The Total Money Makeover Updated and Expanded: A Proven Plan for Financial Peace

I've always been interested in my finances and my husband and I jointly manage our family's finances so we both know what's going on. A friend at church was talking about Dave Ramsey and I had never heard of him before so I decided to look him up and see what kinds of books he wrote. I found this book to be a popular choice of his and I didn't know how much of it would interest me so I ended up borrowing it from the library initially. I enjoyed his writing and found the information to be helpful so I decided to purchase my own copy to reference at home.The Total Money Makeover is a personal finance book written by Dave Ramsey. Ramsey is a financial expert as well as a Christian who has had his own money troubles in the past. He's overcome them and learned from his mistakes so he's passed along his wisdom in these pages. There are also many stories of people who have been in a tough spot financially who used this book to get themselves out of debt. This book is 237 pages long, contains 13 chapters, worksheets and a full index.I found this book to be helpful and I really enjoyed reading it! Dave Ramsey writes in a no-nonsense fashion and if he says something is stupid or a bad idea, he will say exactly that. He doesn't beat around the bush. He provides step-by-step information on getting yourself out of debt and what to do if you have a crisis while you are working on getting yourself out of debt (he also refers to Murphy's Law quite a bit so something will always happen). I like how he tells us what types of companies, funds, etc to avoid and what ones are good ones. Even though he knows a lot about investments, he doesn't provide extensive investment information in this book but he does give some information on what types of funds he thinks are best based on trends.I enjoyed this book so much that I told my sister about it and she said she wanted to read it too so I bought one for her and one for myself. I've told others about the book and I think it is helpful, no matter what your financial situation is. Some parts of the book didn't apply to us but I found the second half of it to be especially informative which is why I decided to buy a copy. Unless you already have millions of dollars in the bank and have all of your finances under control (retirement, investments, kids' college education, etc.), I think you'll find the information in this book to be useful.If you have a lot of credit card debt and loans and want to get your finances under control, I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't have a lot of debt but you want to find a smarter way prepare for your kids' college education, this is a great book to read. It's very informative and you can also borrow a copy from a friend or the library first before you buy your own. I'm glad I bought it because the small investment in this book has caused us to take a closer look at our finances and see what we can do better. Overall, I feel it's worth the money and time to buy and read this book so you have a financially-fit future!

This book is for people who need a change in their lives financially. Some examples of people who could really use this book are people who have student debt, people coming out of college and not knowing how they are going to tackle their mountain of debt, or people who have mountains of credit card debt and are living paycheck to paycheck. There are plenty of reasons people could come across this book and it all comes down to that having debt in your lie is something that you do not want. Everyone wants to be out of debt and do not know where to start, this book will give you the "how to". The Total Money Makeover book will expose your poor spending habits you have and is a guide to bringing your financial life to a stable state. Dave Ramsey writes this book in a way that everyone can relate whether you are a college student or an adult. The concepts that this book tackles from where you want to be with money to showing you how you can handle your money wisely and pay your bills every month. This book could change your future and is worth every penny you spend on it. This book can scare you at first, but once you get past the first couple of chapters your worries go away and gets you excited for the future you could have when you are debt free.The product itself is very durable and if you are not ready for what is inside it or do not have time to read it, you have time to put it on the shelf and not worry about the product getting damaged. This is a very easy to read book, but you will want to read it over a few times to make sure you get all the concepts down in the book. Taking notes would help as well. As Dave Ramsey will say, "It will not work if you are not all in on this journey." This is a journey that you could take on for 6 months or years depending on your situation. Dave Ramsey brings out sayings from the bible in it, but that does not mean that you must be Christian to follow the principles that he presents. This guide can work for everyone if they stick to it and decide you are sick of being at the bottom of the mountain and looking at the debt. You can do this, you just need to get this book and believe that you can do it. The community that surrounds this book and Dave's books are supportive and there is proof with millions of people who have done what he preaches and have gotten debt free. This shows that you can do it too and get your financial life in order too!

Bought this for my coworker. This was my foundation and introduction to finances and from this book I ventured to other financial personalities. Do your reading. Learn on your own. Highly recommend this book!