GuruWatch

Suze Orman, a regular person of interest here on GuruWatch is at it again? At what you might ask? Even while her brash personality and personal financial advice is debatable, there are not many who will argue that she is a savvy business woman who knows how to market herself. You can even see that she clearly thought through the colors to be used on her latest book cover. In short, she definitely knows how to make money …. for herself at least!

Suze Orman has partnered with TD Ameritrade to offer brokerage account bonuses to women who read and follow Orman’s advice from her latest self-help book “Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny“. In the book, Orman outlines a simple five-step, the “Save Yourself Plan”, intended to help women find long-term financial security. TD Ameritrade is helping tp promote Orman’s book by offering a $100 bonus to clients who follow the Save Yourself Plan, open a new brokerage account during the month of March and make monthly direct deposits of $50 or more for one year.

Forgive my eternal cynicism. But the “save yourself plan”? I’m still undecided as to whether that name is meant to motivate women by instilling fear or to uplift their spirit. Using fear as a tactic wouldn’t be foreign to Suze, since she does work at CNBC. Suze explains it this way, “What’s at stake is far bigger than money itself; it’s about every woman’s sense of who she is and what she deserves, and why it all begins with the decision to save yourself”.

Would the brokerages really care if women followed Orman’s advice? The key for TD Ameritrade is to build up the necessary illusion that they’re after your best interest, and not your fees/commissions. The brand marketing strategy to reach out to women investors is a smart one.

As for Suze, increasing book sales would not be a bad thing at all for her bank account. I wonder if she uses TD for that? Hmm …