What Suze Orman’s Warning About the Economy Means for Your Investments

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Investments have always carried some degree of risk, but this year has been particularly tumultuous for investors.

Suze Orman, financial advisor and television personality, posted a video to her YouTube channel warning Americans of some unusual signs in the economy and how they affect investments.

She also shared some tips on how to navigate investing during such an uncertain time.

Unusual Economic Warning Signs

In her June video titled, “The Economy Is Not Acting Normal,” Orman described how the unsettled markets aren’t acting normally.

“When markets go down, people fly to safety,” she explained. It’s a natural reaction to want to sell all your stock to lock in the remaining money you’re left with, but in doing so, you’ll be losing money. If you keep your stock, that stock has the opportunity to increase in value, and you could regain your money.

Even though selling off your stock in the midst of an economic downturn isn’t recommended, many people decide to sell, which drives the market down even more. As the economy becomes unstable, investors often turn to bonds instead of stocks.

“Bonds are supposedly safe,” Orman said. “When you buy a bond, you cause the price of that bond to go up.”

When a bond’s price goes up, the interest rate attached to the bond goes down. The opposite is true, too; when a bond’s price goes down, the interest rate goes up.

“That did not happen, and it has not been happening, and that is cause for concern in the bond market,” said Orman. “Rather than prices of bonds going up and interest rates going down, interest rates and bonds went up and up and up and up. That isn’t what you want to see in normal markets.”

Orman explained that when the United States market is decreasing, it’s typical to see more foreign money coming into the United States. When foreign investors buy into the United States market, the United States dollar gets stronger.

“That didn’t happen last week,” said Orman.

In fact, the United States dollar has been getting weaker, and has dropped in 2025. Orman explained that the decrease in the value of the dollar is another sign that something isn’t going right, and that perhaps foreign countries don’t have the faith in the United States that they once did.

“Maybe they just feel safer taking their money somewhere else,” she said.

What To Do With Your Investments

Investing during times of economic uncertainty can be a gamble, but Orman explained her strategy. Rather than putting money into treasuries, she’s investing into dividend-paying stocks, explaining that many dividends are currently paying more than the treasury interest rates.

Dividend-paying stocks are stocks that regularly distribute a portion of their profits back to stockholders in the form of cash payments, also called dividends.

“I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen with interest rates and treasuries,” Orman said. However, even if dividend amounts decrease, you may still be making more than you would in interest if you’ve carefully chosen your stock.

Pfizer is one example of a dividend-paying stock; at the time the video was filmed, its dividend was around 7%. But Orman cautioned against quickly investing large amounts of money in stock. Instead, she suggested taking a dollar-cost average approach.

With dollar-cost average investing, you’ll invest a certain amount of money at certain intervals, such as every three months, and you’ll invest that money regardless of what the stock’s value is. The approach can help navigate market volatility. Orman used the example of investing $12,000 in stocks gradually every few months.

“Eventually when things turn around and things go up again, I’ve made money in the stock and I’ve locked in a nice dividend for myself,” she explained.

Orman also recommended that investors focus on investing on the future, rather than the past.

“Times are changing, and AI has changed the face of money and the face of the future,” she said. “You have got to be invested in that arena.” You can diversify your investments by incorporating AI companies into your portfolio, and investing across multiple AI technology companies.

While nothing is ever certain when it comes to investments, Orman recommends these strategies to help investors navigate the fluctuating economy. The fact that the unusual economic warning signs are present means it’s difficult for anyone to predict just what might happen in the coming months, so it’s probably time to factor that uncertainty into your investing strategy.  

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