostage to lives where payday loans are desirable, overdraft charges are expected and crippling debt is just a normal part of life.

Well, we say: “F*ck that!”

We want to see people chase the dream that allows them to take control of their money, build wealth and live the lives they deserve.

Relationships & Money

Suze talked about how one of the leading causes of divorce in America is arguments over money. I loved the fact that the interview delved into this particular subject because it’s something people don’t talk about very often.

This typically stems from the fact that, in our society, money is viewed as a taboo subject that isn’t meant to be discussed. Avoiding the discussion doesn’t make the issues disappear though, and people wind up in relationships where money becomes a problem very early on.

Because, whether you talk about it or not, your relationship with money will find it’s way of showing up in your personal relationship.

I say this because, like most people, Dannie and I didn’t discuss our finances very much before we got married. By the time we realized how bad our financial situation was, we had a huge mess to clean up. Discussing these things in depth beforehand would have helped us avoid this.

“FICO first, then sex.” – Suze Orman

Suze said everyone should be having conversations about money with their partners very early in the relationship. You need to know as much about your partner financially as you know about them intimately.

Suze Wants You To Retire (Kind Of) Smart

It’s becoming apparent that people are living much longer than they used to and they are also working a lot longer as well. Suze says that she believes people should work until they are 70 before they retire in order to maximize their social security withdrawals.

There might be some validity to that argument, but…

WE DON’T WANT TO WORK UNTIL WE’RE 70!

Dannie and I are working towards achieving FIRE (financial independence / retired early). We’re going to achieve this by living well below our means, investing intelligently and increasing our income by any means possible. Suze would probably yell at us for wanting to pursue this goal though.

Recently, she claimed that she absolutely HATES the FIRE movement. She passionately defended this opinion on Paula Pant’s Afford Anything podcast. Not long after that interview, she explained that her view of the FIRE movement was extremely misguided due to some faulty information that was shared with her…

Either way, personal finance is personal so you have to work towards your own goals regardless of what any financial guru says you need to do (more thoughts on this point).

Self-Worth = Net Worth

Perhaps the most important thing she said in the whole interview was the fact that your self-worth is your net worth. Most of us don’t like to admit the fact that our financial lives are often a direct reflection of how we feel about ourselves.

“You have to know who you are before you can create what you deserve to have.” – Suze Orman

Listen, we have all made mistakes so don’t punish yourself for anything that has happened in the past. Start making adjustments to make your future a little brighter.

She said that fear, shame and anger are all internal obstacles to wealth. You have to remove them from your life and remember that you are never a victim to your circumstances. You have the power to change them.

***

We found Suze Orman relatively early on in our financial journey so it was nice to see her interview on the Breakfast Club because that means she got to share some great advice with their diverse audience.

We know a lot of people still haven’t watched the interview yet, so we wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect. You can watch the full interview in the video linked below.

Enjoy!

$tay Wealthy Friends,

— DJ