Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: A few random observations of an enjoyable, but very unsophisticated book:
Regarding Credit...
Dave suggests that we all cut up our credit cards, they are EVIL. (Nope, no exceptions, they are pure, satanic EEEEEEEEEE-V-I-L. For that matter ALL DEBT IS EEEEEEVIL.) If I had followed this guy's advice regarding student loans I would have never graduated from med school. Question: What about those of us with significant monthly reimbursed business expenses? I guess we are supposed to pay cash for everything, or use our Debit cards as he says he does. I, unfortunately, don't have the resources of Mr. Ramsey so I must use my AMEX.. His myopia continues throughout the book in this manner.Regarding debt reduction...
Dave's "Snowball" plan suggests that you list your debts from smallest to largest and pay them off in that order. Forget the fact that your smallest debt is a $3000 student loan with tax-deductable interest currently at 2.8%. Nope, pay it off BEFORE you tackle that 14.9%/$30,000 Visa bill. Gimmeabreak -- are we ALL really that stupid. Good Advice...
Set up an emergency fund of 3-6 months income.
Pay off your house.
Tithe
Spend money on appreciating assets.
Pay cash for your automobiles. The book is a fast read, enjoyable, but useless for all but the most uninformed financially. Sorry Dave, but I personally found this book to be like your radio show.. entertaining, but fairly unsophisticated and one dimensional. (Has anybody else noticed that he spends more time hawking his products on the air than answering questions from callers? No matter... the answer is ALWAYS the same...) Try reading "The Millionare Next Door" for a more compelling look at managing personal finances.
Rating: 
Summary: A snooze. ..catered to the lowest common denominator
Review: A friend of mine recommended this book and I found it overly simplistic with rehased advice thats been around for ages. Save for 3-6 months of liquid funds (which financial rag doesnt spout this periodically) Get rid of CC debt (duh!) Buy a used auto because of depreciation and pay in cash to avoid interest (more rehash) Its also obvious that the advice given on investing is threadbare (Ramsey constanly harps that you can a get a magical 12% from "growth" mututal funds...try more like 8% nominal and 6% with inflation). I can see how this book is being marketed to the financially clueless just like how the fitness books cater to flabby people that dont know jack about fitness like Body for Life. I suppose the intent is motivational rather than fresh ideas about money management. Read Danko's "The millionaire next Door" for the best ideas on becoming wealthy in the US.
Rating: 
Summary: Common Sense for your Dollars and Cents
Review: Dave has done it again. In his new book The Total Money Make Over Dave Ramsey explains and expands on the financial wisdom of "Baby Steps", get out of debt, live on less than you make, save money, and retire with dignity. If you liked Daves' first book Financial Peace (now revisited), you will love the Total Money Make Over. He gives tons of real life examples of how real people got out of debt and changed their lives. My favorite saying "If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." This is not a "high-brow", sophisticated, plan for how to invest $1 and make a million. This book is full of common sense ideas to save money, get out of debt, and win with money. I encourage anyone to buy the book. If you want to learn more before you buy tune into Daves radio show, or listen to the archives at www.daveramsey.com Thank you for your ministry Dave
Rating:
Summary: This will be a NY Times #1 Bestseller!
Review: Dave Ramsey has hit another home run with Total Money Makeover. Readers will find the advice consistent with Financial Peace, his 1997 New York Times bestseller. I expect this one will land him #1 on the NY Times list. The layout is extremely well done. It includes some of Dave's "rants" and my favorite: Daveisms ("If you want to live like no one else, you gotta live like no one else!"). This is personal finance for the commom man. He avoids "high brow" language and keeps the "cookies on the bottom shelf". One of the more valuable aspects of the book is that it profiles 50 stories of real people who have done the Total Money Makeover. This is advice that works. It's the "Baby Steps" on steroids! I loved it. There is also a companion web site to actually do a Total Money Makeover online (...). How cool is that?
Rating:
Summary: Not a Silver Bullet for obtaining Wealth, but it Works!
