The Money Class: Learn to Create Your New American Dream [Hardcover]

This is Suze Orman's tenth book, and probably 10th best seller, which tells you right away that she has a built-in audience, for which she has earned their trust. In this book, she proves once again that she is spot on accurate in her understanding of what the average American investor needs to understand to financially protect themselves in a volatile economic environment.

After the 2008 financial crisis, Suze wrote a book telling people how to immediately survive the crisis. In this book, she tells us what we do not want to hear. She has come to the realization that the American Dream as understood by our parents and grandparents is now over, and there is a brand new set of financial realities that we must COME TO GRIPS with if we are to achieve any kind of financial security in the future. She accomplishes this in 9 chapters and 281 pages of highly readable commentary that for the most part is accurate, original and very useful.

Although each chapter has an appropriate title, what I found more helpful is that in the Table of Contents after the chapter headings, the author will list the lessons that she wants you to learn in each chapter. Most chapters have one or two lessons for the reader, and some have as many as five. I found the most important lessons in the book to be the following:

VITAL LESSONS:

* Finding Your Truth - page 13

* The Power of CASH - page 21

* How to build honest family relations - page 31

* How to help adult children facing financial challenges - page 64

* New rules of buying a home - page 87

* Time is your greatest asset - page 159

* Delay your social security benefit - page 207

* Must have documents - page 275

* The ULTIMATE LESSON - page 275

You could tell that Ms. Orman had a very rough time writing this book. It is evident throughout. She had to come to terms with the reality that the America we all wish to be, no longer is, and therefore new financial rules have to be mastered. This is a book that she was compelled to write, but did not want to. She also writes about this in her last piece in the book which is the ULTIMATE LESSON. This chapter deals with the death of the American Dream and what the politicians have allowed to happen to this country, and for which we are all responsible since we elected them. As she likes to put it:

Do NOTHING, Change NOTHING, you will get NOTHING

We must FOCUS on WHAT IS REAL TODAY, and step by step the author accomplishes her task, which is to give us concrete steps that each of us can take considering the new financial situation we are faced with. She even tells us to define ourselves by who we are, and not what we have. With 14 million people currently unemployed, and another 9 million working part-time who are seeking full-time work, we cannot take a lackadaisical attitude towards our financial interests.

I urge you to take a look at this latest work from this interesting author in these troubling times. You can only benefit from the knowledge she gives us, and you just may be doing yourself a favor. Thank you for reading this review.

Richard C. Stoyeck

Orman's new book is unique in a way and typical Orman teachings in another. She tells us (as if we need to be told) that things are different now and will be into the unforeseeable future. She says her last book, quickly written, was for an emergency situation and this book is more of a road map, the master plan.

Among the words of wisdom, "In many areas of the country, the dream of homeownership has backfired. Real estate values have deflated to such an extent that a record number of people owe more than their homes are worth. That's not an American Dream--it's a nightmare."

"The home, the job security, the education, the retirement--the very standard of living that all of us took for granted for so long is completely under siege."

In her discussion of the American dream, she admits it's over. "In many ways it pains me to say this, but in my opinion the American Dream as we knew it is dead." She says, however, that's a good news, bad news situation. She then precedes to tell the reader how best to handle the situation as it exists.

She persists in her eight months of savings and yet having a 700 plus Fico score. I personally see this as impractical for many people. Moreover, people with unstable income, such as the self-employed, often can't make budgets and plan the way Orman insists everyone should.

Orman talks like everyone has buckets of money to put in this, that and the other thing. And, yes, if you do all of it, you'll be fine. Question is, where does one get the money?

I much prefer the great book The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy. It's far more doable, in my opinion.

Orman tells us, "We must transform ourselves from dreaming society's dreams and putting our faith in a false and misleading sense of entitlement, to being a society where each of us strives for dreams that are personal and realistic and that are in the best interests--in the truest and most honest sense--of us and our family. I am calling upon each of us to rethink the very way we dream."

One thing that hit me straight away, was her reversing herself somewhat from her 2009 book on the subject of reverse mortgages. In that book, she was quite keen for them. In the new book, however, she has many reservations.

"I have to say that I think reverse mortgages are a potentially dangerous step for many retirees. It is far too easy to get blinded by the prospect of receiving much-needed income today and overlook some important considerations", she writes.

While everything she writes about reverse mortgages is true, it's also true that there are some older people who could not stay in their homes were it not for reverse mortgages. There are folks in their sixties, seventies and above still making mortgage payments. A reverse can save many of those people so much grief. Therefore, I think it's wrong to scare at least that group off reverse mortgages and I do not understand her reversal, especially since a new type of reverse is now available that is less costly.

The book is well written for the most part, although she writes to a group and not an individual, not a specially good style of writing.

She writes, "I am going to challenge you not merely to live within your means, but to live below your means." Certainly few can argue with that. "It is time to move beyond materialism in order to set our sights on authentic happiness", she adds.

"We must let go of the past. The decisions you make today must be based on what is realistic today--not what may have been true in the past, but what you know for a fact is an honest accounting of what is happening for you right here, right now."

Orman is giving us her view of reality. Only the reader can judge for himself if it's the view he or she wants to adopt. But I find no fault with it.

Other tidbits include:

"While you will always need to borrow to purchase a home, and many families will need to borrow for college as well, one of the fundamental principles of the New American Dream is to pay for as much as possible with cash. Spend what you have today, not what you hope to have tomorrow."

"Monitor your account every other day. If someone has managed to hack into your account and withdraw money using your debit card info, your liability is limited to $[...] if you notify your bank or credit union within two business days. Otherwise you could be held liable for up to $[...] in fraudulent charges."

"Open a separate savings account for each goal. Your emergency fund should be its own separate account. And every additional savings goal should have its own dedicated savings account."

There's lots of good in the book. But I found Weston's book much better.

Nonetheless, there are lots of Orman fans and, if you're one, you'll likely enjoy this book. You will, however, find lots of the same old stuff in it.

A word about the Kindle edition, it is not text to speech enabled. I find that a disappointment, especially considering the price of the book. That had no bearing on the number of stars I gave the book, however.

- Susanna K. Hutcheson

Suze's new book is awesome. It's very informative. She gives details about how to transform your way of thinking when it comes to your money. She's encouraging and advising us to really focus on spending our money wisely: to have an 8-month emergency fund, to be saving toward retirement and not to buy things unnecessarily, but to learn to live within our means. For example: before you buy anything, from a home to a car, make sure that you really need it and that you can really afford it.

We all know that times are tough and this book has helped me manage my personally finances with more ease and awareness.

Suze has been telling us for years: people first, then money, then things. Again, Ms. Orman's caring for everyone very much comes through in this new book. I would suggest encouraging all of your friends and family to read this book. Thank you, Suze!