Somewhere, P.T. Barnum is Smiling

I was reading this post about how "financial guru" Suze Orman is out of touch with the needs of her market and it reminded me why Suze Orman has always annoyed me.

Suze's basic schtick is thus: "Buy my book. Come to my seminars. Take my advice. But if you don't get rich, it's because you don't think you deserve to be rich." In other words, your problem isn't the high-interest credit cards you maxed out to make your car payments or the student loan debt that's overwhelming you or the gas prices that are squeezing you. No: your problem is in your head. So for the cost of a book, Suze provides all sorts of "spirtual" advice on how to reach a place where you feel that you deserve to be rich. But what if you don't reach nirvana? Well, then you go back to Suze, who will tell you to buy her new book -- you know, the one that will help you to finally understand that yes, you do deserve to be rich. It reminds me of Dr. Phil, who someone once described as "A guy who can make you feel really bad because you can't afford $1,000-a-month health insurance."

Hey, I'm sure there are self-destructive people who do subconsciously screw themselves in their financial, professional, and lives. But those problems are probably better addressed by someone without a vested interest in separating you from your money.