To understand why you have money problems—why you’re heavily in debt and can never seem to make ends meet or handle emergencies—look in the mirror. Your financial situation is the result of your behavior, according to radio talk show host and author Dave Ramsey.
In the Total Money Makeover, Ramsey lays out a program for freeing yourself from debt and money worries by changing your behavior: following a monthly budget, buying only what you can afford, eliminating debt, saving for emergencies, and investing. The program is intended for everyone—from high earners to people thousands of dollars in debt.
The Total Money Makeover motto is: live differently from everyone else in the present so you can live differently from everyone else in the future. This means that to live a better life than most people, you need to do what most people won’t do—make sacrifices now in return for the payoff of financial security later.
The fix for your financial situation isn’t a bigger salary, a windfall, or a better job, but acknowledging that your poor financial decisions are your fault and changing your behavior. This book lays out what you need to do, but only you can do it.
People who get into financial trouble do so in part because they believe a host of societal myths about debt and money that encourage taking on debt and spending foolishly in order to buy things they can’t afford.
One of the biggest myths is that debt is normal. Debt has become so ingrained in our culture that most people can’t imagine living without it. We don’t know how to get a car, buy a home, or go to college without debt, and most people can’t imagine living without a credit card. Further, financial institutions, stores, and other lenders aggressively push you to borrow because they benefit when you owe them money.
You must reject the view that debt is normal before you can get control of your finances. The central tenet of the Total Money Makeover program is living debt-free and buying only what you can afford (what you can pay for immediately).
The belief that debt is normal and a way to improve your life promotes these myths:
Your Total Money Makeover requires first changing your view of debt, and then getting and staying out of debt.
The Total Money Makeover process comprises seven simple steps, referred to in the book as baby steps. No matter how big your financial challenges, you can overcome them by taking each step, one at a time.
It’s important to follow the steps in the prescribed order, because they build on each other, like prerequisites for taking college courses. If you jump ahead to later steps, you’ll fail at them because you haven’t laid the foundation. Just concentrate on one step at a time in sequence. But before you start the sequence, there are two preparatory steps.
Create a written budget each month determining where your money will go; if you don’t, it will just disappear without your thinking about it.
Here are the basic steps for creating a budget:
Besides creating a monthly budget, get current on all loan and credit card payments. If you’re behind on any payment, you need to catch up. If you’re really behind, pay for your necessities first—food, shelter, and transportation—then catch up on monthly loan payments. You can’t start a Total Money Makeover, which hinges on eliminating debt, until you’re keeping up with your payments.
Now you’re ready to begin the process of putting your financial problems behind you by following these steps in sequence:
**Everyone needs a rainy day fund because it’s guaranteed...
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To understand why you have money problems—why you’re heavily in debt and can never seem to make ends meet or handle emergencies—look in the mirror. Your financial situation is a result of your behavior, according to radio talk show host and author Dave Ramsey.
In the Total Money Makeover, Ramsey lays out a program for freeing yourself from debt and money worries by changing your behavior: paying with cash only, eliminating debt, saving for emergencies, and investing. The program is intended for everyone—from high earners to people thousands of dollars in debt.
Rather than offering investment advice, original insights, or the “secret” to becoming rich, Ramsey presents common-sense principles assembled in a step-by-step sequence that can change your financial situation...
Succeeding with the Total Money Makeover requires first taking responsibility for the financial situation you’re in. You caused it and you can get out of it, if you’re willing to pay the price of work and sacrifice.
Ramsey’s story is an example. He got into a financial hole while in his late twenties by overspending and borrowing, while saving too little. He had borrowed and invested in real estate, even becoming a millionaire. But within three years, he and his family (his wife and two small children) were bankrupt. Feeling overwhelmed and hopeless, he began reading about finance and about how millionaires managed their money, and he realized that his behavior was the real problem. When he took responsibility for his finances, things began turning around.
Your money makeover begins with the same challenge: changing yourself.
If financial success were easy, everyone would be successful. What to do isn’t a mystery:...
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Total Money Makeover success first requires understanding the five obstacles that could hinder you: denial, debt myths, money myths, lack of financial knowledge, and desire for approval. These hurdles stem in large part from what you’ve been taught by society about money. The next few chapters examine each of these obstacles.
The first obstacle is denial. Achieving financial fitness is somewhat like trying to lose weight and improve physical fitness. While this requires intense focus on your goal of resetting your eating or spending habits, you’ll have a tendency initially to downplay just how out of shape you are.
Most people are in denial about the state of their finances. You might tell yourself that maybe things aren’t so bad—maybe you’re no worse off than the average person. The unfortunate truth is that most people have financial problems—that counts as average in today’s society, the way being...
