What happens when two titans of multimedia financial advice dynasties ruffle one another's feathers? They Tweet their tiff, of course.
Early this week, finance gurus Robert Kiyosaki and Suze Orman took to the Twitter stage for an impromptu philosophical smackdown, disparaging each other's guru-ness 140 characters at a time.
"Suze Orman and Robert Kiyosaki in Advice Showdown," announced InvestmentNews.com, whose top headlines before the March 2 all-star Twitter snit were Schwab's former head of national sales returning to the company and lawmakers hoping the Senate will pass HR 4154, extending the 2009 estate tax rate on $3.5 million-plus estates.
We'll go to the Kiyosaki vs. Orman Twitter Tiff play-by-play in a moment. First, a little background on our dueling gurus.
Ladies and gentlemen, the contenders
In one corner is Suze Orman, the tanned and toothy proponent of empowerment-laced thrift-focused financial advice. "People first, then money, then things" is her mantra; colorful jackets are her signature style. Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig does a dead-on spoof, which is closer to a character study than a caricature.
In the other corner is Robert Kiyosaki, who built his "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" cottage industry by espousing wealth-building through real estate, investing in businesses, trading options, and inviting followers to attend his traveling money-making road show and sign up for his proprietary systems. He, like Orman, has taken plenty of public lashings -- not from comedians, but critics who say he's a brilliant motivational speaker who delivers wealth-reducing financial advice.
He encourages followers to create an empire; she advises callers to build a financial bunker. She says pay off the mortgage; he says take on another and another. She likes mutual funds; he likes options. She champions 401(k) plans; he says the whole system is nothing but a Ponzi scheme.
Both have products to sell and personalities to protect, which brings us to the cyberspace smackdown.
Ding, ding, ding! Round one!
Kiyosaki starts the Twitter snit with this catty comment: "I can't believe this lady -@suzeormanshow. No way in hell she believes what she teaches."
Orman fires back in exclamatory upper case: "AT LEAST @theRealKiyosaki I DID NOT LEAD MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DOWN THE PATH TO LOSE ALL THEIR MONEY IN REAL ESTATE AS YOU DID. SHAME ON YOU"
Kiyosaki hisses: "If we are talking losses @suzeormanshow how about the TRILLIONS lost through 401K's http://ow.ly/1cZW4." That link points to Time magazine's "Why It's Time to Retire the 401(k)."
One minute later he dishes what appears to be his parting bon mot: "Real Estate flippers may have lost $, but I teach investing for cash flow, not capital gains. Good convo @suzeormanshow"
After a 12-minute silence from the Orman camp, Kiyosaki heads back to his corner casually tossing off one final dig under the guise of just another one of his signature Twitter Zen Money Moments: "We all require a different mentor. Smart ones want to learn to make millions w cash flow, others just need to be scolded."
Declare a winner!
Yes, we're encouraging you to take sides. Which guru should get the win? Should points be deducted for punches below the belt? Weigh in with your comments on this heavyweight showdown (and extra credit if you state a convincing case in 140 characters or less)!
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