- Last week, I sat down with personal finance guru Suze Orman to discuss her new book and her path to success.
- She told me that I should stop buying coffee - she said I'm "peeing $1 million" down the drain that I should be investing in a Roth IRA.
- When it comes to burnout and working long hours, she said you can change your attitude, and to think of it as something you need to do. And she knows this because she did it, too.
- She lives on a private island in the Bahamas with her partner, and only sleeps for four hours a day.
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As a millennial/Gen-Z cusper, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Suze Orman about some of our generation's favorite topics in a recent interview: burnout, astrology, and, of course, iced coffee.
You may recall how the best-selling author and personal finance guru set social media aflame when she infamously said that 20-somethings like myself were "peeing $1 million down the drain" with our coffee habits. (It's not entirely unwarranted - I worry about how quickly I rack up Starbucks rewards).
But once I was face to face with the personal finance guru, who is promoting her new book, "The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+," I couldn't help myself. I looked her straight in the eyes and asked: "I buy a coffee every day. Should I stop doing that?"
Her answer was immediate.
"Yeah. Cause you're peeing $1 million a year down the drain. Okay. $100 a month is a coffee every day or $3 a day, right?" Orman said. (I could not bring myself to tell her how much a mocha or cold brew with oat milk costs in New York.)
That money should be going into a Roth IRA, she said.
"And I know that everybody's attitude [is], But Suze, I work hard for my money. I want to have that one little joy. I get such joy going in and getting a coffee,'" Orman continued. "If you want to pee $1 million over 45 years down the drain - because that's exactly where it goes, because it's not going into a Roth instead - go right ahead and be my guest. But the biggest waste of money ever is to go and buy a Starbucks."
Orman doubled down on her anti-coffee-buying rhetoric, undaunted in the face of think pieces such as "Save $1 Million by Forgoing Coffee and Joy of Any Kind in This Soulless World" and "The Rise of Coffee Shaming." And she had some compelling evidence to back it up: herself.
"I'm a seriously wealthy woman, right? Seriously wealthy. Right? And I've bought maybe three cups of coffee in a Starbucks or a coffee place in my life."
In our half-hour conversation, Orman kept hitting on the same themes. Opportunity is something you create, and it requires a shift in attitude - and yes, it does relate back to abstaining from spending on Starbucks. We covered other hot-button millennial issues, too, ranging from astrological advice to "burnout," and she was consistent throughout.
You should prioritize spending money on needs, not wants, according to Orman. And that includes restaurants, bars, and, of course, coffee shops.
