The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Hardcover – September 17, 2013

I have read dozens of finance books and this is one of the best. I would put it up there with Automatic Millionaire, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Pirates of Financial Freedom. It isn't perfect though which I will talk about later.

Who is this book for? Everyone can benefit from it, but it is great for married couples and those in their late 20s, 30s, and early 40s. Young adults could benefit tremendously from it, but I'm worried it might not be exciting or fun enough to hold their attention. It's not really meant for retirees.

--- The Good ---

* He says financial freedom is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge which is so important, and he emphasizes this by pointing out there are a lot of broke finance professors.

* There are many real-life success stories of real people which shows his method works, and they also provide inspiration.

* He lays out his seven Baby Steps and makes them simple to understand. He points out that living right financially is not complicated. It may be difficult, but it's not complicated.

* I really liked the quote, "If you worked for a company called YOU Inc. and you managed money at YOU Inc. the way you manage your own money now, would you fire you?"

* The book includes helpful budget forms and worksheet in the back of the book.

* He isn't all gloom and doom. He wants you to have fun and even approves of buying a $30,000 watch, but only after you reach step seven and can afford it.

--- The Not-So-Good ---

* He doesn't go into a lot of detail on how to increase your income. Dave Ramsey is rich because he is a business owner who can make money from his radio show, books, seminars, programs, etc. It would have been great to get his advice on that, but he probably didn't want to overwhelm the reader with too many topics.

* I feel his previous bad experience with debt (he was over-leveraged with his real estate investments) has made him overly zealous on not having any debt. College loans can be very appropriate for some people, business loans can be great in the right situation, and his statement that you should put money toward paying down debt rather than getting the company 401(k) match seemed too extreme to me.

* The book wasn't super entertaining. I found a few parts to be a little dry and repetitive. While it certainly wasn't boring, I wish more money management books would be like the new personal finance adventure novel, but I guess that isn't this book's purpose. Still, there were a couple parts that made me chuckle and he did have some interesting stories.

* He stressed putting 100% of your investments in stock-related mutual funds. First, I feel ETFs are probably better than mutual funds because they are cheaper and won't underperform the market. Second, recommending a 100% stock portfolio to everyone regardless of age, financial goals, or risk tolerance seems risky to me. Plus you wouldn't experience the diversification benefit of owning non-correlated asset classes.

* He doesn't talk about the benefits of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals or having an accountability partner, which have been shown to greatly help people achieve all kinds of dreams.

--- Conclusion ---

Overall it is a very good book with a lot of good advice and inspirational case studies. You certainly won't regret reading it.

Good book. Life changing! In 4 months, I paid off my car loan, all credit cards and doctor bills!!! About $6,000 total. I increased my credit score to a 747. Started at a 660.

Paid off 90k in the last 2 years following his advice. It was tough but very worth it now being debt free and not having money be a stress factor in my relationship. I also feel so much more comfortable starting a family, this book changed my life! Dave gives financial advice based on what the bible says, but is not aggressive to others with his religious views, btw i'm an atheist/humanist.

Each chapter tells you specifically what to do as you progress through the baby steps. I read a good portion of the book up until retirement and building wealth. Those are the last chapters once you get to those steps. Overalll book helped me understand how limited i am to spending my extra money. I learned so many secrets and busted myths we been passed down on as kids. For example, you dont even need CREDIT to get a house. You just need a good down payment and bam! You get a good deal and youre debt free to start with!!

So this is actually the second time I am buying this book: I gave my ex-husband my first copy. I have had a rough few years financially, and this book has really helped give me motivation and direction. It's hard, and life has thrown some curve balls, but overall I have managed to *mostly* stay with this logic. It has given me more fiscal restraint, and some little quips to say to myself when I REALLY want to indulge, such as "we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like." I think it would be pretty cool if high schools did some kind of personal financial management class around this logic so kids start out with some solid logic before they find themselves in a whole they need to dig themselves out of later.

My wife and I came across Dave Ramsey one night listening to the radio and haven't been able to stop. Shortly after, we decided to get this book to learn a little bit more about the financial principles he preaches. This book has been so helpful to us in establishing and living within a budget. We took time to set up a budget and were able to recognize where we could do better. We have saved several thousand dollars over that time period and now have an emergency fund, as well as various other savings. Rather than graduating from college in debt, we are now graduating with substantial savings.

This is an EXCELLENT audio tape and should be a must read or listen to for young people about to become adults. If you are short on time to be able to sit down and read buy this audio book and listen to it on your commutes to and from work. The principles are very simple and only thing it requires in discipline and your ability to say no to the things you can't pay cash for.

It's the progrm we have needed for a long time. We are in our 50's and have no retirement. We have already paid off 5 of our bills and are stacking those payments into the larger debts. We love Dave Ramsey, and he is Christian Based.