This was an original post for LA Moms Blog in March, 2010.  I publish my archives on the occasional Friday, and since money is on my mind, I picked this one for today.

“I knew I was dumb, everyone I knew thought I was dumb.” –Suze Orman, Women and Money

When Suze Orman was a child, she had a speech impediment, which made people think she couldn’t read or score well on tests. She grew up not expecting much of herself, yet had a core of self esteem that blossomed and took over during her young adulthood. Working as a waitress, she was saving to start her own restaurant when she discovered that a shady broker had taken advantage of her, recommending risky investments that caused her to lose all of her money. By reading up on investing and studying the markets closely, Suze figured it all out on her own, and marched into Merrill Lynch to apply for a job.

And here we are today, when I cannot imagine a world without the Suze Smackdown. If you’re not familiar with her work, Suze Orman is a noted author, television personality, and public speaker whose specialty is personal finance. More specifically, women’s personal finance. Decades ago, as a successful financial advisor, she never imagined that she’d become the industry she is today.

Last month Suze was in town to shoot a set of videos that help explain her Save
Yourself Retirement Program with TD Ameritrade. The latest product in her Save Yourself line, the retirement program is designed to coach the average investor into choosing the right retirement account and funding options for him or her. The program promises to be a simple and effective way to get you off your butt and into the market, because by God, as she often lectures callers on The Suze Orman Show about saving for retirement, if you don’t prepare for the future you are in big trouble.

Liz Peterson and I visited the set of Suze’s shoot to watch a bit of the filming and ask those burning questions we’ve always shouted out loud to the television but never had the patience or guts to call in to the show and ask. (That last part is probably just me.) I’ve been reading and watching Suze’s work for years, deferring to her website and her weekly MSNBC advice show to glean hints about what decisions I should make. Lately I’ve also been communicating with her on Twitter, which she uses with surprising regularity and actually replies to people (she DM’ed me a few times to tell me she loves my cowboy hat).

I’ve often thought of Suze as a role model for grown-ups: not just for women, although she is very motherly and protective of women and champions the idea that women should and must take control of their financial lives. Suze’s work applies to all people, and you often hear men calling into her show to ask serious questions. She’s genuinely interested in people and also protective – when Liz and I introduced ourselves as the visiting “mommy bloggers” she instantly said “And are you making any money with your blogging?” and gave us that all-knowing look with her piercing blue eyes.

As a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, an employee, and a philanthropist, I look up to Suze’s “People first, then money, then things” approach to life. I was eager and fascinated to hear what she had to say. Luckily, I caught most of it on camera, and since my editing tools and my free time are short, I present more of the interview in simple Q&A fashion:

Should married women, especially stay-at-home moms, focus on saving in their husbands’ 401(k)s if they have them, or set aside money in their own IRAs?

Married women have retirement savings options from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

What special advice do you have for Los Angeles moms?

CA Moms Must Get Will and Trust! from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

Your knowledge of the financial industry is encyclopedic! How do you keep up with it?

Suze fascinated by financial news and info from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

Back when you were a financial advisor, did you ever imagine this incredible success for yourself?

Suze never planned this career for herself from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

Your success really took off later in your career. What advice do you have for women who still have their success in front of them?

Women Come Into Their Own In Their 40′s from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

You keep a tireless schedule. Why is it so important to you to work so hard to help people?

People First! from Kim Prince on Vimeo.

Brady has had a runny nose for at least 6 weeks now.  Kyle has joined him.  As you may recall, Stewart had pneumonia recently, and I got a flu AND a really bad cold.  Our house has basically been one big snotfest with all the colds and the crying, so it was quite timely that I got to shoot this video for Kleenex.  The product placement and “research material” really came in handy.

I especially like this video for YOU because you don’t just watch it and tell us what you think.  You can go to kleenex.com and send a pack of tissues to someone you love.  Come on, you have a snotty friend or family member who could use a good nose- blowing.  Everyone does.

