[.ca] The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (ISBN 630523423X)

From Amazon.com:
Suze Orman's seminar-format video offers a financial pep talk to accompany her book of the same title. Though a good deal of her nine steps are nothing new or revolutionary--plan for the future, cut your credit-card debt, organize your estate, respect money, and take charge of your own money--she makes a few noteworthy points. Using psychology to flush out attitudes about money, she asks the members of her audience to think about their earliest memories of money and how it shapes their relationship with it now. She recognizes the feelings of shame and guilt associated with money and tells us to get over it--that these feelings are the very ones that paralyze our path to financial freedom. Her basic formula of financial freedom seems difficult to achieve since it requires us to factor in self-esteem, organization, dedication, and feelings of entitlement. She also feels strongly that "stating your goal will make it happen, no matter how impossible it seems," which is reminiscent of the psychology behind the "Little Engine That Could"--a bit simplistic when it comes to the complicated but still accessible world of finances. Orman's target audience is both one that needs a financial pep talk and one that isn't necessarily well versed in financial jargon. A person of any age can find something useful in her helpful, if urgent-sounding, reminders. She uses some statistical scare tactics--such as mentioning that one in three people over the age of 65 will end up in a nursing home, so you'd better get long-term care insurance--to drive her points home but then buffers them with an "everything happens for the best" and "your self-worth is more important than your net worth"-type philosophy. Orman ends the lecture with an enlightening question-and-answer session that elaborates on points not covered by her speech, such as how to find a good financial planner and the differences between retirement funds. Those looking for a specific formula to financial freedom may have to look elsewhere, as Suze Orman's philosophy is that we ourselves can and should be our own best financial advisors since we know ourselves better than any financial writer or planner ever could. --Gilia Angell

Useful bits:
I found this book to be sowewhat educational with a some good ideas here and there. With books like this, I try the philosophy "absorb what is useful". Some things are very helpful and some are just conceit in my opinion. I wouldn't pay too much for it, but every little bit of simple info helps.

Too much feeling, not enough analysis!:
On the whole this how-to book will I think help many readers start taking control of their finances, but I deduct one star because in the end her guidance puts too much of a burden on the reader's feelings. On page 236 Suze writes that you will make money if you follow your "instinctual response" (she also calls it the little voice inside you and the voice of god). But how do we know that her "kiss-of-death" clients at Merrill Lynch who always lost money were not making their decisions instinctually? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that some people sometimes have an instinct for losing money? (perhaps they do not hear the voice of god properly). I think it is wrong for Ms. Orman to leave these "kiss-of-death" clients with their instincts and feelings. (I think it would be wrong for Ms. Orman to assume their decisions were based on nervousness etc. just because they lost money.) She could have helped by asking them to surpress their instincts and feelings about when to buy and sell and told them to follow the lead of her other clients who made money (I assume almost all the time, because she says it was not a matter of luck for them), because they had the right "spirit", "attitude", and "instinct" for investment. Or she should have at least told them to give up trying to time the market and put their money into indexed mutual funds. Ms. Orman could have turned losers into winners. I don't think that that would have been above and beyond the call of duty for a full service stock broker. This book would have been more valuable if she had told us more about her successful clients. How did they develop the right "attitude", "spirit", and "instinct"? Are they basing their buy and sell decisions on feelings, gut instincts, etc., or is there also a lot of analysis of data involved? Also, I think it is misleading for her to write that it is not a matter of luck to make money for those people that have the correct instinctual response. Most people would agree that Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet have good instincts for making money but both of them have lost money because at times they had bad luck or their good instincts failed them. Suze ignores the element of luck in her book at the peril of her readers. An investor with the best instincts who just bought before 9/11 would have made a big mistake, and a "kiss-of-death" investor who, by chance, for whatever reason, sold on that day would be by luck a winner. The element of chance (luck) makes the real world more uncertain in the end than the one Ms. Orman portrays. Just because you make a decision that reflects your instinctual response it will not always be the right answer for you because the element of luck has a much bigger role to play than Ms. Orman thinks. Feeling good about things won't make them necessarily so. Having good instincts is good, but you have to be lucky sometimes.

Outstanding book Suze:
The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom is OUTSTANDING in presentation and content. Suze is indeed the Queen of personal finance and the most widely read financial author today. In addition to this great book, I also recommend More Wealth Without Risk and Financial Self Defense by Charles Givens. Two books that gives even more OUTSTANDING advice that you won't find anywhere else. Great books. Good luck!

My favorite personal finance book:
Although Suze has written newer material, 9 Steps is still my favorite personal finance book. I believe it is the best personal finance book bar none. These fans of Quinn need to get a life. If Quinn is so great, how come her book doesn't sell and those that bought it \omyself included\c were vastly dissappointed with it. Besides, Quinn has her own place to write reviews. Why come over here unless it is a desperate attempt to drum up interest in her pathetic book.

9 Steps to Financial Freedom. Excellent Book!:
This is the first personal finance book that gives you not only the knowledge of how to handle money, but also the will to break through all the barriers that hold you back. This groundbreaking book goes beyond the nuts and bolts of managing money to explore the psychological, even spiritual power money has in our lives, along with useful advice and inspiration from the leading voice in personal finance. The pivotal insight in this book teaches you about redefining financial freedom -- and realizing that you are worth far more than your money. Highly Recommended!