Categories: OLD Media Moves

Suze Orman’s brand of personal finance journalism

Adam Auriemma of The Daily Beast writes about CNBC personal finance journalist Suze Orman and the advice she gives.

Auriemma writes, “Indeed, Orman’s supposed omniscience — combined with the oratory zeal of a Bible thumper and the manic enthusiasm of a children’s show actor — is the key driver of her success. Money and markets are intrinsically unstable topics, as the agitated anchors of every other CNBC program illustrate, but Orman’s relentless appeals to gut and intuition send a radically different message: forget about wealth and focus on security. Her advice, sugarcoated in goofy catchphrases, is delivered in the unimpeachable rhetoric of common sense. Get an eight-month emergency fund, girlfriend. Sign your will and your trust, boyfriend. How am I doing? Can I afford it? Amy Feller Gallant, the show’s executive producer, tweeted during the government shutdown that the show got mash notes from furloughed employees thanking Orman for teaching them to save for a rainy day.

“‘Remember,’ Orman says. ‘My topic is personal finance. It’s not what stock should you buy, where’s the economy, it’s not a deep dive like that. There’s plenty of people that will tell you about stocks and money. Mine’s personal finance, so when it comes to that, I am not wrong, sir. Not wrong.’

“But even gurus make mistakes. Last year, Orman put her famous intuition on the line in the most fraught venture of her career. Her steely self-assuredness was the same, but the stakes couldn’t have been higher: Orman was promising to change the credit structure of an entire economy, to create a ‘sidewalk out of poverty’ for the working class—all with a prepaid debit card with her name on it. She took a drubbing, fielding accusations of self-aggrandizement from the financial press and fans alike.

“Now, for the first time since that media firestorm, Orman speaks extensively about the product launch that left a blemish on her nearly infallible record — an ordeal that lumped her decisions in with the dubious business dealings of Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian.”