Suzy Orman's financial do's and don'ts

mathjak107 said:
i used to like her mis-information about 401k loans . she used to tell everyone they are double taxed which of course is bull ... but i guess if it scares her bunch of mis-fits then she has poetic license to make up stuff .

much of her stuff in not very practical .. she would tell everyone to delay ss to age 70 . which most americans can't afford to do unless they work to 70 or have other means of support .... which is why only 2% of men and 4% of women take ss at 70 . YOU NEED MONEY TO LAYOUT AND LIVE ON WHEN YOU DELAY . most Americans don't have that money .
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I think that bit of questionable advice was in the article linked in the first post (OP) of this thread. Like you, I couldn't disagree more either. By the time you reach 70, you've gone 8 years not collecting anything when you could have been. I read somewhere that it takes somewhere around 6 years at full benefits, just to catch up to the amount of money you passed on since the age of 62. So now you're 76 years old. If you manage to live to 80 or 82, you didn't end up making that much more than you would have by taking benefits at 62, plus you're too old to enjoy it anyway.

To my way of thinking, the best way to go, is to watch your spending and build up a nice nest egg to supplement your reduced benefits, retire at 62 and enjoy as many of your remaining days as possible, relaxing and being free from the stress and grind of working.
 

Jim W. said:
I think that bit of questionable advice was in the article linked in the first post (OP) of this thread. Like you, I couldn't disagree more either. By the time you reach 70, you've gone 8 years not collecting anything when you could have been. I read somewhere that it takes somewhere around 6 years at full benefits, just to catch up to the amount of money you passed on since the age of 62. So now you're 76 years old. If you manage to live to 80 or 82, you didn't end up making that much more than you would have by taking benefits at 62, plus you're too old to enjoy it anyway.

To my way of thinking, the best way to go, is to watch your spending and build up a nice nest egg to supplement your reduced benefits, retire at 62 and enjoy as many of your remaining days as possible, relaxing and being free from the stress and grind of working.
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if you are like most who delay ss and are also investors in at least a balanced portfolio and live off your own draw until you file , break even is 22 years . that is how long it takes to make up for no checks , and spending down money that is either invested or could have been invested if you took ss at 62 . that does not include the fact no spousal can be collected until you file so that extends it out past 22 years
 
mathjak107 said:
if you are like most who delay ss and are also investors in at least a balanced portfolio and live off your own draw until you file , break even is 22 years . that is how long it takes to make up for no checks , and spending down money that is either invested or could have been invested if you took ss at 62 . that does not include the fact no spousal can be collected until you file so that extends it out past 22 years
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Exactly three months to the day prior to my 62nd birthday, I went online and applied.

Glad I did, too.

Yes, I get a smaller amount, but living within my means has never been a problem for me as it was drilled into my head by my folks.

My mom, especially.
 

Jim W. said:
I think that bit of questionable advice was in the article linked in the first post (OP) of this thread. Like you, I couldn't disagree more either. By the time you reach 70, you've gone 8 years not collecting anything when you could have been. I read somewhere that it takes somewhere around 6 years at full benefits, just to catch up to the amount of money you passed on since the age of 62. So now you're 76 years old. If you manage to live to 80 or 82, you didn't end up making that much more than you would have by taking benefits at 62, plus you're too old to enjoy it anyway.

To my way of thinking, the best way to go, is to watch your spending and build up a nice nest egg to supplement your reduced benefits, retire at 62 and enjoy as many of your remaining days as possible, relaxing and being free from the stress and grind of working.
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I have never been a Suze Orman follower. She wasn't on my radar screen, and what I did hear either didn't resonate or fell under the category of common sense.

When it came to strategizing how to claim SS, I did massive amounts of online research, read like crazy, and most especially followed the advice offered by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, the longtime SS guru for PBS. His book, Get What's Yours: The Secrets of Maxing Out Your Social Security Benefits, offers comprehensive information about the ins and outs of SS. This guy knows whereof he speaks.

Hubby and I delayed my benefits to 65, he's taking half spousal benefits against my earnings for now, and will file against his benefits when he turns 70. Both of us are from very long-lived parents (the earliest death was at 90-1/2) and other relatives. Chances are therefore excellent that we will come out ahead by delaying his benefits.

My advice about when to file for SS is for everyone to do plenty of research and get EXPERT guidance. SS employees don't qualify as experts, nor does someone's brother-in-law (unless he's a CPA or similar professional), nor do any of us on this forum, including me.

Decisions about when to claim SS have consequences that affect us for the rest of our lives.
 
StarSong said:
I have never been a Suze Orman follower. She wasn't on my radar screen, and what I did hear either didn't resonate or fell under the category of common sense.

When it came to strategizing how to claim SS, I did massive amounts of online research, read like crazy, and most especially followed the advice offered by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, the longtime SS guru for PBS. His book, Get What's Yours: The Secrets of Maxing Out Your Social Security Benefits, offers comprehensive information about the ins and outs of SS. This guy knows whereof he speaks.

