Suze Orman Will Now Take Your Money Questions

Suze Orman

If you’ve ever tried to give yourself a bit of financial literacy, you’ve probably come across something on the subject by Suze Orman.

And if you’ve read some of Orman’s books, you may know about her first job as a waitress in Berkeley and how she got swindled out of an early investment, which made her want to become a stockbroker. She went on to work at Merrill Lynch, and later was a vice president of investments at Prudential-Bache Securities.

Today, Orman is financially comfortable enough to have told The Times Magazine:

I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don’t personally care.

It’s a good day to feel that way, for sure.

Orman estimates that her net worth is around $25 million. In that same Times interview, she mentioned one financial problem involving her life partner Kathy Travis (K.T.) that she can’t do much about:

Both [K.T. and I] have millions of dollars in our name[s]. It’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa.

Orman has been named one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People for 2008; a year earlier, also in Time, Anita Hamilton called Orman one of the personal-finance writers who “make women feel guilty.”

She hosts her own show, the Suze Orman Show, on CNBC, and has won two Emmys. She’s written many wildly popular books, including Women & Money; The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke; The Road to Wealth; and The Courage to Be Rich.

She was named the top female motivational speaker in the U.S. in 2007 by Business Week, and in October will be the 2008 recipient of the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign.

She has agreed to answer your questions here, so fire away. As with all past reader-submitted Q&A’s, the answers will be provided here in short course.

Addendum: Orman answers your questions here.