The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey is the book of elementary financial literacy that imparts common sense wisdom (albeit, with some fiery Christian passion) that every American should know. But I certainly didn’t. And I was in good company with the vast majority of Americans in that ignorant camp (“Don’t be normal,” he encourages, “be weird people!”). This book was my entry point into conscious personal finance and it (along with his podcast) completely shifted our relationship with money. The main battle cry of this book is to live debt-free. Free being the key word. As a slave to a lender, you can never truly be free with debt. These 7 baby steps of his are simple, universal, and brilliant. We worked them, and let me tell you, they work.
Save $1000 emergency fund
Pay off debts using the Debt Snowball: Make a list of your debts, smallest to largest (excluding mortgage) and focus all of your financial effort on one debt at a time (making only the minimum payments on all others), working your way down, with gazelle intensity. Once you cross one off, you divert all the money you were paying on that debt to the next, with the payment size growing at each step.
Save 3-6 months expenses
Put 15% toward retirement
Save for kids’ college
Pay off mortgage
Build wealth by investing
“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”
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