Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover, is one of my favorite personal finance books. When I started really digging into our family’s finances, I quickly discovered that I needed to learn more. I went to my local library and picked out an assortment of personal finance books. Some were fun books filled with quick tips. Others were complex books written by very technical financial gurus. Fortunately, however, Dave Ramsey’s book somehow made its way into the pile.
The best part about The Total Money Makeover is the common-sense methodology behind it. This isn’t a book filled with calculations (although you have to do some basic math to write your budget). There aren’t any financial terms that you don’t understand. Instead, this book speaks in plain language about the financial situations that normal people find themselves in. Mr. Ramsey seemed to be speaking directly to me as I pored through his pages. His voice is reminiscent of the type of advice you might get from a father or uncle.
The Baby Steps disclosed in The Total Money Makeover are another great part of this book. Rather than delivering a convoluted opinion about a handful of financial situations, Mr. Ramsey’s book features a simple, eight-step process for families to follow to achieve financial freedom.
The Baby Steps begin with setting up a basic emergency fund. They, then, walk the reader through the process of paying off his debts, building a larger emergency fund, and planning for the future. Ultimately, they end with the reader enjoying life without the burden of debt. Now, there’s nothing incredibly profound about the Baby Steps. However, having them spelled out for us, there in black and white, gave my family a reference tool that we’ve used over and over.
Finally, the pure inspiration we derived from Mr. Ramsey’s story in The Total Money Makeover make it a worthwhile read for anyone working to get their financial life together. We’ve certainly had our down-trodden moments when we felt that we were never going to get our finances worked out. Knowing that someone else has made all of the mistakes we’ve made (and then some) and has turned their life around really helped us keep our heads up.
