I saw Suze Orman speak last week at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women. I had never heard Suze Orman speak before. Never read any of her books. Never watched her television show. But, after one presentation I was hooked. She was so motivating, especially to women…and not just young women…but women of all ages.

As Suze said, “we get better with age.” According to Suze, the average talk show host is 57 years old. (Does that mean I still have six more years to become a talk show host? Maybe once I write my book and become famous then I can become a talk show host. Maybe if I write my book and then have a talk show, I can invite Richard Gere as a guest. Ooh, that sounds like good motivation to get my book out of draft mode and into serious edit mode.)

What else did Suze say to the thousands of women who attended the conference? She had a lot more advice:

– Suze says that “the only thing that keeps us down is the ability to believe in ourselves.” (Sometimes, okay oftentimes, I don’t believe in myself. But, I’m getting better at believing…especially since I turned the BIG 50. It was like I hit a magic number that changed my ‘believing’ genes.)

– Suze says that “women take care of everyone and everything except ourselves.” (Suze is sooooooooo right on this point. I do take care of everyone…always thinking of everyone first, especially my kids – even though they should be taking care of themselves now that they are all grown up. And I do take care of everything – my house is a really BIG EVERYTHING lately. I have to start refocusing on me.)

– Suze says that “you have to learn to give to yourself as much as you give to others.” (Suze is right again. So glad I took time out for myself last Sunday afternoon and went to Lord & Taylor to purchase another pair of my favorite Not Your Daughter’s Jeans. I also tried to purchase a leopard belt so I would be trendy for the first day of fall, which is today, but they didn’t have any leopard belts in my size. I will just have to take more ‘timeouts for me’ and keep hunting for my leopard belt.)

– Suze says “Power attracts money and when you are powerlessness you repel money.” She says that “Power attracts people. People control money. Power attracts money.” (Suze is right again. Now I just have to practice exuding more power when I walk into a room, just like Suze says. Then maybe I will attract more money.)

– Suze says that “fear, shame and anger are three obstacles to power and money.” (Yes, yes, and yes – I carry all those emotions and they do weigh me down.)

– Suze says that “we say no to ourselves, but yes to others including yes to our kids, our spouses, our coworkers. What we think, what we feel, what we do, must all be aligned.” (I agree with Suze. However, sometimes what I think and feel don’t always match up with what I do. Note to self to practice this alignment. Wonder if yoga will help with my alignment?)

– Suze says that “the economy is no excuse for who we believe we are.” (So who else should I blame if not the economy that has drained out my 401K and other assets?)

According to Suze, there are key things I should be doing with the money I am making…and they are:

1. Have an eight month emergency fund. (I agree and I do.)

2. Get out of credit card debt. (I agree. No debt for me.)

3. Save for retirement and sign up for your company’s 401K, especially if they have a match. (I agree and I did.)

4. Have a will and trust. (Yes, yes, I do, I do.)

5. Tell your children ‘no,’ save more for retirement instead of putting more money in a 529 account to pay for all their college expenses. (Okay, I don’t want to talk about this step right now…especially since my son seems to be so happy in NYC even though it is costing me mega bucks to send him to college.)

“People first, powerful people first, then money, then things we need and want,” Suze says.

Ooh Suze, ooh Suze…you are so motivating. I’ve got the power to be powerful, to attract people, to attract money. I do. I do. Well, at least right now I do believe I have the power. But, how can I ensure that this feeling doesn’t diminish?

Ooh, maybe I should post your words up under my bathroom lights so I can read them every morning when I put on my makeup and lipstick before I leave the house for work. Yes, yes, yes, that’s exactly what I think I’ll do.

Judi