Suze Orman's advice for investors

Suze Orman’s advises investing simply and regularly.
Fear, shame, and overconfidence, she argues, derail
more financial futures than bear markets ever could

After building her career on the ruins of a broker’s bad bet, Suze Orman emerged as one of the most trusted financial voices of the past three decades. But her investing advice isn't meant for sophisticated investors. It’s aimed squarely at the everyday investor—the schoolteacher, the nurse, the single parent trying to build a future one paycheck at a time.

Her message is simple: it’s not about beating the market. It’s about not letting the market beat you.

Orman’s preferred approach to investing is minimalist. She favors low-cost index funds, most often S&P 500 or total market funds. She encourages dollar-cost averaging through consistent, automatic contributions and strongly advocates for Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s whenever they’re available. Her focus isn’t on chasing high returns—it’s on building quiet, durable wealth over time.

She offers a basic formula to help people determine their asset allocation: subtract your age from 110 to find the percentage you should have in stocks, with the remainder in bonds. At age 40, that means 70 percent in equities. At 65, it's 45 percent. While investors with more experience may find the rule crude, it serves her purpose: giving people a simple, usable framework when most are overwhelmed by choice and jargon.

Crucially, Orman insists that investing should begin only after a financial foundation is in place. That means paying off high-interest debt, building an emergency fund with eight to twelve months of expenses, and only investing what can be left untouched for years.

Her approach is as much psychological as it is financial. She often says the greatest threat to your portfolio isn't market volatility—it’s emotion. Fear, shame, and overconfidence, she argues, derail more financial futures than bear markets ever could.

“You have to know yourself before you can trust your investments.”

Orman also champions Roth retirement accounts as the most accessible path to long-term, tax-free growth. She calls them “the single best gift you can give your future self,” and warns that many people underestimate their future income and the tax burden that may come with it.

Orman’s investing advice is basic and that’s the point. Her goal has never been to serve the already wealthy. It’s to give the average person tools they can actually use. Her legacy is in democratizing financial confidence—not optimizing alpha.

Tomorrow in My Daily Oracle, we'll take a look at Suze Orman's books. There are so many. Which (if any) are worth reading?