The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

“Don’t confuse extreme confidence with arrogance. I am extremely confident that this material works, because millions of people have benefitted from it. I am not arrogant because I realize I am not personally responsible for any of the lives changed.”

This distinction is crucial for Ramsey to defend his character. He so often speaks of the arrogance rampant among financial professionals and professors that he risks being discredited by association. By admitting that he is not responsible for all the good that has come from his message, Ramsey assumes a humble posture.

“My Total Money Makeover begins with a challenge. The challenge is you. You are the problem with your money. […] You are the king of your future, and I have a plan. The Total Money Makeover plan isn’t theory. It works every time. It works because it is simple. It works because it gets to the heart of your money problems: you. […] All winners pay a price to win.”

Ramsey assumes the tone of a motivational speaker or personal coach because he appreciates the importance of motivation. He convinces readers to try his plan by getting them fired up, not by provoking their curiosity with tantalizing hints of financial secrets.

“You can be financially mediocre, financially flabby, and still be average. And if the truth be known, being average, normal, and financially flabby is pretty much okay by most folks’ standards. This, however, is not a book for the wimpy among us. This is a book about winning, about really having something.”

This quote is one of many in which Ramsey makes use of the physical fitness analogy for financial wellbeing. He also motivates readers by awakening their desire to be exceptional and victorious. Notably, he separates true victory from winning the approval of the majority.

“I need to warn you to watch out for your instinct to defend the American way of borrowing. Calm down. Relax and go for a ride with me for a few pages. I might be onto something. If […] you conclude I’m just a nut with a book, you will not be forced to change.”

With a touch of self-deprecating humor, Ramsey alleviates readers’ suspicions before ruthlessly exploding debt myth after debt myth. This quote highlights Ramsey’s preference for a personal tone that reveals his sensitivity—possibly a consequence of his years of experience dialoging with people on his radio program.

“According to Proverbs 17:18, ‘It’s stupid to guarantee someone else’s loan’ (CEV). That pretty well sums it up. […] many people are trying to help by cosigning, and the result is damaged credit or destroyed relationships. I have cosigned loans and ended up paying them […]. If you truly want to help someone, give money. If you don’t have it, then don’t sign up to pay it […].”

This quote is a good sample of the many argumentative strategies Ramsey uses. Here is a spiritual warning (the Bible verse), an emotional warning (your relationships will be ruined), a logical warning (don’t volunteer to pay a loan you can’t pay), personal testimony (Ramsey cosigned and paid), and an alternative supplied (giving).

“Looking good is when your broke friends are impressed by what you drive, and being good is having more money than they have. Are you starting to realize that The Total Money Makeover is also in your heart? You have to reach the point that what people think is not your primary motivator. Reaching the goal is the motivator.”

Ramsey believes that Motivation Matters More Than Knowledge. Here he observes that it is powerful both ways, and therefore helps readers supplant the bad motivator of impressing others with the wise motivator of attaining financial peace. This quote illustrates Ramsey’s conviction that financial wellbeing is intertwined with everything about a person—including how they seek validation.

“This is an emergency! The house is on fire! You have to save. You have to invest in your future. You won’t be FINE! Do you get the picture! We live in the land of plenty, and that has until recently lulled a large percentage of Americans to sleep, thinking everything will be ‘okay’. Things won’t be okay unless you make them that way.”

Ramsey ultimately aspires to inspire readers with hope, but he knows that fear is also a great motivator, so he adopts an alarmist tone. Fear eliminates the blind hope of complacency, giving Ramsey the opportunity to transfer hope to something better—taking action, having a plan and seeing the goal.

“Most people concentrate on the urgent in our culture. We worry about our health and focus on our money only after [it’s] gone.”

Ramsey stresses the importance of thinking long-term about money, calling out readers’ complacency about the future. Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover plan is a long-term plan that demands years of consistent effort. In his discussion of denial, Ramsey observes that the urgency of financial ruin often forces people to look back and admit they didn’t look ahead.

“Resistance of the heart is real. First, of course, we like our nice houses and nice cars, and selling them would be painful. Second, we don’t want to admit to everyone we have impressed that we are fakes. Yes, when you buy a big pile of stuff with no money and lots of debt, you are a financial fake. […] Being real takes tremendous courage.”

Ramsey claims the real obstacle to financial peace is not ignorance but clinging to a comfortable lifestyle and the approbation of others. Money touches all facets of life. Ramsey demands honesty and courage from his readers because he knows that it’s easy to be in denial while surrounded by apparent signs of success, i.e., the expensive possessions and the affirming remarks of friends and family.

“Now we stand at the bottom of a mountain with a clear view of the top. […] There is a distinct and very clear path we will take to the top. […] it is a well-worn path. It is a narrow path, one that most people don’t follow, but many winners have.”

Ramsey metaphorically compares the Total Money Makeover plan to a mountain climb—difficult but rewarding. He describes the path as distinct, clear, worn, and narrow because he believes the principles of financial success are plain, practical, and proven, not diverse, abstract, and unverified.

“If you worked for a company called YOU, Inc., and your job at YOU, Inc., was to manage money—and you managed money at YOU, Inc., the way you manage your own money now, would YOU, Inc., fire you?”

Ramsey uses this humorous hypothetical to highlight the importance of having clear, written goals for money management. He hopes to impress upon readers the absurdity of the disparity between the diligence they have working for others and the negligence they show toward their own financial affairs.

“I can’t stress enough that people who have had a Total Money Makeover […] got mad. They got sick and tired of being sick and tired! […] There is no intellectual exercise where you can academically work your way into wealth; you have to get fired up. […] There is no energy in logic; this is behavior and motivation modification, and it works!”

