Rating: 
Summary: I saved Money by Listening to Dave!
Review: Dave is a favorite author of mine for several reasons-all of which are portrayed in this book. Firstly, his Biblical advice can help everyone- no matter what their income is. Not letting things control us, as well as our emotions, was a big step for me. I had to learn to not want things in stores just because I had never been to a mall when I was younger. It is all about being content and patting yourself on the back when you are coming out ahead by driving a ten year old car; brown bagging your lunch to tuck money away; or paying with cash instead of plastic. I have seen an employer hand out Dave's books to their employees. Everyone I talked to learned something- to respect money and not throw it away. Go ahead and buy his book- you'll learn something that will help you for the rest of your life.
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: 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: Buy This Book!
Review: Dave Ramsey's book teaches the kind of information that should be taught to kids in school, but isn't.
If you are one of the great multitude of Americans who has heavy debt and little savings, you should buy this book and follow Ramsey's advice. He gives a solid plan on how to get out of debt and accumulate wealth.
Besides giving great advice, Ramsey gives many examples of people who have turned their financial lives around using these principles.
It is an easy read and packed with great advice. I would highly recommend that you buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Grow Up and Be a Man
Review: Dave tells it like it is. He knows that life is simple, but its not easy. You can and will get financially fit if you will follow these steps. The best money book I've ever read, and I buy them all the time trying to learn more. This is the book to start and finish with. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT STUFF, BUT ONLY PART OF THE STORY
Review: Dave's advice in this book is simply information for the average person to act upon, because it's common sense. This doesn't mean we all know it of course. Sometimes simple basics have to be pushed into our face to force us to realise what we are doing and to get us to change. For those who are really trying to change their financial future using Dave's advice I urge you to also read a low cost book called THE GREAT BUST AHEAD that deals with the inevitable catastrophic 13 year depression that is coming down the pike at us in just a few years. This will really put's Dave's advice into sharp perspective for you. Dave doesn't deal with this subject, and I urge all to first visit this book's website (www.thegreatbustahead.com) where there is great introductory information on this coming depression and a link to a fantastic article in a prestigious journal based on the book. It will scare the life out of the reader who is serious about changing their financial future. These two books IN COMBINATION are what's really needed to survive what's coming.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple message. But, good to hear, over and over again!!
Review: Dave's message is great for the average american. If you only make $30k and your $50k in debt, there is hope and you can find it with Dave. He is inspiring, there are many success stories to keep you going. He says over and over you have got to work your way out of debt. Get a second job, stop spending money, sell the car with the big payment. It's very basic, but it's also revolutionary in our culture. The one thing that bugs me is he is a serious RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN. If that's not your slant it could turn you off. I encourage you to look past it and hear the message. It is a really effective way to revamp your relationship with money.
Rating:
Summary: TOTAL money makeover...
Review: I am a financial planner and counselor and I find that people spend inordinate amounts of time and money attempting to make financial issues as difficult as they possibly can. If you are one of those people this book is for you. The content of the book revolves around a 7 step plan for your total financial life and the plan is all but fail-proof. This is a no-nonsense, common sense approach to managing money with none of the "scheming" and "tricks of the trade" found in other books of comparable subject matter. If you want to know the truth about money and how to make it work as hard as it can for you, this book provides a wonderful framework around which to build your "kingdom." The only reason this book doesn't get a 5-star rating is because, while easy to read and entertaining, it is not exactly a classic work of American literature. Then again, if that's what you were looking for, you probably wouldn't be looking at books of this category anyway. Happy reading, this one will do you some good.
Rating: 
Summary: Sigh... her we go again.
Review: I was fairly critical of Ramsey's first book Financial Peace, stating in my review of that title that Mary Hunt's DEBT PROOF LIVING was better. I said Dave is good at inspiring you and has great ideas for getting out of debt, but Hunt does a much better job of HOW to do it. So, as a Dave Ramsey radio listener, I was excited to hear him say that this one gives us the how. Alas, it was not to be. All he did was take the best parts of Financial Peace and expand it with lots of testimonials (read "fillers"), giving the same good but too-often-flawed advice. He still doesn't tell you HOW to save for items like cash for cars or that new sofa (Hunt does), and he's way too fond of stuff to be giving advice to broke people. Also, I still don't trust his advice because he doesn't always tell you the whole story. Example 1: He often tells us not to borrow money on our homes to invest in mutual funds at 12%, because we must factor in risk, which, along with taxes, brings the return closer to 8 or 9%. Then, he turns right around and tells us NOT to prepay for college because inflation for college has been historically around 7% (has he looked at tuition inflation lately?). Seems to me that the same logic should apply in both situations. Example 2: I question his whole "average 12%" figure for growth of mutual funds (read "stock market"). I checked the history of the S&P 500. He MUST be factoring the Insane Nineties into that average. There are entire decades (1960s and 70s, for a start) where the return is much closer to 3 and 4%. Some analysts are predicting something like 5 or 6% at most for this decade. I do agree with what others have said about simplistic. The substance of this book could have been said in about 50 pages and a few good chapters. Then he could have gone on to give us some real substance about investing or real estate (in which he claims to be an expert.) That said, if you haven't read Financial Peace, then read this instead. Because it is better, despite my negative rants. Read this as a companion piece to Hunt's book. If you HAVE read his first book, then don't read this one. Just go back and read about the Baby Steps in his first book, followed by Hunt's book. Ramsey will inspire you to spend less, get out of debt and save, Hunt will tell you how to go about getting out of debt and spending less, so you CAN save. Take what you like from each plan (I like Dave's aversion for cars by credit, and I love Hunt's Freedom Account), throw them together with what works best for you, and you can't go wrong. You will be debt free and on your way to wealth before you know it! Lastly, don't buy ANY of these books until you have read them. Borrow them from your library, instead. If your library doesn't own it, ask about interlibrary loans. Then, if you like it so much you want to highlight stuff and dog-ear it and refer to it over and over, then buy the book. That's the kind of advice you get from Mary Hunt. Dave's advice? "Buy more of my stuff."
Rating:
Summary: Great read! Awesome book!
Review: I'd never heard of Dave Ramsey until about 6 months ago when my mentor suggested I read his book. I found out later that he also had a radio show. I know, I know...I live under a rock. :) (We don't have a local affiliate where I live that carries his show.) Anyway, this book gets you to think, which is the most important thing that it does. Does it give all of the most intricate details? Not always, but it doesn't need to. If you can't make your mortgage payment this month and don't have food on the table, do you really care about the intricacies of the ROI of a particular mutual fund? Hell, no! The most important thing this book does is give you belief. He MAKES the reader analyze their situation and does a darn good job of it. The stories of success written by Dave's faithful listeners are what solidifies this book, not just Dave's messages. I know I would not be as read to commit to fixing my own problems if it wasn't for these stories. They are key...injections of belief. God Bless Dave Ramsey and his audience for this great read. I'm re-working our budget right now! :)
| 
