Total Money Makeover Workbook
by: Dave Ramsey
Topics include: gaming programs, your emergency fund, smallest debt, bankruptcy filers, combined family income, financially fit, financial fitness, your home mortgage, how money works, retirement investing, your retirement years, envelope system, Case Study, Word Pool, Monthly Cash-Flow Plan, Debt Snowball, Pinnacle Point, American Express, Social Security, Wall Street Journal, Spent Home Pay, Car Payment Car Payment, Consumer Federation of America, Credit Line Student Loan, Store Card, Hair Care Education, Cumulative Payments, Whole Life, Spirit of the Disciplines
In this fresh, interactive guide, respected financial expert Dave Ramsey offers a proven, comprehensive plan for getting in shape financially. The Total Money Makeover Workbook takes you one step closer to getting out of debt and achieving financial health. Against a playful backdrop of fitness terminology, Dave gives solid, hard-hitting advice and the "hope" and the "how-to" needed to turn goals into reality. The Total Money Makeover Workbook includes:
Useful worksheets and forms
Readable and informative charts and graphs
The four factors that keep people from getting in shape financially
The Total Money Makeover Workbook is an essential resource for anyone desiring total financial fitness. Dave's no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach translates into results for those who diligently follow this complete action plan. Tens of thousands of people have already transformed their financial situation with Dave's advice, rooted in "God's and Grandma's common sense." With The Total Money Makeover Workbook, countless others will be on their way to financial fitness.
Dave Ramsey Will Help You Become Financially Fit -- 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? 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 someone else earn interest on your investments."
"49% of Americans could cover less than one months' expenses if they lost their income."
"If your mortgage payment is $900 and the interest portion is $830, you will pay that year around $10,000 in interest. What a great tax deduction! Right? Otherwise, you'd pay $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 advice is helpful and eye opening, but what Ramsey really 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 about saving money. And it works.
This is a must-read book for anyone whose looking for a little basic financial information and a whole lot of courage to finally put away the ostrich suit.
What a great book, but a greater set of ideas! -- This guy, Dave, (well, I have shaken hands with him, you know) is wonderful at taking our Grandparent's (and sometimes our parent's) advice on handling money and making it not only palatable, but funny at the same time. Yet, if one follows that steps in his books, including this book, there is no limit to what a boon it can be to not only one's finances, but even to our deepest relationship, with our lifepartner.
How can I proclaim so boldly; that is a good question. It is because my family and I made lots of financial mistakes, read his earlier book, Financial Peace, and now are one of many "success" stories featured in the book. Just read it and imagine what you think it would be like to only have no car, furniture or credit card payments. Whether you are a Christian or not, you will appreciate Dave's solid, Biblical principles of personal finance. He may seem somewhat radical, even most of the time to some, but this is based on his abhorance of debt (see his own burn and crash story in the book) and his faith in his "Baby Steps" to financial freedom. It is an "easy" read, so why not now...aren't you tired of debt following you around like a bad memory!
Reviews:
Totally amazing makeover -- Wow, it is amazing. I was recommended this book by my mentor and can understand why, I have read it already 5 times, and already am a baby step 2. The people who CHOOSE not to understand or implement these teachings need a swift kick in the pants. I also listen to him on my PC on Monday-Friday with streamlining, which he pays for, so people get off your high horses, and pay attention. DEBT is not good, nor healthy. For the person who says he is just money hungry, you are all wrong, listen online, it's worth it. DaveRamsey.com is the place.
This book is so much more than a book for the financially clueless. After you read this book, listen to Dave's radio program or listen to the archives on daveramsey.com. After less than two months of listening to Dave on radio, our bill arrived from the credit card company and I owed $500 for the previous months spending. I was so irate with myself that I pulled out the old credit card and cut it up while my husband grinned from ear to ear.
Then we went to Costco where Dave was appearing and had him sign our book and discovered for ourselves what a terrific guy he is! He not only cured our financial problems but his influence caused us to merge our finances, and write a monthly budget for the first time (at age 63 and 66). My husband and I were so filled with fresh hope that we were turning cartwheels of joy. We can't thank Dave enough!!! Asking for fresh financial advice is like asking for new ways to breathe air. There are rules in the universe dude, shut up and learn.
