The Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance

FIRST EDITION-FIRST PRINTING-NEW-" "What would it take for you to change the course of your life?" reads the first sentence of The Courage to Be Rich, a book that goes beyond the phenomenal success of The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom in challenging and inspiring us to realize our full financial potential, and to realize as well that the bottom line of life is comprised of much more than money. Why does it take courage to be rich? Because it takes courage to meet every obstacle and opportunity of life, to forgive ourselves and others for past mistakes, to imagine and achieve a future rich with possibility. With her signature blend of inspirational and practical advice, Suze Orman asks us to look within, asserting her powerful conviction that once we achieve a state of emotional clarity regarding money, financial clarity will always follow. She guides us through a lifetime of financial issues, from relationships and prenuptial agreements to investment options, from the money we spend in daily life to the money we need for tomorrow. Finally, Suze takes on the seldom-explored subject of money and grace, the rewards it bestows and the responsibilities it confers. Suze Orman may be the only financial planner for whom words like "hope," "acceptance," and "courage" are part of her daily lexicon. The Courage to Be Rich is a book that will change our very definitions of wealth and abundance. Review: Talk about an audacious title! But Suze (pronounced "Suzie") Orman means business in this anecdote-rich compendium of tips on 401(k)s, marriage, homes, and happiness. The PBS star/financial adviser has made plenty of the mistakes she warns against, like getting a 30-year mortgage instead of a cheaper 15-year, using Visa cards as magic carpets to calamity, and losing $20,000 in borrowed bucks to bum investment advice. Then she became a Merrill Lynch broker and an author capable of selling 10,000 books in 12 minutes on QVC. Orman's point--in this and her No. 1 bestseller The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom--is that you'd better face fiscal facts and avoid fear, denial, and the self-fulfilling low expectations the novelist William Wharton called "the Poverty Mind." America is a nation of check-bouncing, late-fee-incurring, guilty bad planners. How long will it take to pay off that $3,000 Visa bill with minimum payments? Thirty years, you poor, dear fool! What would you gain if you bought stocks instead of your daily latte for 30 years? $165,152! Her book might've been titled The Courage Not to Be a Self-Sabotaging Neurotic."-Sticker residue on DJ. Orman is the Andrew Weil of money health--she yearns to enrich your life emotionally, too. If you can't stand discussions of the psychological origins of fiscal decisions, or self-help lingo like "money is attracted to people who are strong and powerful, respectful of it, and open to receiving it," you'll want a more nuts-and-bolts adviser. If you want pep talk, true tales of woe and makeovers, and a jolt of a true pop culture phenomenon, Suze is for you." --Tim Appelo