How Suze Orman Used her Investment Misfortunes to Become One of the Most Successful Stock Brokers

Susan Lynn Orman is a TV personality, financial advisor and personal finance author. She has inspired thousands of people with her speeches both on and off cam on the subject of banking, investments and credit. She has a large following because her own success in her investments speaks volumes of about the credibility of her financial strategies.

Orman, more popularly known as Suze, was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 5, 1951. She had difficulty forming words that’s why her reading and writing were challenged as a young girl. Despite her struggles, she finished her high school and was accepted at the University of Illinois. She was able to pay her school bills out of her salary as a dishwasher at the school cafeteria.

Unable to finish her degree in social work, Orman and some friends moved to Berkeley, California in 1973. She finished her degree in Spanish at Hayward State University while working as a waitress at the Buttercup Bakery.

While at the Bakery, Orman dreamt of owning a restaurant. She applied for a loan of $50,000 from a sympathetic customer. She hired the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch to take care of her investments. However, her broker invested her money in a falling market. Within three months, Orman was broke.

She knew it would be impossible to pay the loan. So she worked with Merrill Lynch as a stock broker. Soon, she sued her own employer for the lost $50,000. Because of the lawsuit, Merrill Lynch could not fire her. While working at Merrill Lynch, Orman became successful as a stock broker.

In 1983, Orman left Merrill Lynch to work with Prudential Bache Securities as Vice President of Investments. After 4 years, she resigned from Prudential to open the Suze Orman Financial Group. She was her own firm’s Director until 1997 when she shifted her focus on her speaking and writing career.

Orman’s books were bestsellers. Some of her known books include The Road to Wealth, The Courage to be Rich, and The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. She had a weekly TV show with QVC entitled Suze Orman’s Financial Freedom and another with CNBC entitled The Suze Orman Show.