The Total Money Makeover | Dave Ramsey

Plain and simple, if you like your current financial situation, you probably feel pretty good about money matters, and you don’t need a makeover. On the other hand, if you don’t like your current financial situation, you probably feel pretty lousy about your finances. A makeover is for you!

Wealth building isn’t rocket science. The principles are simple, time-proven, and effective. In a nutshell, “spend less and invest more” is a five-word financial strategy.

If you will live like no one else now . . .

later you can live like no one else.

Living like no one else now means living a sacrificial, highly focused, purposeful life when it comes to your money.

Living like no one else later means living without the worry, frustration, stress, or fear that comes from constantly being on the brink of financial disaster. It means living later with feelings of confidence, hope, and joy related to money.

If you are blaming another person or situation for your money problems, you are in denial. The problems are yours. Own up to your responsibility in creating money problems for yourself, and then you can do something to turn those problems into solutions.

Change always has an element of sacrifice to it. It always has an element of self-denial. Any change that truly results in growth or improvement has an element of pain associated with it.

You Must STOP Doing Some Bad Things Before You Can Do Good Things

For centuries the medical world has lived by the first rule of medicine, which is “Do no harm.” Before a physician can ever do “good” for a patient, he needs to make sure that he is doing no harm.

The same goes for your beliefs and attitudes about money. Most people I meet grew up believing certain myths about debt and money—these myths are not only ineffective and unproductive, but they are very damaging to a person’s finances. Still, as a nation, we continue to believe these myths and pass them on.

The best way to build wealth is to become and stay debt-free. That’s how I live my life and run my business. My company is run completely debt-free. And we’re not the only business that operates this way. Some of America’s most prosperous companies, including Walgreens, Microsoft, and Harley–Davidson, are all run debt-free.