by Tricia
Before I go into the post for today, I thought I would give a quick update on my son and my dog. They both are doing well. My son is walking fine on his ankle and my dog is laying next to me right now very content. 🙂
I’ve been meaning to write about an Oprah episode that was on some time ago. I rarely ever watch Oprah because she’s on at 5 PM in my area. If I happen to get off work on time, I usually have something to do right when I get off. Beverly sent me the link to a show Oprah had with Suze Orman (thank you!). Needless to say, it was very interesting.
First up, there was a wife with a very, very, very serious shopping addiction. She’d spend over $300 a month on coffee and over $240 a month on tanning and manicures. Sadly, her kids didn’t even have health insurance. This family is in a financial meltdown and Suze tries to get them to help themselves. One of Suze’s suggestions was to move to a lower cost of living area and to undergo a “financial detox.” Pretty interesting suggestion.
The next couple is downing in debt ($350,000) and they have a baby on the way. Suze is tough on them and tells them that they need to start spening in the present so they can afford present things such as food for their baby. One of the things Suze said they needed to do was to get rid of the luxury car that the husband refers to as his “baby.” He has a different baby to be thinking about!
Visit Oprah.com to read more about these couples.
I also noticed that Oprah had another show with Suze where she answered some questions. I haven’t read through it all of the way (there’s quite a bit on the website to go through), but I thought I would give you the link. Hopefully Oprah keeps up with these shows related to finance and has more experts on.
I’m not a fan of Oprah, but these debt shows she does with either Suze or David Back are usually pretty good. I tend to use these episodes to make me feel better about what I’m doing about my debt, and how things could be much worse. 🙂
I don’t watch Oprah, so I’m not a fan or a hater. But I think it’s cool that she has personal finance guests. She seems to be quite an influential woman and so it’s great she’s influencing people to make good decisions.
Agreed. She’s very influential and very well-watched. Any time that personal finance and paying off debt is discussed – that is a good thing in my mind.
It needs to be discussed more!
For those couples that went on the shows, I have to give them kudos. It took a lot of courage to do that.
Used to be a big Suze fan. Not so much anymore. Love her message about spending wisely, saving for retirement and other goals, but sometimes when she gets into specifics, she often forgoes the best option for the simpler option. I doubt I would have disagreed with her much in this particular Oprah episode. Hard to argue with her advice to stop spending themselves into bankruptcy.
From what I read online, I think Suze gave them good advice. I’m not too familiar with her, though. I have a book of hers on my shelf that is waiting to be read (9 Steps to Financial Freedom).