I just read an article from NY Times about Suze Orman & how she doesnt invest the way she tells others to.?

Question

Apparently, with all of her 'great' stock market & investment advice, she does not even invest in stocks herself. The interview had some intersting things about her own investments. She has less than 1/2 of 1% of her over $32 million of assets in stock! She says that she primarily buys zero coupon munis. And will even chose a lower rate to get AAA ratings.

Now, I dont knock anyone on personal investment choices, but she is fair game as she is supposed to be a fianancial advisor & has repeatedly told her followers, that you need aggressiveness in your portfolio & you should have a certain % of assets in stock. But she has the portfolio of a 85 year old widow taking care of orphans! The article states that she has never realy owned much stocks.

Dont get me wrong, I think she does a half decent job helping folks on her show, but she doesnt even follow her own advice & is called a guru. & I am not bashing her b/c she is a woman. I like some of her advice. Thoughts?

ralphcoder:
$1 million is less than 1/2 of 1% of $32 million. The article states that, she said she has about $7 million in real estate & about $1 mill in stocks. Yes, $1 mill is a large amount, but not relatively speaking. Also, she is not an analyst, but an advisor, that is a big difference. & your lunch money is safe (today)-- I have no where near that amount to invest. I guess my point is, she does not use her own advice to make money, & that is HOW she makes money, by giving advice to others on investing. Kind of hypocritical. I feel its like taking military advice by someone who has read a book about it, but never actually had any experience in it. (That was NOT a Bush joke)

I got it from MSN Money central in the commentary tab today. The article was talking about the NY Times article over the weekend. Maybe she did say that in the Journal, but they did not mention that in this article.

saved:
OOps! even I had to give you thumbs up for that! My bad math! LOL. But my point still stands. she has less than 4% invested.

Answer 1

I would question someone who doesn't follow their own advise. However, what she is doing is not the smartest thing - she probably knows that and advises her clients/readers/fans differently.

Answer 2

Double-check your information. I saw an article about her recently that said she had over $1 million in the market, and she enjoys buying and selling stock. It did say that most of her portfolio was in real estate, though. I *think* this article was in the Wall Street Journal, but I don't remember for sure.

And consider this: She is a financial analyst. Her job is to advise people what to do, based on their specific situation, needs, and goals. Her situation is vastly different from mine, and I'd bet today's lunch money that they are not the same as yours. I'd expect that she has tailored her finances to do what she wants them to do, not what she advises a 30 year old couple in Des Moines who are expecting their 3rd child.

Answer 3

I think you should check your math 1/2 of 1% of $32 million ($32,000,000.00) is $160,000.00. The last time I checked $1,000,000.00 is more than $160,000.00. $1,000,000.00 is actually 3.125% of $32,000,000.00.