Hubby and I delayed my benefits to 65, he's taking half spousal benefits against my earnings for now, and will file against his benefits when he turns 70. Both of us are from very long-lived parents (the earliest death was at 90-1/2) and other relatives. Chances are therefore excellent that we will come out ahead by delaying his benefits.

My advice about when to file for SS is for everyone to do plenty of research and get EXPERT guidance. SS employees don't qualify as experts, nor does someone's brother-in-law (unless he's a CPA or similar professional), nor do any of us on this forum, including me.

Decisions about when to claim SS have consequences that affect us for the rest of our lives.
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exactly ...this belief that one size fits all that these talking heads try to spew is nonsense
 
Most of it is sound advice. I used to disagree with the prevailing advice by financial advisors to not take SS at 62. That's the age I took mine for a couple of reasons. Now I somewhat agree with waiting because the 22 - 23% cut that's been all but promised by 2034 will take a healthy chunk of what people would have originally gotten. Add the medicare premiums and SS payments will take a huge hit.

I also disagree with not retiring too early. For some, like myself, it's quite feasible to do so. And not selling a stock...well sometimes it's necessary.
 
i would never plan around the supposed ss cut ... like everything we do in this country , in the 11th hour it will be funded ... you see how fast they come up with billions for soy beans and wars ..... something as important as ss would be fully funded ..

that does not mean that ages for fra may not be pushed out or payroll taxes won't go up , both are likely to happen . medicare is a different story and that will always see attrition in benefits for all of us as well as increases in our costs .
 
Frankly, I plan for a cut in SS at some point. Medicare as well. That's why I never intended to depend on SS for my future. As far as Orman, she sells books etc. I prefer to get advice from a CFP with fiduciary responsibility (along with some common sense), not some "celebrity" that has no interest in my success personally.
 
I went to school with Susie (before her affected "Suze.") Her dad started Chicken Delight, and we used to order it on weekends, as a treat.

He taught her the value of money: When his shop burned down, he ran back in to rescue...... the register! It was burning hot, and scarred him, for life! He did get it out, as I recall.

Suze saved me a ton of money when she advised folks to bail on the market, in '08, right before the crash. We saw each other in Austin, later, before she took the stage at a rally. She didn't remember me, at first, but I said the name of our high school, South Shore, and she got it.

She certainly succeeded. I can't believe she was knowingly involved in a scam.

At our same high school Mandy Patinkin was there and Charlotte Crossley. I was friends with them, as well. Lots of stories........
 
treeguy64 said:
I went to school with Susie (before her affected "Suze.") Her dad started Chicken Delight, and we used to order it on weekends, as a treat.

He taught her the value of money: When his shop burned down, he ran back in to rescue...... the register! It was burning hot, and scarred him, for life! He did get it out, as I recall.

Suze saved me a ton of money when she advised folks to bail on the market, in '08, right before the crash. We saw each other in Austin, later, before she took the stage at a rally. She didn't remember me, at first, but I said the name of our high school, South Shore, and she got it.

She certainly succeeded. I can't believe she was knowingly involved in a scam.

At our same high school Mandy Patinkin was there and Charlotte Crossley. I was friends with them, as well. Lots of stories........
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Her dad worked in a chicken factory ..chicken delight was started by al tunic
 
mathjak107 said:
Her dad worked in a chicken factory ..chicken delight was started by al tunic
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Nah, not the way I was told. Maybe it was an urban legend. Her dad also had Morry's Deli, as I recall, and went on to open a number of them in Chicago. Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia.

Like I said: (From an in-depth article about Suze. It goes along with what I thought I knew. Morry may not have started Chicken Delight, but he had the one we' ordered from.)

"Here are a few important things you should know about Suze and where her obsessional battle with debt began.

First, you should know that she grew up in Chicago and that her father, Morry Orman, ran a takeout chicken shack, and that on the day that it burned down, a 14-year-old Suze (then Susie--in the 1970s she changed the spelling but kept the pronunciation) watched him run back inside to rescue a scalding metal cash register. After that Morry started a boarding house, and a tenant fell off a rickety staircase and sued the family for everything it had. "From then on," she says, "everything my father did turned to dust."

That childhood experience helps explain Suze Orman's passion--why, at 52, she's still willing to ride 1,250 miles in a bus across America to crusade "

Cool, I wasn't dreaming things up!
 
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treeguy64 said:
Nah, not the way I was told. Maybe it was an urban legend. Her dad also had Morry's Deli, as I recall, and went on to open a number of them in Chicago. Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia.
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I can’t imagine her not ever saying a thing about that ....I would need to see that documented somewhere before I would accept that as fact
 
Her dad started the Chicken Delight in South Shore. I never said he founded the company.

In the end, the math doesn't stack up on his deli and when the chicken shack burned down. I lived four short blocks from that tiny storefront deli. I may have seen Suze in there, a few times. Long time ago, who cares?.........
 
treeguy64 said:
Her dad started the Chicken Delight in South Shore. I never said he founded the company.

In the end, the math doesn't stack up on his deli and when the chicken shack burned down. I lived four short blocks from that tiny storefront deli. I may have seen Suze in there, a few times. Long time ago, who cares?.........
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Did she... "prefer the company" of females back then, too?
 
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