By FaithfulReader.com
I take pleasure in discussions regarding my finances when it comes to as much as I get enjoyment from talking regarding my weight. I surely need to work on both, but I’d prefer to keep away from the topics if at all possible, thank you very much. Can I get an “amen”?
Dave Ramsey, radio talk show host, author and all-around financial guru, is no stranger to this ostrich routine. After his own bankruptcy he came to the conclusion that the key to financial (and physical) fitness isn’t knowing all the tricks of the cash trade; it’s being honorable with yourself. “If I may control the guy in the mirror, I may be skinny and rich,” he says in his new book THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER.
In other words, you have to get your head out of the sand. Okay, I have to get my head out of the sand.
Leaving the skinny to other books, Ramsey is a prophet to those who want to be rich but would settle for being financially stable. It’s clear that this is a huge group, given the popularity of Ramsey’s radio show and books. After reading THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, I may see why they flock to him for advice.
Ramsey’s principles are simple and straightforward. Pay cash. Pay off debts from smallest to largest. Create an emergency fund. He provides easy-to-understand answers to some seemingly complex questions with regards to budgeting, retirement funds, saving for college education, and more.
Large pullout quotes scattered allround the book offer bite-sized financial counsel and factoids in Ramsey’s specifically direct manner:
“A new $28,000 car will lose when it comes to $17,000 of value in the firstborn four years you own it. To get the same result, you could toss a $100 bill out the window once a week for the duration of your commute.”
“Looking to spend $100 per month on life insurance? You could pay $7 a month toward term insurance and invest the remaining $93. But go with a cash-value policy if you’d rather have an individual else earn interest on your investments.”
“49% of Americans could cover less than one months’ disbursements if they lost their income.”
“If your mortgage payment is $900 and the interest share is $830, you will pay that year around $10,000 in interest. What a great tax deduction! Right? Otherwise, you’d recompense $3,000 in taxes on that $10,000. But who in their right mind would chose to trade $10,000 for $3,000?”
All of this counsel is helpful and eye opening, but what Ramsey in truth excels at is presenting inspirational tales of those who were once, but are no longer, in financial disarray. Their stories make up at least a third of the book, and the cumulative effect is that of a published pep rally designed to get people pumped up regarding saving money. And it works.
This is a must-read book for any person whose looking for a little basic financial info and a whole lot of courage to in the end put away the ostrich suit.
— Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel
126 of 133 humans found the following review helpful.
Straight talk and a proven plan from this radio star!
By A
If you’re thinking regarding passing on this latest book from financial guru Dave Ramsey because you’ve already read his original New York Times bestseller Financial Peace, think again. Financial Peace is “what to do.” Total Money Makeover is a step-by-step, nuts and bolts “how to do” kind of book. Dave takes the seven key principles of a healthful financial plan from Financial Peave and gives them a shot of adrenaline and a ton of muscle! He walks with you through each of the seven “baby steps” and shows you precisely how to accomplish each one. Along the way Dave shares dozens of stories from people who are working on or have finished their own Total Money Makeover. The result is a book that could replace all others on personal finance. Reader beware: If you’re looking for the next “get rich quick” book from a guy with a calculator and no experience, this is not the book for you. But if you want an uplifting and furthering book that will show you incisively how to build unfeigned wealth and will give you loads of stories from humans who have done just that, pick this book up today! Dave knocks it out of the park with Total Money Makeover, and your personal finances could be doing the same very soon.
262 of 285 persons found the following review helpful.
Generally good advice, if you’re actually in a financial hole
By T. Scarillo
“The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey, is the 3rd Edition of his ordinary book outlining personal finance counsel and his “Baby Steps” method of righting your financial ship. I’m assuming that if you actively searched here underneath his name, you already know who Ramsey is – he and Suze Orman are in all likelihood the two most prominent personal-finance show hosts in the US. They have somewhat dissimilar styles – both may be pretty blunt to their callers when needed, but Ramsey have a tendancy to lean toward advising humans to take more-drastic measures to get their debt down (`beans and rice, rice and beans’ and his mantra of `Live like no one else, so you may someday Live like no one else’) as opposed to Orman’s “People first, then money, then things”. She’s a bit more empathic, but perhaps he’s a bit more hard-line because, at least from what I’ve seen (and I’ve watched both for various years), his audience in general seems to get themselves into larger financial messes in the original place. If you think you’ve got it bad, tune into his show (on Fox Business Channel on cable) and you’ll listen galore REALLY bad stories of situations persons have gotten themselves into, that will in all probability make you feel better regarding your own finances. Many of the `true stories’ contained in the book are of humans who got themselves in disturb by: 1) getting married/divorced too young, to/from somebody who was as evenly inept at handling money; 2) having lots of kids at a very early age (they’re expensive, big surprise); and 3) appearing to have no education beyond high school, or majoring in something that is improbable to yield a living income.
See all 864 client reviews…