Review: Dave Ramsey hits it out of the park. If you are looking for a quick scheme to make you wealthy this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a plan that will work read this book. I have been following the "baby steps" explained in this book and in his book Financial Peace Revisited for nine months and the effects have been dramatic. We have eliminated 19,850 in debt and paid 1600 in cash to cover medical expenses for the birth of our child. Before I read Ramsey's books I had planned on just charging the medical expenses on a credit card. For the first time since we have been married my wife and I have hope that we can be debt free. The key to our success so far has been the written budget each month before the month starts like he explains in the book. My only complaint is that while he talks about the importance of the written budget I believe it is so crucial that it should be "baby step" #1. This is by far Dave's best book to date.
Rating: 
Summary: A few things I disagreed with, but great advice for most.
Review: Dave Ramsey is right on target throughout the vast majority of this book. He deals with the debt that is overwhelming most Americans and how to get out of it. Once this is under control (with an excellent plan, I might add) he directs you in how to best save for retirement and for your children's college. All of this is done with baby steps so that the reader is not overwhelmed. If you want to build wealth the old fashioned and proven way (get out of debt and save), this is a great book to help. There are a lot of helpful worksheets that provide concrete assistance. It's very readable - I finished it in just over 24 hours even with a good night's sleep and taking my little one to soccer. Total read time is probably only 3-4 hours. Some reviewers have said that you don't need this book if you've read Financial Peace. I haven't read the latter, so I can't comment on that point.
Rating:
Summary: The Total Money Makeover
Review: Dave's Best effort to date. A very well written book in Dave Ramsey's series of get out of debt and build wealth books. This book contains a step by step game plan to get out of debt and attain financial security or (Financial Peace). It's not how to make a killing in the stock market, or other get rich quick schemes. It is a common sense approach to getting out of debt and investing for your future.
Rating:
Summary: responding to Doctor from Ill
Review: First of all, Doctor, you can't spell or count. So I hope you're not writing many prescriptions with your medical school degree. No need to mention your math skills, Dave already illustrated the logic that keeps you in debt. I simply have to ask you to show your quality in 20 years time. What wealth v. debt will you accumulate? You should have taken a humble look at the benefits of Ramsay's sage advice. You probably make enough $$ to pile up a couple of generations worth of debt. Good luck . . . to your kids.
Rating: 
Summary: Good motivational tool....lots of fluff
Review: First of all, I really do respect Dave Ramsey and the work that he does. I agree 100% with his "no debt" philosophy. But...this book was kind of a letdown. Want to save $20? Here's a summary of the book: 1. Debt sucks. Don't get into it. Buy with cash.
2. Here's how to payoff debt: Concentrate on the smallest debt first. Pay what you can on it, over the minimum payment. Once the smallest debt is gone, add that former payment to the next outstanding debt payment...and so on...and so on (the "debt snowball").
3. After all debts are gone, set aside 3-6 months of expenses (emergency fund).
4. After the emergency fund, start investing. That's it. Seriously. This book should've been a free/small PDF download from the web..and not a $20 book.
Rating:
Summary: Ramsey's method is good, but it only needed one book.
Review: Folks, if you read Financial Peace, then you've read every thing this book has to offer. I'm a fan of Ramsey's practical advice, but to publish a whole new book and say absolutely nothing new since the first book is a bit of a sham. This is Financial Peace repackaged. Also, Ramsey has enough money. As a matter of fact he has "more than enough," as his second book puts it. I'm a little disappointed that Ramsey's first lesson isn't "If you're reading this book in a book store, put it down. Go to your library and check it out instead. It's much cheaper than buying my book!" I went to one of his seminar's once, and it turned out to be nothing more than a few funny stories and a sales pitch to join his "university", and sell more books. And this bugs me: He sells envelopes that you put cash in to help you with your budget. Why not encourage people to use cheapy envelopes from Wal-Mart? Ok, that said. This book is good. But if you've already read Financial Peace - don't buy this book. Once you check it out at the library, you'll see how familiar it is.
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