Suze Orman has spent decades telling Americans how to handle money, and the unusual part is that she actually follows her own advice. Worth an estimated $75 million, Orman still cooks at home, drives her cars longer than most people would think necessary, and thinks carefully before spending.
Her reasoning is less about necessity and more about philosophy. “When you respect money, when you honor money, no matter how much money you have, then your money turns around and honors you,” she told GOBankingRates. These are the habits she says make the difference.
1. Stop Eating Out So Often
Orman has made her feelings about dining out extremely clear. “I really do not like to spend money to go out to eat. I don’t like it, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. It’s so much money,” she said.
The math backs her up. The average American household spent $3,933 on food away from home in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Orman’s position is that food from a grocery store is a need. A restaurant meal is generally a choice, and those choices stack up fast.
2. Automate Your Savings
One of Orman’s most repeated pieces of advice is to remove willpower from the equation entirely. Setting up automatic transfers to a savings or investment account, whether weekly, biweekly, or monthly, means the money moves before there’s any temptation to spend it.
She treats saving the same way most people treat paying a bill: non-negotiable, scheduled, and done. The amount matters less than the consistency. Starting with even $50 per paycheck builds the habit and the balance simultaneously.
3. Build an Emergency Fund First
Before worrying about investing, Orman wants people to build a financial floor. She has cited a number that should give anyone pause: roughly 37% of Americans are not prepared to handle a $400 emergency expense, according to a 2024 Empower survey.
Her recommendation is a savings account funded with at least $100 per month, which produces $1,200 in the first year before interest. By 2026, she has raised the bar further, suggesting eight months’ worth of living expenses as the real target. That sounds aggressive, but her point is to work toward it steadily rather than trying to get there overnight.
4. Choose a Roth IRA Over a Traditional One
Orman is direct on retirement accounts. “If you really want to not just build wealth, but keep the wealth that you build, one of the biggest mistakes you will make is if you opt for a retirement account that gives you a tax write off versus a retirement account such as a Roth that allows you to invest with after-tax dollars,” she explained.
A Roth IRA grows tax-free, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are not taxed. Income limits apply: for 2025, married couples filing jointly need a modified adjusted gross income below $236,000 to contribute the full amount, rising to $242,000 for 2026.
5. Keep Cars Longer
Orman pushes back on the idea that trading in a vehicle every three years is normal or smart. Cars depreciate quickly, and the transaction costs alone, dealer fees, taxes, registration, often run into thousands of dollars. Her habit is to drive a car until it genuinely stops making financial sense to keep it.
For most vehicles, that’s well past the 100,000-mile mark. Holding onto a paid-off car for an extra two or three years is effectively the same as giving yourself a raise.
6. Spend Less Than You Earn — Every Month
This sounds obvious, but Orman frames it in a specific way. “For you to have money, you have to learn to live below your means, but within your needs,” she said. The distinction matters. Living below your means doesn’t require deprivation.
It requires drawing a clear line between what is actually necessary and what just feels that way in the moment. Subscriptions, premium upgrades, and convenience spending are where most budgets quietly fall apart. Tracking spending for even one month tends to make those patterns visible.
7. Don’t Let Fear Drive Financial Decisions
Orman has consistently warned against panic-driven money moves, particularly during periods of market volatility. “Fear is the main internal obstacle to wealth,” she said on her Women & Money podcast, adding that the worst thing someone can do during economic uncertainty is make decisions that sacrifice long-term security for short-term comfort.
Selling investments when markets drop, moving everything into cash, or freezing up entirely are all reactions that tend to cost more than they protect. Her advice is to have a plan in place before turbulence hits, so decisions are already made.
8. Invest in Energy Efficiency at Home
Orman includes energy-efficient appliances and home upgrades on her list of conscious financial decisions. This one pays in two directions. The upfront cost of an efficient washer, water heater, or HVAC system is usually recouped through lower utility bills over a few years.
Federal and state rebates in 2025 and 2026 have also reduced the out-of-pocket cost of many of these upgrades through programs tied to the Inflation Reduction Act. Orman’s broader point is that some spending is actually a form of saving, as long as the numbers are worked out first.
9. Respect the Small Decisions
The thread running through all of Orman’s habits is that wealth accumulates through repetition, not through single large wins. Skipping one coffee purchase doesn’t change a financial life.
Doing it consistently, alongside automating savings, keeping cars longer, and not panic-selling during a rough quarter, compounds into something real over time. None of these habits are complicated. Most of them just require deciding, in advance, that the long-term account matters more than the short-term convenience.
