Suze Orman: Let kids get paid for work they do at home

Upon the invitation of our good friend Roni Merk of BPI, my husband Anthony and I had the privilege to listen to the talk of the famous New York Times best-selling author and multi-awarded wealth management guru Suze (pronounced as Susie  her real name) Orman. She had several engagements here in Manila for a variety of audiences and spoke straight from the heart.  She had no prepared speech or power point presentation. She basically asked the audience to shoot their questions and she answered them extensively.

Suze reminded us to save, save, save.  She said she didn’t care how we saved for as long as we saved.  Suze stressed that she acquired her wealth through hard work and not by being born to a rich family or earning from investments. She works because she loves to work and has a high respect for every penny she earns. Even to this day, if she finds a penny on the street, she will pick it up no matter how dirty it is. She also said it doesn’t matter what we do with our money; what is most important is how we live our lives because ultimately, that will determine how we will spend our money.  She strongly advised us to not allow ourselves to be defined by how much money we have. Instead, she urged us to stay positive, love life, work hard, and be confident because those things exude power.  For Suze, powerful people attract money and hopeless people, who often grumble and moan, repel money. Right now, more than anything, what matters most to Suze is making a difference, not so much making money.  She makes so much money  about a seven-digit sum for a half-hour talk  but came to the Philippines pro bono. For her, it’s people first, then money, then things. She promised good friend Doris Magsaysay Ho she’d come and fulfill that.  She said the Philippines didn’t disappoint. 

Suze told us to repeat this mantra to ourselves: “I’m never gonna forget, I’ll always remember that I will only spend the money that I have.” Based on her vast experience in dealing with all sorts of people, it is very common for people to forget their lessons especially when it comes to dealing with their money when they’re happy with what they’ve got.  Suze said people usually act on things right away when the learning makes sense to them. 

Since she employs Filipinos in her home, she noticed that her staff used to take their vacations regularly to visit family and friends.  Lately, they’ve been opting to stay so as to be able to save some money as they realize now the need to save because they are not getting any younger and are more concerned about how to have a better future for themselves. Her message to OFWs is to teach their family where the money is coming from and for how long it will come regularly to allow them to anticipate the future. They should also teach their family to expect that anything can happen anytime and that they must have a contingency plan for all those people depending on the money. She encouraged us to take care of our parents as what she does with her 91-year-old mother.

People learn when times are hard.  In fact, Suze didn’t grow up in a privileged home.  Her mother worked as a secretary. When she was young, she had a speech impediment and since her parents couldn’t afford to send her to a speech therapist, she helped herself overcome her speech defect by observing people and practicing how to speak properly. 

When I asked what I should teach my children, Suze advised me to teach my children to be responsible financial stewards and ask them why they receive their allowance.  We must be realistic parents and when we don’t know the answers to their questions about money, it is okay to tell them we don’t know and that there is power there when we admit our limitations. We must put a cap on the money that our children can spend.  Anything more than that is something we can set aside for their savings.  She told me this after I shared how BPI has made it so easy for me to transfer money to my children’s accounts online. And because my children are smart about saving their money and not using it for their expenses, they accumulate quite a sum.  Suze told me to let my kids get paid for the work they do at home.  We are encouraged to give them bonuses as well for going an extra mile and allowing them to splurge their own money.  In fact, Suze shared that we must also allow our children to waste their money because in doing so, they learn to value it.  If we truly want to help our children learn how to value their resources and not necessarily just their money, we must allow them to do things on their own instead of spoon-feeding them.  Suze reminds us that sometimes when we help not just our children but other people in general, we end up hurting them because we withhold what is really good for them.  When we don’t help, we actually help.

Take these things to heart and earn to live and not live to earn.  That’s my two-cents worth on moneytalk.

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