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The
9 Steps to Financial Freedom
By Suze
Orman
Three Rivers Press, 2000 - 338 pages
Given that the year
2003 is upon us and that everyone will be making their
New Year's Resolutions soon I felt such a book
recommendation would not only be timely but an excellent
read for those looking to pay down debt and gain
financial independence in the year 2003.
Like I said in my
initial review of this book, I believe that Orman
is right on the money with this book. I believe
that this book is the best book on personal finance and
financial planning out there. Too
many Americans are consumed by wearing the hip clothes,
having the big house and driving the right car. So
many people in this country consume only to keep up with
the Joneses next door. At the end of the day Orman
definitely understands the psychological impact of money
and how it can affect an individuals decisions.
Most of her comments are VERY conservative on money
matters but I cannot emphasize enough how accurate she
is.
If you are still
listening to all the Wall Street pundits after their
years of miserable advice I strongly encourage you to
get this book before Wall Street ruins you
Why? As I have stated several times on this
website, via my articles,
I believe that much of the growth in the economy in the
mid-to-late 90's was driven by a huge expansion in debt
levels by consumers, businesses and
government.
As all of these groups
begin to pay down their debt levels, or at least not
expand them to higher levels, gross demand will fall and
will curtail any economic rebound that is supposed to
occur.
This scenario is called
a classic "Keynesian crisis" since the only
solution that will likely work to jumpstart the economy
is if the government provides huge tax breaks or
stimulates demand via heavy spending. Either way,
government deficits will occur and the national debt
will continue its ascent to even more ludicrous levels,
leaving the next generation with an even larger burden
to handle due to the BABY BOOMER generation having an
"orgy" with Washington's money from 1980 -
2001.
If you are trying to do some financial planning or
need some straight forward, no B.S. comments about managing
your money Orman gets it. Plain and simple. If anyone wants a
"worst case scenario" of the economy I would
recommend that people read Deflation,
by A. Gary Shilling or Conquer
the Crash by Robert Prechter Jr. I
personally would start with this book, because sound
financial planning is a great asset to have. Then,
I would read Deflation
to get an idea of what the next 5-10 years might look
like. The graphs and research completed to write
the book is EXCELLENT, especially for investing
novices. If I wanted to get the piss scared out of
me I would read Prechter's book after that.
Unfortunately, I am unemployed right now
(soon to be employed now that I have moved back to TX) but, because I had
put aside 25k in cash and had zero debt, I have been able to
spend my time off being with those closest to me and I have
been visiting family and friends in Canada and throughout the
U.S. while not having to be stressed out about my bills.
In the past, my life wasn't run this way and I spent and
spent away. However, I changed my ways and life has been more
pleasurable since then. After reading the book and reading her
thinking on cars I have decided that my '96 olds aurora (paid
for) with 76,000 miles on it, looks pretty good and has been
kept in great shape. I decided that it was worth driving the
thing into the ground, as such a comparable car (250 Hp V-8
luxury sedan) would cost tons more and simply burden me with
debt.
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