The second obstacle to gaining control of your finances is the widespread belief that debt is useful and normal—that everyone has it. In addition to this belief, there are a variety of related myths that encourage different types of borrowing.
You must reject these views of debt before you can get control of your finances. Society encourages us to take on debt starting as young adults and to carry debts throughout our lives. There are several reasons:
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A major obstacle to gaining control of your finances is the widespread belief that debt is useful and normal—and it’s a stepping stone to prosperity. But you’ll never build wealth while a significant part of your income is tied up with making loan payments.
Before reading the preceding chapter, what were your beliefs about debt?
Like myths about debt, there are myths about getting and handling money. They run counter to the Total Money Makeover principle of effort and sacrifice, of living differently from everyone else now so you can live differently from everyone else in the future. Becoming financially fit has a cost and there aren’t any shortcuts.
Money myths stem from two basic mindsets:
1) Ignoring risks: People who are poor at managing money often ignore the risks of deals that seem attractive on the surface, or they ignore risks of failing to act when they should. There are several reasons:
Regardless of the reason, those who deny a so-called deal’s risks end up disillusioned and worse off financially.
2) Looking for shortcuts: People facing money challenges often look for a shortcut or an easy solution, whether it’s winning the lottery or falling for a TV offer to make quick money or fix debt problems. But shortcuts, like...
This is the best summary of How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleI've ever read. The way you explained the ideas and connected them to other books was amazing.
Besides the myths about debt and money and denial that you have a money problem, there are two more obstacles to a Total Money Makeover: lack of financial knowledge (ignorance) and peer pressure (overspending to “keep up with the Joneses”).
Ignorance about money makes some people defensive, but financial knowledge isn’t something you’re born with—it’s a skill you need to learn, like how to drive a car. If you give the car keys to someone who doesn’t know how to drive, they’re going to crash the car. Trying again harder isn’t the answer—it’s getting proper training. The same is true of money management—people make financial mistakes due to lack of training.
We’re educated in how to earn money, but not in what to do with it. Given that the average family in the U.S. makes over $2 million in a lifetime, high schools and colleges should be teaching personal finance. If you haven’t learned financial management, you still can by doing the following:
Myths about debt and money, denial that you have a money problem, a lack of financial knowledge (ignorance), and peer pressure (overspending to “keep up with the Joneses”) are obstacles that can keep you from achieving financial fitness.
What are your main obstacles to financial fitness?
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Now that you’ve dispensed with the common debt and money myths, you’re almost ready to begin the Total Money Makeover process, which consists of a series of seven simple steps, referred to in the book as baby steps. No matter how big your financial challenges, you can overcome them by taking one small step at a time.
However, it’s important to follow each Total Money Makeover step in the prescribed order, because the steps build on each other. If you jump ahead to later steps, you’ll fail at them because you haven’t laid the foundation. Just concentrate on one step at a time in sequence.
Before starting, however, there are two preliminary steps:
Create a written budget each month determining where your money will go; if you don’t, it will just disappear without your thinking about it.
Successful people have written goals; simply put, a monthly budget is your money goal. It wouldn’t make sense to build a house without blueprints, nor does it make sense to spend your life’s earnings of $2 million without a plan.
Motivational speaker and author Brian Tracy...
Everyone needs a rainy day fund because financial emergencies will come up, and if you borrow to cover them, you’ll only create worse problems for yourself. You should immediately create a $1,000 emergency fund.
What can you do to save $1,000 (for example, hold a yard sale, stop eating out, carpool to save gas money, work extra hours)?
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The big problem with debt is that it ties up your income with making payments, which keeps you from building wealth. You need to get rid of debt so you have control of your income and can put it to work for you.
It’s fairly easy to accumulate wealth when you don’t have car payments, a mortgage, and credit card or medical debt. To see how this works, consider the average person with a $50,000 annual income and the following payments:
Total: $1,995
But if you invested $1,995 a month in a growth-stock mutual fund, you’d be a millionaire in 15 years; it would grow to $2 million in five more years, to $3 million in three more years, $4 million in two and a half more, and to $5.5 million in two more years—a total of 28 years.
The key is to get out of debt so you can start investing. This is probably the toughest of the money makeover steps—it requires the most effort and sacrifice, plus your relentless, single-minded focus.
The debt snowball method is the way to pay off debt. It’s easy to understand, but it takes...
At this point, you’ve eliminated debt other than your mortgage and have $1,000 cash for emergencies. You’re now in control of your income and have momentum. The next step is boosting your emergency fund to give you a cushion against big, life-disrupting problems like a job loss or medical bills.
Remember, major financial emergencies are inevitable in life, and if you use debt to cover them, you’ll be back to square one. Everyone needs an emergency fund large enough to cover three to six months of expenses, enabling you to manage for up to half a year without an income. In one survey, 49% said they couldn’t cover even a month’s expenses if they lost their income.
