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The Oprah Winfrey Show

Excerpt from Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny
By Suze Orman

From the shows Money Interventions: The Mom Who Shopped Her Family Broke, Ask Financial Powerhouse Suze Orman Anything, What Happened to the Mom Who Shopped Her Family Broke? and Suicide, Lies, Debt: A Suburban Nightmare
Please know that there is not one sentence of blame within these pages. I appreciate that the incredible multitasking job called your life makes it hard, if not impossible, to find the time, energy, or desire to pay attention to what you are doing wrong with your money, let alone figure out what is the right thing to do. Your kids need mothering, your partner needs loving, your parents need help, your career needs your energy, and your friends need your ear. Throw into that mix the dry cleaning that needs to be picked up, the groceries that need to be bought, the meals that need to be prepared, and the house that needs to be cleaned, and it's no surprise that anything to do with money takes a backseat.

The aim of this book is to make this transformation as easy as possible.

In order to do that, I'm going to help you toward an understanding of how we got here—why we undermine ourselves and why deciding to seize control over our financial lives is, in fact, a groundbreaking, trailblazing decision. I also hope I can provide you with the motivation to want to act, to tackle these challenges head-on and own your power.

I'll provide you with the guidance and pragmatic tools to feel secure and in control of your financial life as quickly and as painlessly as possible. To that end, I've come up with a five-month course of action that I've named "The Save Yourself Plan" to help you over the blocks and set you up for a lifetime of financial security. I've tried to pinpoint why it is that other books have failed you, why your moments of resolve and inspiration inevitably lost their steam and were short-lived. I've taken a realistic approach and come up with a strategy that anticipates the fatigue and fear and lack of determination and is designed to keep you engaged, educate you, and—can you believe it?—inspire you to want to do more. I will not overwhelm you with laundry lists of seemingly insurmountable chores. I've identified core tasks—and made them as comprehensive and easy to follow as possible. It is my goal that, at the end of five months, you will be able to chart your progress and feel the pride and relief that come with being in control of a part of your life that has, until now, remained outside your grasp.

And finally, I hope this book will point you toward the future and inspire you, show you what is possible not just for our generation but for generations to come.

Because this is truly the best part: These life-altering changes are an amazing legacy, a gift to every daughter and granddaughter—those who grace your life today and those yet to be born.

Now you know why I truly believe that this book—the one I never planned to write, the one for women only—is the most important book I have ever written.

Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny continues…
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Excerpted from Women & Money by Suze Orman Copyright © 2007 by Suze Orman. Excerpted by permission of Spiegel & Grau, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.