Another thing that makes this video special to me is that I noted on Twitter while we shot it that in the background, in a starring role, is my new Himalayan salt lamp that I bought at a street fair in Ojai a few weeks before.  I only knew about Himalayan salt because Lisa was fond of cooking meat and vegetables on a salt block made from it.  I tweeted this fact, and tagged her.  Her very last communication to me was this:

I’ve been lamenting the disconnectness of our online connections over the past few days, but one thing Lisa was always sure to do was comment, mention, notice, observe…basically pay attention.  She used social media in a meaningful way.  I think I’m mostly disdainful of it because she is no longer a part of it.

Anyway.  This video is supposed to be about sharing with people we don’t even know.  I suppose that sums it up, doesn’t it?  After we donated the toys we collected in this video, that was pretty much it for us this season, because I couldn’t be bothered to get my arse in gear and get more things collected for needy families.  But one can always use the social media, where we share with people we know, people we never talk to anymore, people we don’t know, and everyone in between.

In the spring I traveled to Springfield, Illinois to attend the wedding of my dear friend Suzanne.* There wasn’t any other good reason to visit Springfield, so I had never been there before, and did not realize how much rich Abe Lincoln** history the town hosts, or that a fellow kick-ass blogger lives there and is the source of much super-cool knowledge, such as where to get a design-your-own Bloody Mary on a Saturday morning.

To get to Springfield, IL from Los Angeles in a reasonably cost-effective and timely manner, one flies to Saint Louis and then drives the rest of the way. I thought this would be a good opportunity to rent a hybrid vehicle, and set out to reserve one.

Except I couldn’t.

Extensive research – and by this I meant more than four clicks from a search result page – revealed that Enterprise would be my best bet. They proudly advertise their hybrid rentals, but that way can be a dead end. You can pick a city that offers hybrid – or even electric – vehicles, but there’s no telling if they’ll have one for you when you get there, even if you have a reservation.

I put on my investigator cap and made a few phone calls to find out why. Turns out, the corporate headquarters of Enterprise just happens to be in St. Louis, so I wound up chatting with Lisa Martini, who, besides having an awesome name, told me that because hybrid vehicles are available in much lower numbers, Enterprise “is at the mercy of the manufacturer.” In other words, even though there is great demand for them, the supply has not yet matched it. And so the majority of the hybrid vehicles in their fleet are concentrate on the coasts, with a scattering throughout the midwest. And of those, many are often snatched up by business commuters.

That was all lovely and interesting. But I was traveling on a specific date, and there was no flexibility, and I didn’t want to roll up in St. Louis and hope that someone had a hybrid available. Because of the journalisty nature of my inquiry, Martini was kind enough to arrange for one for me and Auntie Lisa, my traveling companion. Sure enough, when we got to the St. Louis airport’s Enterprise office, a little blue Prius was waiting for us around back.

Here’s the cinematic masterpiece of me showing off:

So my memory isn’t so good. That Prius wasn’t blue at all.

Now that lots of you have already driven one, here’s more old news for the rest of us: driving a hybrid is a little bit weird. First of all, you don’t need a key, except to lock and unlock the doors. You turn the car on with a button. I half expected the car to chime like a Mac on startup. The danger here is that the key itself is easy to leave behind, since it’s not in the usual ignition spot when you park. More than once, I left it in the cupholder. Not a smart move, especially when you are in a strange city, and the car is not even yours.

The whole fuel consumption thing was lost on me, too. The Prius has a space-age dashboard with graphs and schematics and interactive displays that show you how much gas you’re guzzling depending on what mode you’re in. There’s a full gas mode, a gas/electric mode, and a purely electric mode, which nobody ever uses, and I still don’t know why. Stewart was interested to know how many miles per gallon we were able to hit, and honestly, because the display was so confusing, I don’t even remember. I do know that we only filled the tank once, and not even all the way. It was just to return the tank to the right level for the end of the rental period.

