Bio

Suze Orman is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. She has written six consecutive New York Times Best Sellers, and has written, co-produced, and hosted six PBS specials based on her New York Times bestselling books, and is the single most successful fund raiser in the history of public television. Similar programs she hosts on QVC, the leading home shopping network, also place her as the top seller.

Orman came from a working class background and has said that she did not “grow up with money.”  She was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which she holds a B.A. in social work.

In 1980, a longtime acquaintance gave Orman a loan of $50,000 to help her fulfill her dream of opening her own restaurant. Orman invested the money at Merrill Lynch, but four months later was broke again, after she was swindled by her stockbroker.

Knowing that she couldn’t make the money back by waitressing, and having started learning more about finances and investing, Orman returned to Merrill Lynch and entered their training program to become an account executive. After she completed the training, she was hired by the firm and remained there until 1983 when she left to take a position as vice president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987 Orman resigned and opened her own financial planning firm, the Suze Orman Financial Group, in Emeryville, CA. She acted as director of the firm until 1997, when she stepped down as her writing career took off with publication of her second book.

Orman hosts a weekend financial planning show on CNBC called The Suze Orman Show. She hosts another TV program on QVC called Suze Orman’s Financial Freedom. Orman recently celebrated her 5^th year on The Suze Orman Show and her 11^th anniversary on QVC.

In February 2008, Orman appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and announced that her most recent book, Women and Money, would be available for free on Oprah’s website for 33 hours. Over 1 million people downloaded the book.

Orman, aged 57, keeps a small apartment in New York City and has never been married. She recently announced that she is gay.  Her tone is utterly convincing, and her wit and common sense make previously unintelligible financial information accessible to a mass audience.  Suze Orman now spends all of her time lecturing, writing books and spreading her message via the media.

Orman demystified the psychology of personal finance, and by the time she reached the top of  The New York times bestseller list, her press had begun to turn around. Men began taking her seriously, or at least sending their wives to attend her talks. Suze is a licensed insurance sales rep in 49 states.

Orman’s message combines emotional and spiritual observations about money with advice on what to do with it. Her usual message is that average Americans should be paying off credit card debt before they begin saving. Now she’s preaching that everyone should be aggressively paying off mortgage debt as fast as possible. The financial troubles of Morry Orman, Suze’s father, fueled her crusade against debt.

First, pay off your credit card debt. Next, Orman says you should have start saving for an 8-month emergency fund in case you lose your job. Then, once you get to be 45 or so, she says, and you’re in a house that you plan to stay in, start paying off the mortgage.

Orman’s instructs people to… Get out of credit-card debt first. If your company offers a 401 (k) match, contribute up to the match. Get rid of car-loan debt.

Products & Services

She’s written five best-selling books, gets $72,000 per speech and generates more than $10 million of sales per year on the cable TV station QVC. She holds the record for the most books sold in an hour on the QVC shopping channel  (35,000 for The Courage to Be Rich).

Suze Orman’s first book, You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It was originally published in January 1995. It has sold more than 400,000 copies in its combined hardcover, softcover, and audio formats. To date, Ms. Orman’s television retailing sales total more than one million books and audio books, making her QVC’s  #1 selling author.

She is the author of four consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including the following titles:

Orman’s books include:

• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (1997)

• You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It: Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make When You Retire (with Linda Mead) (1997)

• The Courage to Be Rich (1998)

• The Road to Wealth (2001)

• The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life… (2003)

• The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke (2005)

• Women and Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny (2007)

• Suze Orman’s Financial Guidebook

Other Activities

She established The Suze Orman Finiancial Group in 1987. She has written, co-produced and hosted four PBS specials based in her bestselling books.

The personal finance editor on CNBC, Suze hosts her own national CNBC-TV show, which airs every weekend.

Suze is also a contributing editor to O: The Oprah magazine. She appears regularly on QVC as host of her own “Financial Freedom” hour. Among her phenomenally successful proprietary product launches on QVC was the nine-volume Ask Suze Financial Library, which has more than 400,000 sets in print.

Contact Information