Orman has written a number of books on the topic of financial management, including The Road to Wealth; The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life; and Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. This highly-acclaimed woman has also appeared in numerous talk shows and received various accolades. Time magazine has named her one of the most influential people of 2008.
The Twelve Steps to Wealth
In 2003 Orman released a monthly column on Oprah Winfrey's magazine called Twelve Steps to Wealth. It is a twelve-point checklist to helping its readers overcome their credit card debt. Orman's practical, no-nonsense, and empowering approach has drawn many fans, especially from women.
The first step to wealth, according to her, is to simply face one's fears—losing a job, being unable to pay off debts, for example—and be accountable with a friend or a trusted loved one. One interesting thing that Orman suggests doing is to assess your credit score. She shares that customers with a good credit score (720 or higher) can actually contact their respective credit card companies and request for a lowered interest rate. If the creditor disagrees, she says, you can inform your creditor that you would like to request that the balance be transferred to another credit card instead. She also advises for a cardholder request for a lowered credit limit, as a way to minimize the temptation of overspending, and a way of preventing overextension.
If you owe multiple credit card debts, she advises to pay off the card that has the largest interest first, to be able to pay off other debts easier and worry less about huge finance charges in the future. She also asserts the need for debtors to pay more than the minimum due each month. After the first card has been paid off, Orman says to utilize that card's payment to the card that has the second highest rate. This process will be applied to all existing credit cards, until everything has been paid off. If this is not possible to be done by yourself, Orman proposes to employ the services of a debt consolidation company to help you.
As soon as all balances are paid off in full, the next step Orman advises to take is to save money to prepare for the future. Using the same amounts that were previously used towards the cards that were being paid, Orman says the funds are to be deposited into a savings account. From there, the funds can be used to either enroll in college (for you or your kids), buy a home, or plan for retirement, among others.
The twelve-step program also includes ways on how to create a will, prepare for old age, choose the right investments, and even how to ask for a raise from your employer.
Related resources:
Dave Ramsey on paying off debt
Kevin Trudeau on how to get out of debt
John Cummuta on being debt free