Suze Says: Go Gold & Viper

Suze Orman had a speech impediment as a child.

"When I tried to say beautiful, it came out boobiall," said the 56-year-old from the 92nd St. Y stage at 7:30 p.m.

To hear her speak confidently and effectively, crisply vocalizing her points, infusing them with emphasis and energy, you'd never know. It's astounding. And, it's just another hurdle the woman from the south side of Chicago -- raised in a household headed financially by her secretary mother -- overcame.

At age 30, she was a waitress at Buttercup Bakery making $400/month. She hoped to open a restaurant. But, her parents didn't have the $20,000 capital to lend her. The customers she had been serving for years, did. They pooled their monies and gave her a $50,000 bundle. On a napkin, one wrote,"For people like you to make your dreams come true."

She put the lump sum into a money market fund at Merrill Lynch.

"My broker was a crook," said Orman, "Within three months, the money, all of it, was gone."

What did she do? She took a job at Merrill Lynch earning $1,500/month. She studied to be a stock broker. As an employee, she sued Merrill Lynch (and could not be fired). Two years later, she was the 6th highest-earning stock broker there, said Orman. She won the case, and got the money back...with interest. She paid back those bakery customers who first believed in her. The rest, is history. "That's why I am passionate about this. Nobody is going to care about your money the way that you do" said Orman.

Orman greeted the 90-percent female audience, from teenagers to boomers, in a vibrant orange shirt to peppy music. Against a backdrop of falling stock and housing markets, the audience was eager for the author of Women and Money's financial advice.

"Sex, ladies," she started, "you can live without. Money, you can't."

The crowd shook with uh-huh's, nodding heads, and "yes!" exclamations.

She went on, "Women may fake orgasms; but, men fake finances."

Laughs ensued. Some semblance of a pep rally was igniting. Her message? "Ladies, you've got to take care of yourself before you take care of everyone else. Put on your oxygen mask before you put your child's on," she said. If you don't, how can you help them? she asked.

Orman said it was the women who called into her Saturday evening money advice show who inspired her to write Women & Money. She had tired of hearing stories of women lending their names to co-sign loans (because the people taking the loans couldn't qualify) and ending up in messy predicaments. According to Orman, women often say 'yes' out of love and tend not to say 'no' out of fear.

Here are some nuggets of advice she delivered:

*Home: Talk early and openly with your spouse about money. Get comfortable with the topic. "I refuse to believe that the man in your life does not want you to know. He is probably just as afraid as you are right now," said Orman. It's the biggest source of conflict in marriage, and there are too many highly-intelligent women who have no idea where their family's money is, said Orman, who end up shocked when one day it is no longer there.

*Real Estate: New York will not be hit as hard by the sub-prime collapse. Most buildings are co-op and require a minimum 50-percent deposit; there wasn't as much sub-prime lending here as in other states.

*Younger women: 401K. Stick with it. Don't touch it. The more stock prices go down, the more shares you are buying each month. For you, says Orman, who cares what's happening in the stock market?

*Eradicate credit card debt: No employee of Orman's is permitted to have credit card debt. Pay it off now. Don't put it off. It may take longer than you expect (YGAT's plan will take an entire year to achieve -- a year, gang, as in twelve months).

*Buy a home: Pay off the mortgage as soon as you can. "There's no better investment than a home," said Orman. Most homes appreciate 4 percent in value every year. In the next four years, some 2.2 million Americans are going to foreclose. Start saving now so you can jump in to swoop up one of those houses.

*Plan: Start an emergency fund that could fund 3-8 months of living expenses for a rainy day.

*Invest: Orman prefers exchange-traded funds (ETFs such as Vipers, Golds)

*Look offshore when investing: Orman suggests 80% in the U.S; 20% abroad

*Have a revocable living trust (with this, if you want to pass a house deed to a child, that child could have that deed in his or her name in two weeks (as opposed to up to two years), and save thousands of dollars. Plus, you can modify the document at any time.)

*Pay off student loans as soon as you can (this, though, is considered "good" debt)

Take advantage of the sub-prime collapse:
*Buy Municipal Bonds
*Invest for the long-term: Buy low/sell high (think in terms of 3-, 5-, and 10-year investments)

Note: Suze talked about her new "Save Yourself" TD Ameritrade program. If you put in $50/month you'll get $100 at the twelth month. There are no maintenance fees on the account and you can set up automatic paycheck deductions. You'll never know the money is gone. She gave the code out at the talk: Type in 701. And, read the instructions on how to get started.

Here, upcoming lectern heavyweights you don't want to miss at the 92nd St. Y:

Alan Greenspan: Sept. 18, 8p.m., $50. One day after his memoirs are published, on the boot heels of Ben Bernanke's decision on interest rates, this is the commentary everyone will be talking about. Reported the Times today, "With the latest jobs data, there’s no longer any doubt that the Fed will act to cut rates — perhaps by a quarter of a percentage point or a half — on Sept. 18."

Truth & Politics: Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $26. Has the current administration sacrificed truth for political wins? Times op-ed columnist Frank Rich speaks on the role of truth in the public arena with Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal.

Mario Cuomo: Sept. 19, 8 p.m., $26. Gearing up for the 2008 election year, the former New York governor speaks his mind.

See you there.

YGAT