The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

This is a great book. The majority of financially successful people in the U.S. are frugal. Learning to be frugal, really learning the value of money, is what this book is all about. For those that are wasteful with money, like many NFL athletes or lotto winners, the majority lose their savings in the future. 88% of NFL athletes are broke five years into retirement. There are rules that govern money -- obey them and financial success will follow. Dave's book teaches each of us the rules. I think this book is the critical first step to financial success. After people have had time to apply the Total Money Makeover, they must learn to invest wisely. That is step two. Dave stresses the importance of investing in mutual funds. Mutual funds are great, particularly low-cost funds (think Vanguard, Fidelity), but I would consider adding hard assets as well. Rental properties and tillable farmland are assets that are not too difficult to understand and will generate cash flow indefinitely. Just owning one duplex and one farm over a lifetime would provide two other sources of income. I think investing in stocks is important, but I believe it is wise to hold several types of assets. Some straightforward books that help to simplify investment ideas -- The Little Book of Big Dividends by Charles Carlson, and the Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller. As for learning about farm land, Farm Credit can be an excellent resource. To find local land values, contact a local auctioneer. You can get a list of recent sales prices. You can also probably find a local person who has experience with rental properties or land. Many people will share information with you when you are just trying to learn. When buying rentals or land, always have the sales contract reviewed by your attorney prior to signing. It's a small fee that can save you thousands of dollars. Also, many local libraries carry the Value Line Investment Survey. It's simply the best source of information on stocks. It also contains 4 model portfolios that you can follow. The Wall Street Journal and Barron's are also great resources. Visit the library and learn for free. Building wealth takes time and effort, just like everything else. The Total Money Makeover is the first and most important step.

I cannot completely disagree with the people who have given this book 2, 3, and 4 stars. This book truly does state the obvious. I started from the introduction and Mr. Ramsey definitely highlights that a lot of what is in this book has already been preached by other "experts" and the vast majority of what he puts out there is common sense for a great many people. These are all points that have been argued by those who are not so pleased with the book. I figured it behooved me to point that out just in case anyone read my review anticipating the reasoning behind my giving this book five stars had to do with some amazing new revelation of how to save money. You could probably place me in the category of the people who know what to do and how to go about doing it, but never ACTUALLY do it. Am I uncormfortable? Not at all. I have a respectable job with very fair compensation, and my wife does well too. However, we have also done well to accumulate debts over time: many of the debts are as old as our relationship (which is pretty young...six years). It wasn't until recently that I realized something. While we have money saved aside for the imminent rainy day, we could be doing so much better if we were saving without the concern of applying those savings to our debt. Like I said, for many of you this is obvious. I was in denial for quite some time. I didn't want to admit that I was horrible with money because I didn't want to sacrifice control of my own money. When I came across this book, I did research on the author, and determined that this would be a solid investment. Upon reading the first few pages, I was immediately hooked! The part that got to me the most was looking in the mirror and realizing where our financial woes were originating from. I know, it sounds like a 12 step program: it kind of is! It's a program for binge spenders! I realized that I was financially intoxicated, or financially overweight (Mr. Ramsey correlates the Total Money Makeover with working out...pretty good tie-in considering that I need to get in shape too!). I probably could have finished this book in a day if it wasn't for my obligations to work and family. Instead it took two whole days to get this book finished! Since then (four days ago) I have already created an Excel sheet listing all our debts from smallest to largest, and have created an allocated spending plan for our upcoming paychecks in two weeks. The first step is to come up with $1,000 dollars, but we already have that covered, and are prepared to get a head start on our debt snowball by depleting our savings accounts. I have even set a target date for us to be debt free. While I read the whole book, I sometimes think I should have stopped reading at baby step 2, which deals with clearing your debt. I don't necessarily want to get ahead of myself. Anyway, the point of this review is simple: it is not so much knowing what it takes to clear your debts and live a life of financial freedom; it is about DOING what it takes with a "gazelle like intensity". Again, there are no crazy new revelations or revolutionary ideas. Mr. Ramsey makes no claims to being an expert. He simply puts out what everyone already knows. Besides, it's also good to know that he was in a position - becoming rich, filing for bankruptcy, only to become wealthy again - to employ these methods. As with any other review, take mine with a grain of salt. Determination and sacrifice will ultimately lead to true freedom in the future. "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." Awesome and uplifting read.

This book really has changed my life. Before reading Dave's book I had never made a budget before and always just spent on what I wanted not what I needed. After reading this book I set a budget stuck to it and have now paid off £7000 on credit cards, have savings for the first time ever and am working on saving for a deposit on a house. I would recommend this book to everybody as I believe there isn't anybody who wouldn't benefit from reading it and using the principles in this book.

I previously read this book and followed it. Allowed me to retire early. As such - this purchase was a gift for my daughter as she starts out. Hoping she follows as well and has a great debt-free life.

one of my American is currently doing the 'total money makeover'-program and I was curious. It is a very good read and will certainly help you to look differently at your spending habits and investments. It might be wise to skip the rather long introduction because it is all repeated in the book.

This book is ideal for someone who just wants to tweak a particular aspect of their finances, or it does just as well for the person who has never learned how to manage money. You learn that money management is a skill, can be learned, and will get you where you want to go in life. The book gives you everything you need to learn the basics, and provides information on where to get the tools to do it; e.g., budget sheets. What's more, this man is you and me. He has been there and done that. For some, like Dave Ramsey, experience is the best teacher. The fact that he is able to turn it around and share it with us, prevents many of us from making the same mistakes, continually. He stops us in our tracks.

This is a great book with tons of basic ideas for taking control of your financial life. Sometimes a bit repetitive but it gets the important points across. Well worth a read for all those needing to gain control of their lives.