Many views tune into CNBC Financial Guru Suze Orman for tips and advice on personal finance. Yet, there has been at least five times that the cable TV host majorly contradicted herself on what one should do and why. These include:
- Orman recommends avoiding fees on financial products and avoid high-cost credit cards. But in 2012, She launched her own prepaid credit card, the Approved card. She promised consumers would only pay $3 a month and touted a partnership with TransUnion that would give cardholders unlimited access to their TransUnion account. However, the card was found to charge numerous hidden fees and was eventually discontinued.
- Orman has often preached the evils of debt from student loans. This didn’t prevent her from partnering with a private, for-profit university, the University of Phoenix to create a credited personal finance course.
- In early 2011, Orman was preaching the virtues of gold in one’s portfolio, riding the increased demand and value. In August 2011, shortly before the price of gold peaked, Orman announced via Twitter that she had sold her gold at a near record price. She continued to tout gold as an investment even though it never reached such heights.
- Orman has made frequent suggestions to her audience to buy used cars and save several thousand dollars over the cost of new cars straight off the showroom floor. Then, in 2012, Orman made it known that she felt spending $40,000 for a new Acura TL was a wise investment, as part of the auto maker’s “Season of Reason” marketing campaign.
- Over the years, Orman’s advice on mortgages has changed. In the early 2000’s, she was all in on paying down one’s mortgage. This eggs in one basket approach proved unwise when many lost everything in the housing collapse of 2008-09. She turned tail and the advocated in 2011 a strategic mortgage default as a smart option for homeowners with underwater mortgages. Then, in a 2013 episode of “The Suze Orman Show,” Orman told her audience that it was all right to buy a home with only a 10 percent down payment.
You can get all the details on each of these incidents and more at
http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/5-times-suze-orman-didnt-follow-her-own-advice/