Photo Credit: Suze Orman private collection

Suze Helm at the

America’s Top Financial Expert Suze Orman Invests in the Boating Lifestyle

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by Wanda Kenton Smith

or five long years, Suze Orman gazed longingly from

“I said to KT [KT Travis - Suze’s partner], ‘I want a boat’; and

her South Florida waterfront terrace as all the beautiful

she said we’re not going to get a boat until we rent boats and

boats cruised by. Day after day, she keenly observed

we decide you really love boats; so I said ok,” recalled Suze.

that all the people on those boats were happy and having fun. She determined that she wanted a piece of that action and all that the boating lifestyle had to offer. Totally debt-free and raking in millions, Suze had the financial wherewithal to buy whatever boat her heart desired. As one of the nation’s most celebrated financial experts, this Emmy Award-winning TV host, book author, magazine columnist, writer/producer and motivational speaker only had to snap her fingers, and any number of boat retailers or yacht brokers would have gladly jumped to her call. However, her journey to boat ownership was anything but fast or impulsive, in keeping with the type of advice she regularly dishes out to loyal viewers of CNBC’s wildly popular, “The Suze Orman Show,” and to the millions of readers of her multiple, best-selling books.

24 GLB | May/June 10

And so the love affair with boating began. For five years, Suze, KT, and “The Pod”—a term of endearment for six members of their extended family with whom Suze and KT regularly spend time—set off on many boating adventures on rented 21-foot or 23-foot runabouts. With KT’s brother Tom, a boat captain, at the helm, they cruised offshore and dropped anchor, dove off the transom and enjoyed leisurely swims in warm waters. They puttered up and down the Intracoastal, looking at all the glitzy homes of the rich, mortgaged-to-the-hilt, and not necessarily famous. They pulled into cozy waterfront restaurants for relaxing meals. They took scenic trips to Palm Beach. Over time, that initial fascination with boating turned from a casual flirtation to a real passion.