Suze Orman: "The American Dream is Dead"

Photo of Suze Orman courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Financial expert Suze Orman proclaimed to a crowd at Barnes and Noble in Union Square last night that the American Dream is dead.

"The old American Dream is dead -- the dream where bigger, better, and more was the goal," Orman said Thursday night. "Those days are dead for the majority of America and I think that's great because it's a waste. It's a waste of energy. It's a waste of space. It's a waste of money that you were earning."

She added, "We have now entered what I'm calling 'the New American Dream,' which is a dream where you value who you are over what you have. You value your money more than the things your money can buy."

She released her 10th book, "The Money Class: Learn to Create Your New American Dream," this week and said its major theme is "to stand in your truth in every action, every word and every thought that you think."

"If you always do what is true all the time, I promise you will attract more love to you than you will ever have any idea what to do with," Orman said.

Orman answers viewers' questions about money and investments as the host of her CNBC program "The Suze Orman Show," as well as on segments of the "Today" show, but says her new book will give readers the financial education they need to have.

"You have got to read this book and take notes," Orman said. "When you open it up, the class is in session and it's going to be a class you won't want to miss."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Author Discusses Women on Wall Street

Nina Godiwalla spoke about her new book at Borders.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Author Nina Godiwalla worked on Wall Street and revealed last night what inspired her to write the book "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street," which gives insight to what it's like to be a female investment banker.

"I wrote the book because I want people to learn and see what my experience was like," Godiwalla said Wednesday night at the Columbus Circle Borders. "When you can look at it and see what someone else did, I think it just helps you with your own career."

She explained that she believes the environment in that industry would improve if they started embracing differences more instead of discouraging them.

"The area I worked in was, in my opinion, a little more on the homogeneous side," Godiwalla said. "I found it was a little more challenging to be different. I felt like the culture was more like, you need to assimilate to what we are as opposed to let's be open and we all have different ideas. The hardest part for me was not having a voice or my own opinion."

After all of her experiences on the exchange floor, both positive and negative, Godiwalla says she doesn't discourage anyone from taking a job on Wall Street.

"If anyone can do it better than I can, more power to them," Godiwalla said. "The reality is, I felt like I made so many mistakes. I look back at the experience and I find it almost embarrassing."

Godiwalla is currently the CEO of MindWorks, a company she founded to train business professionals in stress management and meditation. She said she's going to spend some time focused on her company before starting on her next book.

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Financial Expert: 2011 is the Year For Change

Author Ryan Mack during a discussion in Columbus Circle.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Financial guru and author Ryan Mack says that even though this country is currently facing a bad economy, this is the year for everyone to take responsibility for their finances and make changes. 

"As far as I'm concerned, 2010 was the year that everybody was waiting on their ship to come in," Mack said during a discussion at the Borders in Columbus Circle last night. "But 2011 is the year we have got to swim out to it."

Mack released his new financial self-help book this month, "Living in the Village: Build Your Financial Future and Strengthen Your Community." He says it provides a road map on ways to have financial well being, but also strongly promotes activism.

"We provide the principles in the book," Mack said. "But a principle is only as good as the person who receives it and is able to implement it."

He adds, "I wrote this because I wanted to make sure that we all understand that we have a responsibility. I don't want to point the finger anymore. I'm tired of looking at other people and seeing what they're not doing. It's time to ask, 'what am I doing?'"

Greed is one of the problems Mack sites for the downward spiral of the economy, but says that if people work together to embrace change, there will be positive results. 

"If you mix greed with capitalism, then you've got some problems," Mack said. "But if you use love in a capitalistic system, you create jobs and a stronger economy."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.