Suze Orman is the fifty-something gal who worked her way up the corporate ranks of finance to the position of Vice President of Investments for Prudential Bache Securities after a few years at Merrill Lynch as an account executive. She then formed her own successful company, started writing books, hitting the lecture circuit, and otherwise got into the public eye by television and radio shows as well as guest spots on a variety of programs. This is a glossed over accounting of her accomplishments but gets the point across; Ms. Orman has the kind of charisma that people look up to and enough background in finances that said people aren't totally wrong for listening to. Her best selling books have led to the occasional special on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and a lot of people think of her as the financial messiah of our times. This latest program departs from some of the conventional wisdom she had previously espoused so it makes sense for the target audience of those in their 20's and 30's to at least give her a listen. I'm not conversant in each of her media efforts although I've read substantial portions of her last book, The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life and watched her on TV so I'll try to hit the highlights of her current release without giving it all away. As a side note, I hated the spam at the beginning of the show and on the back box cover for a lending broker. If the show doesn't pay for itself, perhaps someone better versed in finance should come up with a way to cover the nut.

First off, it's important to understand that Suze Orman for the Young, Fabulous & Broke was first a book, with all the detail the written word provides, before it was this stage presentation of the highlights. I don't think I can emphasize this enough since a bit over an hour is not enough time to truly convey the complexities of modern finance unless you want to get really basic. By that, I mean the old adage that you should spend less than you make. If you follow that universal truth, you'll have no need for motivational speakers disguised as finance experts but any thinking person will understand that such sage advice is easier said than done. Our culture has raised a generation of people who think of their rights as supreme over their responsibilities; of their entitlements over their expected contribution to the world at large. Given an audience like that, I applaud Ms. Orman's attempts to bring some semblance of sanity to what she refers to as "Generation Broke".

The lecture breaks down into seven chapters of material that flow from point to point rather easily, starting off with defining the core audience as the aforementioned "Generation Broke". They are the people coming after the Baby Boomers, finding an economy that doesn't seem to treasure their particular assets as much as they "should", with lots of debt and expectations well outside of reality (remember that the dot com bust was built on the aspirations of many such people). Telling them that their "plight" is somehow different than that of the generations before them (for the most part, the similarities outweigh the differences), Ms. Orman sets the stage for her advice to seem all the more reasonable.

The first topic with some meaty material was centered on credit scores, particularly the FIFO score so many home buyers have come to know. She points out that the trend is for employers to use this credit score more in their hiring decisions since those hiring you will not want you if you can't handle your own money, never mind the company's money you'd be entrusted with. The worse your credit score is, the higher rate of interest you pay for loans and the associated effects are covered as well.

That leads to the section on actually using credit cards to pay your day to day bills, looking at it as an investment in yourself and your career; a switch from previous advice to get out of debt. Essentially telling the audience to chase their dream careers rather than the first comfortable job that comes their way (easier said than done), using one of her typical anecdotes about a friend's daughter giving up a high paying position to work at below living wage pay position to get a foot in the door. I hope the book mentions something along the lines of realistic career goals since this is completely glossed over in the show because there are a whole lot of people out there that think they'll be running a major corporation in a few years, rather than starting off in the mail room and watching the boss's son move up in a society that really isn't a meritocracy (no matter what your favorite television shows leads you to believe).

The show then goes into the saving versus paying off debt, providing a few examples of when to do one over the other; using comparative interest rates and rates of return as the primary criteria. This was another departure from Ms. Orman's previous advice of the freedom of being debt free and using emotional elements so heavily as she has been known for in the past. That logically led to a discussion on Roth IRA's and home ownership; both important factors these days to a successful and healthy life. The final segment dealt with the usual question and answer period where Ms. Orman answered some questions of an audience relatively unsophisticated in their own finance given the types of questions and issues raised.

The show was recorded live at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN with the audience looking like it was made up largely of students in their early to mid 20's. For an audience in need of sound financial advice, the show provided a decent starting point, but ONLY a starting point, based on some newly updated trends. Hammering home the point that people need to make tough choices about their lives and how they handle their finances in order to enrich the QUALITY of their lives, Ms. Orman offered up advice well above the level of generic, cookie cutter information that some of her peers have offered up for a hungry audience. In the past, critics have pointed out that the more specific she gets, the less her advice applies to a savvy, financially astute investor and I can't stress enough that this program should serve only as the most basic of primers for those so afraid of money issues that they need to be led by the hand (or nose). Her books are better but even then should only serve as a starting point to a serious challenge in life; getting the most out of your finances in order to enjoy your life to the fullest. As such, it warrants a rating of Rent It but if it's like her previous works, you'll get a lot more out of the book (so long as you read it) so check it out if you're in the target audience.

Picture: Suze Orman for the Young, Fabulous & Broke was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as originally shot for broadcast on PBS. It looked almost exactly like her previous stage shows with all the fleshtones looking solid, the camerawork fairly basic, and the lighting flat as it should be. Paramount is distributing it for PBS and it offered no visual surprises.

Sound: The audio was offered up in a 2.0 Dolby Digital English with no subtitles or other languages. The clip on microphone she used sometimes caused an issue or two (she's a professional motivational speaker and skilled at her trade but the limits of such a mike are apparent every time she tried to emphasize something or brushed her arm across her jacket). It wasn't a bad presentation but I've heard better.

Extras: The only extra was a short bonus section called Suze Unplugged: The lowdown on merging money, credit cards & more. It was more of the same anecdotes with the audience participation feature taking center stage. It lasted about 17.5 minutes and was as entertaining as the main show.

Final Thoughts: Suze Orman for the Young, Fabulous & Broke was a decent introduction to personal finance from someone with extensive experience in the field of finance. It was very much geared towards people in their 20's through 30's that are completely clueless on money matters. For them, the DVD was a nice introduction to the specifics the book offers (from the selections I read while researching this review) and might be a better way to learn some of the basics of finance. My personal opinion, and I've been in huge debt in my past (huge, not related to a mortgage that is), is that Ms. Orman is as positive a motivational speaker on the general topic of finance you'll find that actually has some solid credentials in the field. This DVD is like her other works and full of solid advice worthy of consideration. The fact that she looks a good ten years younger than her actual age speaks volumes to her message but don't look to this as the be all, end all program for solving your financial woes.