The amount in your emergency fund should be between $5,000 and $25,000.
For example, a frugal family with expenses of $3,000 a month might keep a minimum of $10,000 in an emergency fund. While $3,000 a month may not seem realistic, keep in mind that when you’ve eliminated debt and have adequate insurance coverage, it’s possible to live on much less than your income.
The exact...
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You should have an emergency fund large enough to cover three to six months of expenses, enabling you to manage for up to half a year without an income. Depending on your circumstances, your emergency fund should be between $5,000 and $25,000.
Based on your personal circumstances, how much do you need to save for an emergency fund? (Consider factors such as your income, whether or not your income is stable, and whether or not your job is at risk.)
The next step is building your wealth by investing for retirement—it’s the key to being financially fit for life. It requires gazelle intensity to get started, but once your nest egg is established, you can maintain your financial fitness with less effort, like a marathon runner who’s built up her strength through long practice and can run with less effort.
Many people invest in retirement so they can eventually escape a job they hate. But investing for the future in the Total Money Makeover program is more positive; the goal isn’t escape, but achieving financial security so you have choices: to work, write a book, travel, create art, and so on. If you invest wisely earlier in your life, you’ll reach a point where your money starts working more and you can work less, if at all.
Many people are likely to find themselves in a less enviable position. Various surveys on retirement saving have found:
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People have many erroneous beliefs about a college education, which lead them to make foolish spending decisions to ensure their children get a degree from an expensive college. For instance, many parents believe that:
But a college degree doesn’t guarantee a job, wealth, or success. Everyone knows a few disillusioned college graduates who can’t get a job. A degree only validates knowledge or indicates you’ve passed certain tests. Knowledge must be combined with other qualities—for instance, character, effort, persistence, creativity, and talent—to create success.
In the book Emotional Intelligence, author Daniel Goleman writes that 15% of success is attributable to education, while 85% stems from attitude, perseverance, diligence, and vision. (Shortform note: Read our summary of Emotional Intelligence here.)
Because of their unrealistic...
At this point in your Total Money Makeover, you’re nearly debt-free, you’ve saved $10,000+ for emergencies, you’re investing 15% of your income, and you’re saving for your kids’ college education.
Being totally debt-free puts you among the top 10% or 15% of Americans. This accomplishment is like achieving marathoner status as a result of great effort and persistence—but don’t be tempted to rest on your laurels. You can become an ultra-marathoner by completing step #6—paying off your home mortgage and becoming 100% debt-free.
By now you know how to do it. There’s no special formula. Devote every extra dollar you can find, beyond your emergency fund and investments, to paying extra on your mortgage each month until it’s paid off.
Most people believe that paying off a mortgage, especially early, is next to impossible. But numerous Total Money Makeover adherents do just that. For three to five years, they live differently from everyone else—sacrificing to pay off their mortgage. Then they continue to live differently from everyone else by being debt-free.
Most people who start a Total Money Makeover pay off their...
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Completing six Total Money Makeover steps puts you in rare company—among the 2% of Americans who are debt-free.
Because you’re debt-free, live on a budget, and have money for emergencies, you’re in control of your income and are building wealth. The only remaining question is what to do with your discretionary income.
There are three purposes for money:
You should do all three of these things. Achieving financial fitness is like achieving physical fitness. You didn’t put in the work just to look good. Now you get to use your financial muscle.
If you want something and can afford it, by all means, indulge yourself—you’ve earned it. Up to this point in the Total Money Makeover, you’ve sacrificed by paying off debt and saving for the future—and like a kid who’s behaved so he can have ice cream later—you deserve the reward.
The problem is that most people buy things when they can’t afford them. Many callers to Ramsey’s radio talk show ask if they can afford to buy something major while doing a Total Money Makeover. He always says no, as he expected to do when a caller asked if he should buy a Harley....
Giving may be the most rewarding thing you can do with money. You don’t have to be rich to help people, but you can often do more when you have money.
What’s a cause near and dear to your heart that you would like to help someday?
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If you follow the Total Money Makeover, you’ll become wealthy within a few decades. While it’s an enormous relief to be out of debt and financially secure, be aware that having wealth can get you into trouble in several ways.
1) You may become overly entranced with it. Money and the stuff it buys won’t bring you happiness. A person obsessed with money is just as enslaved as a person deeply in debt.
2) Wealth will reveal and magnify your true character. If you’re a jerk, money will make you an even bigger jerk. If you’re kind and generous, you’ll be even more so with your wealth. If you feel guilty about having money, your guilt will grow.
It takes spiritual maturity and character to understand that while...