Suze Orman: 'We all spend our lives as financial fakers'

Bermuda, Suze Orman told the crowd, is going the way of the U.S.

And that, she said, is not a good thing. Not when the poor are getting poorer, the rich richer and the middle class disappearing across America.

Furthermore, she fears that like Americans, residents of Bermuda are piling up crushing credit card debt, while failing to save and invest.

A personal finance guru, motivational speaker, best selling author and Emmy Award-winning television personality, Ms Orman addressed a crowd of dozens at Fairmont Southampton this afternoon. The talk, which was sponsored by Colonial Group International, mostly focused on personal responsibility.

There were slogans aplenty. Debt is bondage, the crowd was told. The difference between wants and needs was defined. The need for saving was stressed. Personal responsibility was emphasized. Power, the crowd was told, attracts money. Powerlessness repels it. Tough love is important. Owning a home isn’t everything. There are people in the U.S., she said, who wish they never bought a home.

She spoke about the power of a specific type of fear: the fear to look at financial statements and paychecks, tackle personal expenses and the fear to save more and invest. She hailed the fact that pension contributions were required in Bermuda and opined about the power of fear.

“Why can’t you put more money in an account you already have?” she asked, seemingly exasperated at the simplicity of the rhetorical question.

Attendees were implored to rise if they had debt and tell the person next to them how much debt they had. She said most of the time people are not honest about the state of finances; they want the world to think they have everything together.

“We all spend our lives as financial fakers,” she said.

There were jokes about gasoline prices at Premier Craig Cannonier’s expense. Ms Orman also recounted the stories from her own life, from growing up on the South Side of Chicago to her years as a waitress to how she landed a gig at Merrill Lynch.

During a question and answer session, a woman asked Ms Orman about her son: He makes pittance, she said, how could he save more?

She was told he needed to find a way to make more money.

An unemployed woman who has been out of a job for two years, asked how she could get back on track. She was told she was already on track and that her setback was “part of the journey.”

Another question came from someone who was struggling with student debt that was preventing her from taking out a loan for grad school and getting a mortgage. What could she do?

“You have to stop punishing yourself,” said Ms Orman.