Rating: 
Summary: Courage to be Rich will make you rich
Review: Suze Orman has written a excellent book. First, she focuses on the brass tacks for success---the mental state. This is much different and better than other psycho babble books about the mind(one exception is Miracle Power for Infinite Riches by Joseph Murphy) Most people are and stay broke because of what is going on between their ears. Many of the people I come across are either savers, earning less than 10% per year or spendthrifts with overactive lifestyles. Both groups end up broke.Far too many people put control in the hands of other people; brokers, financial planners, insurance agents and investment counselors. Suze puts empahasis on being your own financial planner. Great advice! I've done it and am wealthier as a result.I used to be one of those millions of Americans who couldn't wait for that once per year tax refund and felt so good about getting my own money back (interest free) from the IRS. STUPID!!! Why loan your money interest free to anyone especially the IRS? I don't anymore. That is new found money to invest in mutuals and stocks. I used to be a saver getting those impotent 2%-6% returns in "safe" places like savings accounts, savings bonds and cd's. After reading Courage to be Rich I now have the courage to invest in real investments that actually produce a profit. I also opened a money market mutual fund.I had a whole life insurance policy on myself. After careful examination, I took Suze's advice and dropped the whole life policy and switched to term. I agree 100% with Suze [now] that whole life is a rip off and only makes insurance companies rich. I also contend that most bank products are essentially dead money products (zero% checking, 2%-6& on savings, money market accounts and cd's and are only good investments for the bank, but total ripoffs for the customer.Six months ago, I never would have said that. I was a saver and encouraged banking. I was also broke and just making the bank rich. Not anymore. Now I use a bank cheking account just as a means of transferring money to my funds and securities.I would have liked to have seen more information on investing, perhaps that will come in a future book.Nevertheless, this book turned me around. I also recommend in addition to the aforementioned "Miracle Power", Business Buy the Bible and Wall Street Money Machine. Suze has turned me into a student of personal finance and personal development. I would not recommend books by the self serving Anthony Robbins. People I have talked to who used his system said that results were both "limited" and "temporary".Start with this book. The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom is also a must read. Then Miracle Power and Business Buy The Bible and if you want cash flow, Wall Street Money Machine is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Mental Gains for the Emotionally Impoverished
Review: The Courage to Be Rich provides support for overcoming your stalled thinking about money. If you lack confidence about money, have money problems, or have bad feelings about your relationship to money, you will find this book helpful. I have graded the book from the perspective of people in this category. On the other hand, if you have lots of money and feel good about what you are doing, you will hate this book. This is a self-help guide more along the lines of Unleash the Power Within than it is a financial guide. If you want to add to your perspectives about how to make more money, I suggest that you shift to Rich Dad, Poor Dad instead. For you, The Courage to Be Rich is a one star book. I appreciate the care and consideration Ms. Orman shows to her readers who may be suffering from emotional overwhelm (such as often occurs during and after a divorce, after a loved one dies, or while buying a first home). Her lists will probably help these anguished souls. Although money has a lot to do with math, Ms. Orman correctly perceives that it is all about emotion as well. Emotion and math do not mix well, and she provides many useful insights into how to make them work better together. An experienced and credentialed psychological counselor she is not, however. I suspect this book would have been better with two co-authors, one who is an expert on emotions about money and the other who is an expert on money to supplement Ms. Orman's skill as a communicator. Ms. Orman is neither, so th is book's treatment is pretty lightweight in both areas. But if it gets you started in dealing with your issues, all the better for you. The only part that seemed totally inadequate was her writing off of tax issues: You will spend a lot of money on taxes in your life and your choices do have a large impact on how much you will spend. Her advice is to feel good about paying more taxes because your income is higher. By contrast, someone who really wants to be rich needs to compound as much money tax-free or tax-deferred as possible. This book does not begin to address that subject. The Courage to Be Rich is a better book for dealing with specific life traumas such as divorce, death, and so forth. This book would be a good gift to a friend who has such an event in his or her life. Her stories are good, because they bring home the message of how crippling too much emotion can be, so we take this problem more seriously. I think the biggest misconception people have about money is that they do not need to address their feelings about money. In that sense, Ms. Orman is doing a lot for us by reminding us that we have deeply held beliefs and attitudes that deserve being reexamined from time to time. I enjoyed reading the book, although it only added to stockpile of stories, rather than my knowledge. Maybe the book's obvious appeal for general audiences can best be understood by thinking about the experience of watching a tear-jerker of a movie or television show -- you get a great feeling from knowing that the cataclysm is not happening to you. If you have heard Ms. Orman speak at length on television (which she does a lot), you can probably safely skip this book. To get a good return on your time with this review, I suggest that you pick one belief about money that you have where strong emotion comes into play. If that emotion does not serve you well, rephrase what you believe until it does serve you in the right way. Then, you'll have mastered a skill for having more! Live with rich thoughts and warm emotions!
