Spring Break
Orman's Financial Feminism Enlightening
Kareem Mohni
Issue date: 3/13/07 Section: Commentary
People first, then money, then things." This powerful catchphrase from Suze Orman, America's most famous female personal finance expert, demonstrates her strong personal devotion to helping people achieve a healthy relationship with their money. As Women's History Month is well underway, I would like to take the time to highlight this excellent example of a modern feminist. With the release of her newest book, "Women and Money," Orman is the ideal feminist helping women empower themselves in a healthy way by focusing on their relationships with their money, and ensuring that they have the necessary skills to become financially secure.
Orman has impressive credentials that prove her ability to help women master their money. She has been working with and investing money professionally for more than 20 years. She is a Certified Financial Planner and is a highly sought after motivational speaker. Orman's credentials are augmented by her keen understanding of the interplay between emotions and money - not only does she know how to correctly inform people about their financial choices, but she also takes into account their psychological hang-ups about their money.
While Orman is a skilled personal finance expert who gives advice to both men and women, women are more receptive to the message of another smart, compassionate woman, and are therefore more likely to respond to the message in a positive manner. This is why I am focusing on Orman's relation to women as her defining role as a modern and influential feminist. In "Women and Money," Orman highlights many of the reasons that women traditionally have more trouble with money than men and talks about the personal changes women need to make in order to become financially secure.
The most important thing Orman points out is the reason women and men experience money differently. In an interview with The New York Times' reporter Deborah Solomon, Solomon accuses Orman of perpetuating the stereotype "that women are birdbrains when it comes to managing money." Orman points out that her book explains quite the opposite. She explains that women are very good at saving their money, but because of their psychological hang-ups, they give away their money to friends and family to the extent of harming themselves financially. Orman elaborates on this idea in another interview with NBC where she explaied, "That's why this book had to have a psychological bend. I had to get into the minds and souls and hearts of women to say, 'Ladies, do you understand it? We're voluntarily committing financial suicide.'"
Orman has impressive credentials that prove her ability to help women master their money. She has been working with and investing money professionally for more than 20 years. She is a Certified Financial Planner and is a highly sought after motivational speaker. Orman's credentials are augmented by her keen understanding of the interplay between emotions and money - not only does she know how to correctly inform people about their financial choices, but she also takes into account their psychological hang-ups about their money.
While Orman is a skilled personal finance expert who gives advice to both men and women, women are more receptive to the message of another smart, compassionate woman, and are therefore more likely to respond to the message in a positive manner. This is why I am focusing on Orman's relation to women as her defining role as a modern and influential feminist. In "Women and Money," Orman highlights many of the reasons that women traditionally have more trouble with money than men and talks about the personal changes women need to make in order to become financially secure.
The most important thing Orman points out is the reason women and men experience money differently. In an interview with The New York Times' reporter Deborah Solomon, Solomon accuses Orman of perpetuating the stereotype "that women are birdbrains when it comes to managing money." Orman points out that her book explains quite the opposite. She explains that women are very good at saving their money, but because of their psychological hang-ups, they give away their money to friends and family to the extent of harming themselves financially. Orman elaborates on this idea in another interview with NBC where she explaied, "That's why this book had to have a psychological bend. I had to get into the minds and souls and hearts of women to say, 'Ladies, do you understand it? We're voluntarily committing financial suicide.'"
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