The rest of the Prius driving experience was fine. It was a kicky little car, and I liked it. But unless the rental companies get more of them, I’m not going to be seeking one out again. The additional cost (about $30) over a regular full size car isn’t worth taking the chance, or maneuvering my travel plans to fit the car.

In summary, you rent a Prius where they are plentiful. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.

*Suzanne with her freshly appointed husband, Chris, enjoying their first meal as a married couple:

**Abraham Lincoln poses behind Auntie Lisa outside the capitol building:

***Here we are with Kelly, aka Mocha Momma, and her main slice, The Cuban:

Lest you think I am a big wino who would rather surf Facebook with a cold glass of pinot grigio in my hand than play with my children, let it be known that I am pretty a kick-ass wingman in LEGO Star Wars on Wii.

Still, I like to be sarcastic when a camera is stuck into my face.  That’s what comes right to the top of my head when I know everyone is listening.  And that is why I am all snarky in the latest video from Ragú®’s Mom’s the Word on Dinner:  “What is Dinnertime Like When Dad Cooks?” co-starring Whitney Moss and Renee Ross.

That part about the grill is sincere, though.  Stewart loves that grill like it’s the fifth member of our family.

What is dinnertime like when Dad cooks at YOUR house? Are you a dad who cooks every day and switches it up when Mom cooks? Pipe up in the comments!

I want them to be forever young

Several years ago a colleague of mine said that I was “irrepressible.” After I looked that word up, I was flattered. It means that you can’t keep me down. Make fun of me, shatter my fantasies, burst my bubble, but I’ll create a new one.

And so, even though my parenting fantasies have not all come true, I continue to come up with new ones. Like the one I have now, which is that first grade and preschool will last forever, and my boys will always be interested in snuggling in bed with me and tickling each other and fighting over inconsequential things like LEGO guys or who gets out of the car first.

And the big one: that they will never be stupid or pressured enough to use drugs, or God forbid, get drunk and drive. Especially not in high school. Aside from locking them in the closet from age 16 to age 21, I’ve figured out that the best I can do is clench all of my muscles in anxiety during those years, and relax only when they are legal and less stupid. I suppose that, since they are boys, that idea will condemn me to a life of misery.

I wonder how I was gifted with the horror of drugs and alcohol at an early age. When I was 16 and kids in my school were planning after-parties for the prom, I was the one who dictated to my friends that there would be NO DRINKING in our circle. (Yes, I was a very fun friend.) If there was even a hint that (gasp) drugs (gasp) were on the premises of a party, I would immediately leave. To be honest, I didn’t go to that many parties. But that’s another post.

Luckily, my paranoia didn’t prevent me from becoming an awesome life-of-the-party friend in later years, but I’m quite sure it prevented me from making any number of serious wrong turns while in high school. I wish I knew my parents’ secret to making a kid like that. I don’t think they even know their secret. My hope is that Kyle and Brady will each have their own healthy dose of self-esteem and fear from whatever anti-drug campaign is running when they are in middle school that they will just say no when alcohol or drugs are offered to them too soon.

Since their high school days are years away, I can sit back and watch as brainy scientific people come up with devices that promise to relieve my anxiety. To do my clenching for me, if you will. Isn’t technology wonderful? Soberlink has introduced a home breathalyzer that sends a blood alcohol level to your phone, with a handy built-in camera and embedded GPS so your teen can’t fake it.

The video feels slightly big-brothery, and the dad hugging the teen girl makes me get a little teary-eyed and miss my dad. Remind me to tell you that one story about how I got arrested when I was 16 and he didn’t get mad.

I hope I won’t need a device like Soberlink, but it’s nice to know it’s out there if necessary. I can’t imagine what will exist by the time my boys are driving. You’re on notice, technology. I expect teleportation by then. Teleporting under the influence isn’t illegal or dangerous, right?

What’s your secret, or your plan? Did you ever get arrested as a teen for underage drinking? Please share!

This post is sponsored by Soberlink. All recollections and opinions are my own.