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Summary: Dumped my Loaded Funds for No Load Funds. Thanks Suze!
Review: For the past ten years, I had been contributing to loaded mutual funds that my "friendly" financial advisor had sold me or is that suckered me to buy. After seeing Suze on CNBC on New Years Day, then Larry King, then CNBC again and then the Today Show I bought both CTBR and 9 STFF. My first course of action was to transfer my loaded funds over to a no load family which outperformed my loaded funds for 1 yr, 3yrs, 5 yrs and 10 yrs. So much for the load that I was carrying for "professional" advice. I'm doing better on my own, through Suzes advice.I found it interesting that Jane Bryant Quinn has been mentioned here. Check her out. She has no web presence. Nowhere to be found. When was the last time JBQ appeared on CNBC, Larry King or the Today show? I leafed through her book awhile back and left it on the shelf, where it still sits at the bookstore that I patronize. One and only copy. Still there.Suze is the best. Thanks Suze. You have saved this family thousands instantly for just a few minutes effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Start
Review: For my first financial book, I found it not only very helpful but invigorating, placing me in a mind set to handle my finances properly. I recommend this to anyone starting out; Suzie Orman writing style is easily approachable and digestible. Enjoy
Rating:
Summary: Motivated me to take action
Review: Suze is indeed the best financial author in the world today. Most books are dry. Suze writes in a style that is exciting and gets you to take action. To the person who wrote about Jane Bryant Quinn, I agree. Her book is boring at best and a total waste of money.Suze's book is smaller but so much more informative and result producing. I just ordered Suzes videos and audio tapes as well to reinforce the material in the bookand for more financial education.I wholeheartily recommend Suze Orman. My husband is also a big fan of hers and together, through Suze Orman, we are creating a stronger family.Thank you Suze!
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous Advice From a Self-Centered Woman
Review: Your advice doesn't work but that hasn't stopped you from scaring women into buying your worthless books, tapes and calendars. You should feel guilty about taking money from women who are barely getting by. But you just keep scamming new women instead. Suze it's time for you to fade into the darkness and the sooner the better.
Rating: 
Summary: Good...but would like more info on investing
Review: When I purchased the audio of this book, I was expecting to get sound advice from Suze on investing and proper allocation of my money. After listening to the tapes, I feel that a few areas did no meet my expectations. At various points throughout the tape, I felt like most of the "testimonials" were from women which got the raw end of the deal by their partner. Then, there was about 20% of the time spent on correctly establishing Pre-Nuptial agreements, how to get the most "bang for the buck" in a divorce, and the same for the death of a spouse. The info before and after these chapters was pretty good, but she lost me with the continuous male bashing that was prevelant throughout the book. I would personally have preferred more information on investment strategies. Obviously the audio is different than reading the book, but this is just my $.02
Rating:
Summary: Good overall Information
Review: Forcuses a great deal of widows, and financial preparation for death of a partner. A few of the cassettes had real meat on them. Probably the book would have been better, so you can "edit" the sections that don't apply to you.
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Summary: Super book Suze!
Review: I was skeptical about buying this book, partly on the reviews listed here and partly because I got burned from a book by another female financial author---Jane Bryant Quinn. Then I saw Suze on CNBC and was sold. She totally blew away established financial planners, regulars on CNBC and judging by the viewers response, she blew away the TV Audience as well. I was impressed to say the least so went out immediately and bought both The Courage To Be Rich and 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.Suze is the most passionate and dynamic financial strategist/author out there right now. About those negative reviews; I guess success breeds jealousy and/or some just don't understand the real dynamics of Financial Freedom. Those people probably prefer to read books written by people like QUINN and will also stay broke and financially frustrated.brbbnsbc71@yahoo.com
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: I have listened to the audiotapes and it's a pretty good program. If you don't want to hear about encouraging money to come your way or stuff that's a little spacey, then skip the first tape, and get down to the nuts and bolts. What Suze says is pretty much, don't avoid looking at your finances. Understand what your debt means, instead of avoiding thinking about it. And look at the big picture. She has some sound advice for organizing your financial life, and takes you through the process of purchasing a home, and more. Since she's made most of the mistakes she warns about, Suze doesn't come off as totally snotty or superior, she's just going through some guidelines that make sense. I have no idea how people could get into financial trouble by listening or reading this book. It's not like Suze points to a certain stock and says, Buy It!
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