The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Do you want to be financially fit or flabby? Do you want to control your money or have it control you? These are questions that each of us face at some point. Each of us must make decisions on how we are going to manage our money because if we don't, then our money will manage us. Dave Ramsey provides a plan for financial fitness in his book The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness.

In his book, Ramsey walks through the steps, Baby Steps, to guide you through a process that will result in financial stability and a debt-free life. He understands that getting to complete financial freedom is difficult and requires what he calls "gazelle intensity." Much of the pain comes from the reality that personal finance is only 20% knowledge and the remaining 80% is behavior. So we are battling ourselves and reshaping our entire financial worldview when begin to do things differently than all of those around us. But, Ramsey points out, the goal is to live like no one else now, so we can live like no one else later.

One thing I appreciate about Ramsey (and this book) is his simple common sense approach to finances. He doesn't over complicate the steps, but he understands it is difficult and requires discipline. To accentuate and give credence to his system, he includes numerous stories from real people who have implemented the Makeover and experienced major freedom and life-change from it. These stories provide a wide variety of examples of ways people became debt free. I will warn you that Ramsey will be in your face regarding the ignorance of debt accumulation. He has experienced first hand the danger and disaster of bad financial management so he hits debt pretty hard, but makes his point. Through the hard-hitting words, you can tell he does it because he wants to help you avoid what he and many others have learned the hard way.

I initially wanted to read this book for the investment portion but received much more than that. This book instructs about the myths regarding money that abound in our culture and addresses the spiritual nature of money and life.  This is a book that I wish I had been given when I was much younger. These principles should be taught in high school personal finance.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to be financially free and I hope that is everyone.

I received this book from Booksneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.