Ask the Readers: Are Suze Orman critics right about her audience?
If it weren’t for the 400 people arrested in the Justice Department’s probe of securities fraud leading to the mortgage crisis, I’d say most of the financial press news this week was a total snooze-fest. But then again, I’m in the camp that says these indictments are too little too late.
A more interesting bit of information is what Suze Orman had to say about her involvement in minimizing the mortgage meltdown. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Money magazine interview:
Q. Some critics say all you do is give not-very-smart people not-very-original advice about getting out of debt.
A. I have to laugh to myself when I read things like that. The credit crisis has now dramatically affected the world economy. All of a sudden the actions of the little people matter. If more people had been doing what I do, if we’d cared enough to keep little people out of debt they couldn’t handle, the global economy wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in. So while some may think it’s a trite topic Ms. Orman deals with, it has brought down mortgage companies, brokerage firms and everything else. I think people who attack me don’t know how much they don’t know about making personal financial decisions. If they did, they’d understand the depth of what I do.
Personally, I’m not sure there’s anyone who can get through to a person who willfully walks into a multi-hundred thousand dollar debt with interest-only payments and adjustable rates. I don’t keep up with Suze enough to know that’s her target audience now. Is it?
Let’s have a vote!
As long as Suze is giving solid advice, who cares if her audience is unsophisticated? I don’t particularly find her content or her presentation that appealing, but I wish her well.
John: The masses like to be led. And obviously, Suze has a loyal following that trust her advice. You could run the same poll about Dr. Phil and people would probably have similar opinions of those following his relationship advice.