Suze Orman: The Money Diva

Money is a tricky subject, and it's even trickier when it comes to investing, spending, and saving it. It is, honestly, a very intriguing matter for me. Well, mainly because of the 'age factor'. You can't expect to be healthy all the time to make money. Second, it's the 'environmental factor': inflation, cost of living, gasoline prices, you name it.

So far, I think my financial condition is quite moderate. I put my money in more than one basket. I have what an expert says 'emergency fund'. Yes, I follow that kind of advice. I think they are reasonable and sensible.

One program on TV that I've watched since 2 years ago is the Suze Orman show on CNBC. I am lucky to have a connection for cable TV and I'm taking the most advantage of it. She has a website that you can visit. As bold and as honest as she speaks her mind while giving her financial advice, which sometimes very detailed and non-Indonesian context, I find them useful sometimes.



Picture is from here.


Let's take a look at her 10 to-do list for 2008. The ones with * means either 'I don't get it' or 'a non-Indonesian context' . Hehehehe. Here we go...
1. get out of credit card debt,
2. have a 6-8 month emergency fund,
3. sign up for ROTH IRA*,
4. look for a best buy home on a 10% down payment, with 30-15 years of fixed mortgage*,
5. never loan money or co-sign loan for anyone,
6. get annuities with single premium deffered annuity. never buy variable annuities* (my friend said it has something to do with 'dana pensiun'?),
7. buy bonds,
8. get a will,
9. buy term insurance only,
10.get no-load mutual funds only*.

Suze, I just want you to know that I've done 4 out of 10 of your points. I haven't done well so far. I am sure I'll do better if anyone could explain to me the meaning of number 3, 4, 6 and 10. Can anybody help?