The Total Money Makeover

A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

By: Dave Ramsey

Narrated by: Dave Ramsey

Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

READ BY THE AUTHOR.

Do you want to build a budget that actually works for you? Are you ready to transform your relationship with money? This New York Times bestseller has already helped millions of people just like you learn how to develop everyday money-saving habits with the help of America's favorite finance coach, Dave Ramsey.

By now, you've already heard all of the nutty get-rich-quick schemes and the fiscal diet fads that leave you with a lot of quirky ideas but not a penny in your pocket. If you're tired of the lies and sick of the false promises, Dave is here to provide practical, long-term help. The Total Money Makeover is the simplest, most straightforward game plan for completely changing your finances. And, best of all, these principles are based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies. This is the financial reset you've been looking for.

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition will give you the tools and the encouragement you need to:

• Design a sure-fire plan for paying off all debt--from your cars to your home and everything in between using the debt snowball method
• Break bad habits and make lasting changes when it comes to your relationship with money
• Recognize the 10 most dangerous money myths
• Secure a healthy nest egg for emergencies and set yourself up for retirement
• Become financially healthy for life
• Live like no one else, so later you can LIVE (and GIVE) like no one else!

©2003 Dave Ramsey (P)2003 Thomas Nelson Publishers

Critic reviews

"The strength of this book is that it is a straightforward motivational tool. He provides the brutally direct truth about the hard work it takes to become free of debt, and his directness is a great part of the book's charm." (Publishers Weekly)

Interesting read

Overall good book. interesting perspective to managing finances and looking hard in the mirror

great listen and super empowering!

I loved this! Dave is witty, practical and tells it like it is. I have begun my total money makeover and couldn't feel more in control of my finances! Everyone needs to get in on this to become free from debt!

I’m hooked!

I didn’t love the religion talk but it was minor enough not to bother me too much.
The money message is great and I listened to this in one sitting. I’m hooked and excited. I’ve already opened an online savings account and cut up my credit card and reworked my budget.

Great start for your financial life

This books is really good in breaking down clutter. We are constantly bombarded with information regarding money, investments, savings etc. and lose touch with fundamentals. I see reading/listening to this as a opportunity to get back our focus on things that should fill up our top lines in the priority list. Some concepts outlined in the book may seem very obvious and trivial but it does highlight that implementing these baby steps are easier said than done. Things like having an emergency fund, living on a structured written budget seem obvious but does require constant diligence to upkeep. I give this a 4/5 rating as it gets the reader thinking about basics and cementing those ideas. Apart from that, I believe the book could have provided more details regarding execution and strategies. Since everyone has their own way of doing things, outlining strategies that do work could have embellished this book with more quality content. Overall, worth the read.

Motivational

This book will motivate you to love debt free to build your wealth. Steps are complicated. It isn’t easy. Just finished listening and will see how it goes.

love it

love it!! great motivation, easy to follow, looking forward to implementing these techniques. and buying his other books.

helpful

this book is gonna be so helpful. hoping to start soon to start saving money.

The Greatest Financial Wisdom

I loved listening to this book. it is so simple for you to understand and Dave really puts a fire in your belly to get to work.

A much needed guideline

I'd heard of Dave Ramsey through other sources, but also have already been studying personal finance for some time now. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill, The Richest Man in Babylon - George Clayson, and a few others. Unlike some of the other books I've read, Dave actually does give a plan in regards to getting out of debt, which is a nice change of pace from some of the others. (while "Richest Man-" does have some "ideas", these are wildly outdated and aren't able to be implemented practically)

I do like the general guideline Dave gives in this book, but he has some unrealistic numbers running through this book as well. Don't get me wrong, I do agree with most of the book; setting up a budget, setting barriers in place to prevent you from spending in excess, and cutting the use of credit cards and debt in general are all good points to make. However, his numbers claim that people could live on $1,000 a month with no debts (I'm assuming he's not including house/mortgage/rent). In one example after listing a series of debts, he claims most homes have an average take-home pay of $2,850. He then states the debts of an average home are around $1,850 before claiming that if a family were to take that money, the $1,850 and put it into investments and live off the remaining amount, it would be "tight but doable". I don't know where this guy lives, but where I live, Home Insurance, Car Insurance, Food, Water and Sewage, Utilities, Electricity, Phone bills (not paying for a new phone I mean actually just the use of cellular and basic 6Gb of data) and Gas for transportation take a little more than $1,000. I'm also not including any clothing, car repairs, medical necessities or Health Insurance. A basic family of 2, unless eating ramen and needing no toiletries or anything else, could NOT make it on only $100 a month, as gas by itself would be nearly $200 a month, even for gas-efficient cars. Granted, he's going WAY too hard on investing in this example, but you get my point. Don't take everything he says for granted.

While he does bring up his religion quite a bit, which is fine, he is using it as a mental stability factor, not an over-zealous factor. (though one of his "example stories" feels a bit conceited about it)

If you're looking for a plan to get yourself out of monetary trouble, I'd say this IS a good book. At the very least, the first 3 steps are VERY promising, albeit they could take longer than just 2 years for a lot of people. (Unless you get "Gazelle-intense" about your debt as Dave puts it) There are a few gripes I have with the book, some about the numbers he's running and others about the religious pushes, but I do like the way Dave narrates this book (he's VERY enthusiastic about it, which is a good way to motivate people) and the points and myths he tries to clear I feel would be helpful to a lot of people.

Overall, I would recommend this book.

Great Basic Financial Advise for Success

This book gives the reader a really good basic plan for success that involves nothing more than some diligence and personal responsibility. This should be taught in school as a standard.