Hard Times, Cozy Advice

Rev up the engines. To publicize her sixth book, The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life (Free Press), Suze Orman is going on a 21-city bus tour, a tactic more suited to a rock star than a personal-finance guru. Why not? Orman, the popular TV commentator and O magazine columnist, is a superstar in her own right. But is her advice solid? In her new book, she gives helpful guidance for those who have been bruised by the rocky economy, which is to say everyone. Her five laws (e.g., Look at What You Have, Not at What You Had), written in the cozy language of self-help books, will aid those intimidated by their finances. While she delivers a few dictates (no variable annuities; no whole- , universal-or variable-life insurance policies), much of her advice depends on squishier concepts like being honest with yourself. "What keeps you from doing that which you know you should do with your money?" she asks. Readers of her book will find themselves with fewer excuses.