The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Author: Visit Amazon's Dave Ramsey Page | Language: English | ISBN:
B005C4EV68 | Format: PDF
The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Description
- Paperback
- Publisher: latest edition (2010)
- ASIN: B005C4EV68
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
I enjoy discussions about my finances about as much as I enjoy talking about my weight. I certainly need to work on both, but I'd prefer to avoid 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 money trade; it's being honest with yourself. "If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can 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 large group, given the popularity of Ramsey's radio show and books. After reading THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, I can 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 many seemingly complex questions about budgeting, retirement funds, saving for college education, and more.
Large pullout quotes scattered throughout the book offer bite-sized financial advice and factoids in Ramsey's typically direct manner:
"A new $28,000 car will lose about $17,000 of value in the first four years you own it. To get the same result, you could toss a $100 bill out the window once a week during your commute."
"Looking to spend $100 per month on life insurance?
"The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, is the 3rd Edition of his popular book outlining personal finance advice and his "Baby Steps" method of righting your financial ship. I'm assuming that if you actively searched here under his name, you already know who Ramsey is - he and Suze Orman are probably the two most prominent personal-finance show hosts in the US. They have somewhat different styles - both can be pretty blunt to their callers when needed, but Ramsey tends to lean toward advising people 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 can someday Live like no one else') as opposed to Orman's "People first, then money, then things". She's a bit more empathic, but maybe he's a bit more hard-line because, at least from what I've seen (and I've watched both for several years), his audience generally seems to get themselves into bigger financial messes in the first place. If you think you've got it bad, tune into his show (on Fox Business Channel on cable) and you'll hear some REALLY bad stories of situations people have gotten themselves into, that will probably make you feel better about your own finances. Many of the `true stories' contained in the book are of people who got themselves in trouble by: 1) getting married/divorced too young, to/from someone who was as equally 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 unlikely to yield a living income.
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