Books

In a world of get-rich-quick schemes and scams, it’s refreshing to read some common sense about money.

Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover walked me, a skeptic, step by step, from reluctant reader to Dave Ramsay fan. It’s easy to see how so many people have come to sing Dave’s praises. His method for financial freedom is simple, but it isn’t easy. Each chapter contains testimonies from those who have used the system and benefitted from it.

The “makeover” includes these steps, which I’ve paraphrased:

• Start an emergency fund of $1000
• Pay off debts, beginning with the smallest
• Save 3-6 months of living expenses
• Plan for retirement
• Pay off the mortgage
• Live, give, and invest

Dave says repeatedly:

If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.

This requires saving for the future. Dave recommends growth-stock mutual funds for investing longer than five years. Specifically, there are four types of funds Dave recommends investing in, each receiving 25% of your retirement savings:

1. Growth and Income funds
2. Growth funds
3. International funds
4. Aggressive Growth funds

The Roth IRA allows you to invest in retirement and pay no taxes on the money. If you can live on 8 percent of your nest egg, you are “secure.”

Here are some quotes I loved from the book:

“You are the problem with your money.”

“The good thing about principles is that they make life easy. . . . When some bases his life on principle, 99 percent of his decisions are already made.”

“If you invested what you pay in monthly payments, you’d be a debt-free millionaire before long.”

“The Bible states that the pure religion is actually helping the poor, not theorizing over why they are poor (see James 1:27).”

“Wealth will make you more of what you are.”

A simple process that leads to financial freedom, the book also includes worksheets in the back to help the “makeover” a reality.