Here, Ramsey’s advice lends to the theme that Motivation Matters More Than Knowledge. Throughout his book, Ramsey strives to make readers dissatisfied with their current financial situations because he knows that agitation leads to activity.

“We don’t wander aimlessly around in any other parts of our lives, but we seem to think that will work with money. You can’t get ready, fire, and then aim with money, and you can’t try to do six things at a time. You are trying to get out of debt. Period. You will have to focus with great intensity to do it.”

Ramsey’s mission is to give restless activity a clear purpose and direction so it is not wasted. He accomplishes this with a practical plan, the Total Money Makeover. He emphasizes the absurdity of aimlessness by analogy to getting on a plane without knowing its destination and spotlights the need for focus with the metaphor of a magnifying glass igniting newspapers in the sun.

“Close your eyes and breathe in. Think about what it will feel like when you are debt-free except for the house and have $1,000 cash. Did I see you smiling?”

These are only the first two Baby Steps of the Total Money Makeover plan, but Ramsey knows that incremental victories give hope and relieve anxiety. Ramsey has human desire on his side, and he leverages it to motivate readers. Nobody wants to fret all their lives about money. Everyone wants to have that smile.

“This would be like my wife saying she wants me to lose weight and then baking homemade chocolate-chip cookies every night. She would be saying one thing and doing another.”

Ramsey uses this metaphor to illustrate the importance of families being totally committed together to the Total Money Makeover plan. The metaphor shows that efforts in opposite directions cancel out, preventing progress—a simple principle.

“Being the highly-trained investment mogul that I am, I could certainly find places to put that money where it would earn more. Or would it? Remember, personal finance is personal. I have come to realize that [my wife’s] peace of mind bought with the oversized emergency fund is a great return on investment.”

Not everything is about money. Ramsey suggests that using money only to make more money is not the goal—financial peace is. He repeatedly emphasizes that the emergency fund does not exist to produce more money—therefore, he asks married readers to conceive of it as a different kind of investment, a relational one. Ramsey employs a personal testimony anecdote to illustrate his point.

“Follow me here. If Joe and Suzy invest $625 per month […] from age thirty to age seventy, they will have $7,588,545 tax-FREE! That is almost 8 million. What if I’m half wrong? What if you end up with only 4 million? What if I’m six times wrong? Sure beats the 97 out of 100 sixty-five-year-olds who can’t write a check for $600!”

Ramsey knows how to excite his readers. With some reasonable assumptions and basic math, he tries to convince readers that becoming a millionaire is not only possible, but easy. Ramsey believes that motivation matters more than math—but the math can motivate, too.

“Ultimately, you are not defined by wealth; however, your Total Money Makeover will affect your wealth, as well as your emotions, relationships, and spiritual condition. This is a ‘Total’ process.”

This emphasizes the theme that Financial Improvement Is Self-Improvement. Ramsey balances his sometimes off-putting ranting and remonstrating tone with moments that emphasize his sympathy and understanding.

“If you aren’t really careful, ‘The Good Enough’ can become the enemy of ‘The Best.’ ‘Bad’ is seldom the enemy of ‘The Best,’ but mediocrity with a dose of doubt can keep you from excellence. Finishing well can be more important than starting well.”

Again Ramsey uses personal coach talk to motivate readers to aspire to greatness. He knows that getting halfway up the mountain can lead to complacency and stopping early, so he keeps people focused on the summit. He always asks his readers to look ahead, not behind.

“One thing I am sure of in my Total Money Makeover: I had to quit telling myself that I had innate discipline and fabulous natural self-control. That is a lie. I have to put systems and programs in place in place that make me do smart things.”

Ramsey connects with readers by not representing himself as smarter and better than them. If he succeeded because he was better than everyone else, his personal testimony could not give hope to them. This quote restates that the Total Money Makeover plan is more about changing behavior than learning new facts.

“What kind of author would tell a microwave culture that it takes an average of seven years to reach the last Baby Step? What kind of author would tell a sound-bite culture that the first two steps take a very rough two or two and a half years? An author who has seen it done tens of thousands of times by ordinary people with extraordinary desire would do that, the same author who tells you it’s not easy, just worth it.”

Ramsey doesn’t mind that his ideas are considered countercurrent; in fact, he welcomes it. He gives “crazy” (119) a positive connotation of energy and variety. Ramsey must inflate readers’ enthusiasm to its maximum because he knows the journey is long and mere curiosity or fancy will not ensure arrival at the destination.

“You should surround yourself with a team of people smarter than you, but you make the decisions. You can tell if they are smarter than you if they can explain complex issues in ways you can understand. If a member of your team wants you to do something ‘because I say so,’ get a new team member. […] bring on only members who have the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman or the heart of an ‘expert.’”

In these remarks about seeking out financial advisors Ramsey implicitly portrays himself positively to the reader. Ramsey explains things in ways everyone can understand. He never reminds people of his credentials to prove why they should listen to him, instead he appeals to his readers’ desire for personal mentorship.

“What do you find at the top? The cynical among us just said, ‘Another hill to climb.’ Those of us with a kid still alive inside know what was at the top. Those of us […] who can dream, who can believe, and who can hope know what we found at the top. […] The perfect moment when you push the pedal the last time before going down a huge hill on the other side.”

Ramsey brings his extended metaphor of mountain climbing to a climax (with the slight alteration of substituting biking for hiking). He hopes to awaken a childlike hope that breaks through the walls of doubt built by years or decades of financial distress. By portraying the ultimate financial breakthrough as a childhood scene, Ramsey represents the Total Money Makeover plan as a kind of adventure, almost the subject of a fairy tale.