People First, Then Money, Then Things, Then Jackets

 I have a confession to make: I watch the Suze Orman Show. I don't always agree with her advice, but I do like her fundamental advice to get people to face up and deal with their financial problems. I enjoy her "Can I Afford it" segments where she reviews a viewers finances to approve or deny a purchase that they want to make. She shouts, "You've been approved!" or "You've been denied!" depending on what the case may be. We like to guess which way she's going to go. Craig does a mean impression of her "You've been denied!" Suze has a very wacky personality. Kristin Wiig did a great impression of her in an SNL skit a few years back where she altered Suze's catch phrase to "People first, then money, then things, then jackets." Suze does have quite a unique collection of jackets. If you watch the show, you have to put up with Suze calling people, "Boyfriend," "Girlfriend" or cringe "Love Bug."

This week Suze gave the following three rules of financial advice to live by:

1. Ask yourself is this a want or a need:
   "If it is a need, then buy it. You have to buy something that you need. If it is a want, you are to walk away and let it go. Now you have to understand, you need food to survive. So you go to the grocery store and you buy food. You want to go to a restaurant. Get the difference?"
2. Simply lived below your means but within your needs:
   "If you can afford a 3,000 square foot house to buy, you don't need a 3,000 square foot house. Maybe all you need is a 2,000 square foot house. buy what you need not what you think you can afford. So live below your means but within your needs."
3. Simply try to get as much pleasure out of saving as you do spending:
   "Why is it when you're depressed you have to go out and buy something that you don't even really like after you purchased it? Why is it that you feel that the only pleasure you can get in life is when you go out to eat or spend money at a bar? Why can't you just simply get as much pleasure out of sending in that extra mortgage payment, sending in that payment to do what, deposit into your Roth IRA for your retirement?