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I don't think Suze Orman advocates renting over buying in all situations. She advocates renting for people who are in houses that are far underwater, and for people who are not financially prepared to buy. I think she acknowledges the reality that not everybody should be a homeowner.
She is annoying in a lot of ways. She's always going after the banks, inspiring this entitlement mentality that the problems with real estate are all the banks' fault (and that people's problems with credit are all the credit card companies' fault). I think she does a disservice in that regard, because people are still responsible for the decisions that they make, despite the fact that reckless lending decisions contributed to our problems. But so did reckless borowing and spending by individuals, on real estate and other things.
I find that she's terrible on macroeconomics. She's a major suckup to the current administration, probably because she's so dependent on Oprah Winfrey that she dare not criticize anything about "the One." It's funny to watch her contort herself like a pretzel to justify the government doing all the things she strongly condemns, and condemned when done by a prior administration.
All her "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" talk is annoying too. But all in all, I think she's right to advise people to stay away from excessive debt and put money away for a rainy day. Like all people giving advice to a mass audience, you have to take what she says with a grain of salt.
The financial world has changed in the last few years - and so the advice the experts give has of course changed as well. Of course! The advice given in the 1980's was appropriate for back then - same thing with the 1990's - and even the early 2000's - but things change, and so the advice given MUST also change.
Adapting to the changing times is something you will have to do your entire life...
Actually, I disagree. To advise people not to buy at excessive prices now is simply closing the barn door after the horse has run away.
The way to make money is to be ahead of the crowd, not with it. To the extent that financial advisors like Suze Orman were telling people to stretch themselves beyond their limits to buy in a bubble market, that was bad advice, even if it seemed the smart thing to do at the time, because everybody was doing it. In fact, when "everybody" is doing something, that's usually a pretty good indication that it's NOT the right thing to do, especially when it comes to finances.
when financial markets were plunging in 2008 all you heard was should i get out.
the fact is the time to have asked that question was the october prior when new highs were being broken
the proper question after a substantial drop would be what do we buy and when do we want to do our re-balancing.
those that asked question 2 and acted properly are now breaking new highs even though some indexes have not peaked again . i broke a new all time high again yesterday.
when financial markets were plunging in 2008 all you heard was should i get out.
the fact is the time to have asked that question was the october prior when new highs were being broken
the proper question after a substantial drop would be what do we buy and when do we want to do our re-balancing.
those that asked question 2 and acted properly are now breaking new highs even though some indexes have not peaked again . i broke a new all time high again yesterday.
I'm in the same boat. I first broke a new high last year, and have been breaking new highs over and over since. I lost 13.2% during the market crash (I wasn't vested much, luckily) and am up over 72% as of yesterday.
Suze Orman comes along with her advice well after all of the real financial experts have imparted their wisdom. Long after. Then she presents their advice like she's the first to think of it; the smartest financial guru on the planet. Many, many times she is giving out advice well after the fact, but it is already too late and the financial climate has changed. That's when the real damage is done.
She's of average intelligence, at best, but knows enough to peddle to the lowest common denominator realizing that they will have limited knowledge of the field and gladly give her their money while hailing her as a hero.
I find her delivery to be irritating, too. She condescends like she is talking to junior high students. Of course that's really an insult to tweens everywhere.
Condescends? Have you seen data around the average financial health of an adult in this country? Of course she's condescending. Most people who call in to her show (and most people in general) deserve it. You tend to have to be that if you want people to actually listen to you.
I really don't follow S. Orman nor probably anyone else either.
That said, I do have a house which is paid off. Never had a regular mtg. just a construction mtg. paid off rather than converting it to reg. mtg. This was the best decision at that time for me as I had the extra $$$. I do not care if my house has lost value right now because I am not looking to sell it. I never considered it as an investment when I had it built as it does not generate any income.
I think that one has to do their own thing concerning the rent vs. buy decision. I see it more as a decision about the way you want to live. Not everyone wants the responsibilities of being a home owner so those people probably should be renters. Others may prefer maintaining a property as a residence & the privacy that home ownership affords.
Yep, it's really quite simple. There are certain truths about this subject that are easy to grasp and never change. Obviously you get that.
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