Born On This Day- May 5th... Suze Orman

What were the chances that John Maynard Keynes & Susan Lynn Orman would share a birthday? Is there something about June 5th that is telling of people being smart about money? Do Geminis think a great deal about finances?


Suze Orman is a famous financial advisor, author, motivational speaker, TV host, & the anti-Stephen. I have a feeling that she just wouldn’t be that fun to shop with. What, with all that saving money philosophy.


Orman is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. She has written 7 consecutive NY Times Best Sellers; has written, co-produced, & hosted 6 PBS specials, & is the most successful fundraiser in the history of public TV.


In 2004 & 2006, Orman won 2 daytime Emmy Awards for her PBS specials. Over her television career, she has won 6 Gracie Allen Awards (rewarding the achievements of women in radio & television), more than anyone in the 34-year history of the awards.


In July 2009 Forbes named Orman 18th on their list of The Most Influential Women In Media. She was selected by Time magazine as one of the TIME 100: The World's Most Influential People. In 2009 she was honored by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation with the Vito Russo Media Award. In April 2008 Orman was presented with the Amelia Earhart Award for her message of financial empowerment for women. She is regularly spoofed on Saturday Night Live, the biggest compliment possible.


In 2007, Suze Orman revealed to the NY Times, that she is a lesbian & had been with her partner, Kathy Travis, for 7 years. During the interview, she was asked if she is married. Orman: "K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We're going on 7 years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin. Both of us have millions of dollars in our name; it’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa."


Orman has a net worth of approximately $25 million (with $7 million more in real estate), she didn't start out wealthy. Orman grew up in Chicago 's South Side & worked part-time at her father's take-out store. After completing her B.A. in social work, she moved to Berkeley, Calif., & worked at the Buttercup Bakery for 7 years. Orman started working as an account executive at Merrill Lynch, where she remained for 3 years before becoming vice president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987, Orman had founded her own business- the Suze Orman Financial Group.


To me, it is interesting is that since her announcement that she was gay, there has been little focus on Orman's sexual orientation. The focus is on why it makes good financial sense to get married, & her inability to do so because she is in a same-sex relationship. Suzy is looking good as she turns 61 today.

Born On This Day- April 20th... Andrew Tobias

Andrew Tobias is the author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need, which if you know me, & you should, is not a tome that I have picked up yet. Indeed, when it comes to finances, I fly by the seat of pants, having lived most of my life paycheck to paycheck. In the late 1980s- early 1990s, I was rather flush. I had a national commercial, an international commercial & a national voice-over on the air, resulting in 18 months of $500+ residual checks every week. I was very smart with that money. I bought books, music, clothing & I took The Husband on a journey to Northern Italy. A year later I was broke again.

At the start of the new century, Tobias was treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, the DNC’s highest ranking openly gay official.

In 1973, under the name John Reid, he published one of the first gay novels I had read- The Best Little Boy In The World. From that semi-autobiographical tale: ''I think my own loneliest moment may have been on a winter evening senior year in college with my roommates up at Killington, in Vermont. . . . What got me was trying to negotiate the 'apres-ski' that night, scoping out chicks at the dance bar, & having to pretend I was loving it, man… loving it! In fact, I was hating it. I was inadequate, I didn't fit in, my life was a complete deception . . . As I crunched back through the cold crisp air, under the stars, feeling so left out, I realized that my life was absolutely, completely hopeless. I sat down in the snow, alone, & cried.''

Tobias grew up on NYC’s 5 Avenue & spent weekends at the family's country house in Westchester County. His father was an advertising executive; his mother adored him. Tobias went to Horace Mann & Harvard, where he was better at making money than going to class. By the time he graduated in 1968, he had put theLet's Go Guides, then slender Harvard Student Agencies guides to Europe, into the black.

He became a writer for New York magazine,& then a financial columnist for Esquire, Playboy, Time & Parade. The Best Little Boy In The Worldbecame a classic among gay men. I remember that it was in the bookshelves of most of my tricks in the 1970s, at least I think it was, I was often upside down while checking out the reading materials of my new buddies. 25 years later it was re-issued, this time with Tobias's name & photograph on the cover. The Best Little Boy in the World Grows Up was published simultaneously by Random House.

Tobias came out to his parents & friends in the 1970's, but did not come out publicly until the early 1990's. His partner of 16 year was designer Charles Nolan, who passed away last year. Nolan was also a mover & shaker in the Democratic Party. Tobias turns 65 years old today, making him The Best Little Senior In The World.