Suze Orman

Susan Lynn Orman was born on 5 June 1951 on the South Side of Chicago to Jewish parents of Russian and Romanian origin, Ann and Morry Orman. Her mother worked as a secretary for a local rabbi, while her father worked in a chicken factory and later ran Morry’s Deli in Hyde Park.

Money was often tight, and Orman has said these early experiences shaped her understanding of how ordinary families struggle to make ends meet.

She studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned a BA in social work in 1976.

After university, Orman moved to Berkeley, California, where she spent several years working as a waitress at the Buttercup Bakery. The job gave her a close view of people living paycheck to paycheck.

In 1980 she decided to open a restaurant of her own. Friends and regular customers lent her $52,000 to get started, a sign of the trust she had built with them.

The restaurant never opened, but the episode set off the chain of events that brought her into finance.

As an investment novice, Orman placed the borrowed money with a broker at Merrill Lynch. By her account, he lost all of it trading options, a high-risk strategy unsuitable for someone in her position.

Determined to understand what had happened, she trained as an account executive at Merrill Lynch in 1980. There she learned that the investments made for her should never have been recommended.

She stayed at the firm until 1983, then became a vice president of investments at Prudential-Bache Securities. Her own loss became the foundation of her later message about knowing where your money is and whom you trust with it.

In 1987 Orman left Prudential-Bache and founded the Suze Orman Financial Group in Emeryville, California. She directed the firm until 1997.

During these years she advised individual clients on investing, retirement and insurance. She also published a booklet, The Facts on Single Premium Whole Life, comparing insurance and annuity products, and gave copies away free to anyone who asked.

This work refined the plain-spoken teaching style that later carried her into books and television.

Orman’s first book, You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It (1995), was followed by her breakthrough bestseller, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (1997). It argued that money decisions are shaped by emotions such as fear and shame as much as by numbers.

A run of bestsellers followed, including The Courage to Be Rich (1999), The Road to Wealth (2001), The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke (2005) and Women & Money (2007). She has written ten consecutive New York Times bestsellers.

She also wrote, co-produced and hosted nine PBS specials and became a regular guest on programmes such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live.

The Suze Orman Show premiered on CNBC in 2002 and ran until its final episode on 28 March 2015. Viewers called in with questions, and in the “Can I Afford It?” segment Orman delivered her well-known verdicts of “Approved” or “Denied”.

She wrote a financial column for O, The Oprah Magazine, and in 2008 gave away free downloads of Women & Money after an appearance on Oprah, generating almost two million downloads. In 2012 she hosted America’s Money Class on OWN.

She now hosts the twice-weekly Women & Money podcast.

Orman has long argued that financial education is a basic life skill, with a particular focus on helping women take control of their money. Her free giveaway of Women & Money in 2008 reflected that aim.

In 2016 she was appointed a personal finance educator for the United States Army and Army Reserve. In 2018 she became a Special Advocate for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, raising awareness of financial abuse.

Her advice consistently stresses emergency savings, avoiding high-interest debt, understanding credit scores and protecting families with wills and trusts.

In 2012 Orman launched the Approved Card, a prepaid debit card backed by Bancorp Bank and marketed as a way to manage money without credit card debt. It drew criticism for its monthly and service fees and because card use did not count towards FICO credit scores. The card was discontinued in July 2014.

In 2020 she co-founded SecureSave, a fintech company spun out of Pioneer Square Labs that helps employers offer emergency savings accounts. SecureSave was acquired by HSA Bank in 2025.

She has continued to publish, including The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ (2020), and to reach audiences through her podcast and newsletter.