The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying | Suze Orman | Great reference book, even if you know nothing about money

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The 9 Steps to Fin...

	The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying Suze Orman Three Rivers Press, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 210 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An excellent follow up to "Babylon."

So, I decided to take control of my finances again and a friend recommended that I read "The Richest Man in Babylon", which I did. Right after I finished that book, I read through Suze's "9 Steps to Financial Freedom". I took notes. I dog-eared pages. I used PostIt's. I turned my financial situation around almost overnight. Sounds like hype, but it's not.

Where Babylon gave me the common sense to pay attention to what I spent, what I saved, and the importance of budgeting, Suze filled in the gaps with practical advice on just how to do that. Consider this work by Suze as the missing manual on how to keep your money and make it work for you.

Thanks Suze!

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Great reference book, even if you know nothing about money

Suze Orman walks you through complicated money matters as if she is teaching you something very simple. She uses her own stories, and client stories to illustrate each point. She's opinionated and passionate about protecting yourself and your love ones from financial catastrophe. I read her book years (took it out of the library) and I've gone back to it so often, for reference, that I finally decided to buy it. Her other books are basically the same theme, but I think that this one is the most cohesive, and the quickest read. She also has a spiritual side which adds a nice balance and makes her more accessible to people loathe the idea of focusing their energy on their money.

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Helpful for me, but not as much as Young, Fabulous

I recently read Suze Orman's Young, Fabulous, and Broke (YFB) and found that a very helpful guide on how to begin building a solid financial foundation for a young man. Given the quality of her advice in that book, I chose this as a follow up, and I was interested to hear about her philosophy of money as indicated by the "spiritual steps" in the title.

Some reviewers say that she repeats herself in her books. Certainly some of the advice here is included in YFB, but some of her retirement advice was new for me. Also, she includes more stories about her own life and about her clients' lives. The advice on wills vs. trusts was especially helpful.

The emphasis on "exercises" was not that helpful for me. When she tells me to write down my history and experiences, I don't feel I'm getting more than a slap on the back for journalling, which I already do consistently. I'd prefer that Suze stick to financial advice and leave more of the counseling to the psychologists. However, I am glad to hear her testify about some of her own attitudes about money and her family's experience. More so than the exercises early on, I found that her philosophy towards the end of the book was very revealing. Again, I'm not sure she needs to explicitly use terms like "dharma" to get her points across. But she does make a strong case that those who treat money well will see it nurture them regardless of the amount of money that they have in their bank account. For a nation that is struggling to recover from terrorism and hurricane tragedies, this is simple but sage advice.

While I'd recommend that those who are 35 and under read Young, Fabulous and Broke first, I found this book helpful as well, and I do plan to use some of these ideas with my parents and to plan my own retirement in the future.

3.5 stars

--SD

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Thorough!

Suze is very thorough in this particular book regarding putting together a financial setup that will help you feel secure financially. If you are looking for more of a psychological approach, this book only lightly touches on the changing of your patterns of behavior. All in all, this book will get you to feel feelings relating to your money and finances that, if used with wisdom, could have a radical change in your life.

A solid start to financial responsibility

Running away from your financial problems is a sign of deeper psychological problems with money. If you fear money, if you let other emotions get tied up with it, then you won't be able to give it the respect it--and you--deserve. Learning how to handle your money is a step in becoming an adult. People who can manage their own finances aren't just more secure in their own lives, they help those around them.

Orman treats all of these issues with the candor and stridency that makes her CNBC show so appealling (and so entertaining). Some of the book is becoming outdated, so it's a good idea to check with a financial planner or other expert before taking many of her more complicated steps. But her best advice is the most basic, and that's what most of us need to hear anyway.

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