Suze Orman. A True Life Insurance Idiot!
There are a lot of women out there who pay attention to the advice that comes from the Oprah show and when it comes to finances, it’s Suze Orman. Run from this woman if she tries to give you life insurance advice.
As a life insurance professional I found it disturbing that anyone would allow this woman to give life insurance advice to a national audience. Her advice is dangerously generic and her grasp of product knowledge, well, certainly wouldn’t get her an insurance license.
With broad statements like “the only type you need is term insurance” and “you might buy a 25-year term policy” really show her ignorance. While term insurance does fit most needs, Suze needs to understand that she is talking to women of all ages and needs. One size does not fit all and if she knew her products, she would know that there are only about 5 companies out of 2000 in the US that sell a 25 year term and it is disproportionately priced between 20 and 30 year products, making it a terrible deal compared to either. A woman would be better off buying a 30 year term and dropping it after 25 if she doesn’t need it. If she happens to have another child, that extra 5 years will be a great deal.
Then she uses her bully pulpit to suggest that people look for their life insurance from selectquote.com. Selectquote is a huge mega life insurance sweatshop that pushes clients toward the companies that give them the best contracts, not the companies that will provide clients the best value. They have also made themselves infamous for having the same commercial on national television for the past 5 years suggesting that a couple with two toddlers buy 10 year term products. It’s a bait and switch commercial. Anyone with toddlers that buys less than a 20 year term is getting horrible advice.
With Oprah spending tons of money to educate children in Africa, you would think she would make a better effort to provide accurate, useable information to the women who look to her for advice right here at home.
Bottom line. The kind of generic, cute advice that comes from talk shows should be reviewed by talking the information over with a professional.
2 comments October 24th, 2007
