Chapter 1- The Total Money Makeover Challenge

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey Chapter 1 The Total Money Makeover Challenge As lost as a ball in tall weeds That is exactly how I felt. Although it was fifteen years ago, I can still taste the emotion as if it were yesterday. Out of control lost no sense of power. I felt dread, creep across the room like the afternoon shadows on a cold winter's day. Sitting again at the kitchen table with too much month left at the end of the money I was not having fun. This adult stuff where a wife looks at you to provide and kids expect to be fed and kept warm was not exactly working. I didn't feel like some powerful adult. Instead there was a little boy inside of me who was very afraid. Afraid of this month's bills, afraid of this month's mortgage, and absolutely terrified when I considered the future. How was I going to send kids to college? Retire, enjoy life, and not live at the edge of money worries. It seemed every month I sat at the same table with the same worries, fears and problems. I had too much debt, too little savings, and no sense of control over my life. No matter how hard I worked, it seemed I couldn't win. When Sharon and I talked about money, we ended up in a fight, leaving her feeling afraid and me feeling inadequate. I didn't need a get rich quick guy to pump me up or tell me to be positive. I didn't need a secret formula to riches. I wasn't afraid of hard work or sacrifice. I didn't want to feel my way into being positive. I was positive of only one thing. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was tired of sitting down to do the bills and having a heaviness come over me. All the money came in, all the money went out. I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. You know the drill and all the cliches that go with the drill. Oh, some months, everything seemed to work. I could tell myself then, "Oh, well, this is how everyone lives." Those times offered enough wiggle room that I could continue to lie to myself that we were making headway, but deep down I knew we weren't. I did it my way. My way wasn't working. Enough! This stinks! If you've ever had any of those feelings, you are going to love this audiobook and more important you will love your total money makeover. Fifteen years ago my wife Sharon and I went broke. We lost everything due to my stupidity in handling money or not handling it as the case may be. Hitting bottom and hitting it hard was the worst thing that ever happened to me and the best thing that ever happened to me. We started with nothing, but by the time I was 26 years old we held real estate worth over four million dollars. I was good at real estate, but I was better at borrowing money. Even though I had become a millionaire I had built a house of cards. The short version of the story is that we went through financial hell and lost everything. We were sued, foreclosed on, and finally with a brand new baby in a toddler we were bankrupt. Scared doesn't begin to cover it. But we held on to each other and we decided we needed a change. So I went on a quest, a quest to find out how money really works, how I could get control of it and how I could have confidence in handling it. I read everything I could get in my hands on, I interviewed old rich people, people who made money and kept it. A quest led me to a really, really uncomfortable place. My mirror. I came to realize that my money problems worries and shortages largely began and ended with the person in my mirror. I realized also that if I could learn to manage the character I shaved with every morning, well I could win it money. That quest led me on a new journey over the last 15 years, the journey of helping others, literally millions of others, to take that same quest to the mirror. Live events, financial peace university, the Dave Ramsey show on talk radio and the New York Times bestsellers, financial peace and more than enough have enabled me to tell millions of Americans what I have learned the hard way about money. I have a challenge for you. Are you ready to take on the guy or gal in your mirror? If you are, you're ready to win. I discovered gods and grandma a simple way of handling money. Wealth building isn't rocket science, which is a good thing for me and probably for you. Planning at money is 80% behavior and 20% had knowledge. Most of us know what to do but we just don't do it. If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can be skinny and rich. We'll let the other audio books work on the skinny and I'll help you with the rich part. No there are no secrets and yes this is going to be very hard. Hey if it were easy every more unwoking would be wealthy. My total money makeover begins with a challenge. The challenge is you. You are the problem with your money. The financial channel or some tape sets aren't your answer. You are. You are the king of your future and I have a plan. The total money makeover plan isn't theory. It works every single time. It works because it is simple. It works because it gets to the heart of your money problems. You. Tens of thousands of ordinary people have used the system to get out of debt. Regain control and build wealth. These people have sacrificed for a short period of time so they will never have to sacrifice again. If you are looking for a roadmap to get you home you found it. If you are looking for something easy or fast you have the wrong audio book. If you are looking for a writer who has an intricate academic theory which don't work in the real world you have the wrong guy. I have many of the academic pedigrees but I ended up broke. I have actually twice become a millionaire from nothing. The first time was in my 20s. The money was in real estate and I lost that due to my stupidity. The second time I was not yet 40 but I did the money thing right that time and I am debt free. I often hear about broke finance professors who bemoan that I am way too simple or as a recent e-mailer told me on the day of Ramsey show one day. Dave you are a one trick pony. To those of you who have great but unexecuted plans I say prove your plan. I have proven mine. This plan works but it will cost you. It will teach you to say new words like "no". In short your total money makeover will be a personal money makeover where you learn this motto. If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else. This is the motto for your total money makeover. It's my way of reminding you that if you will make the sacrifices now that most people aren't willing to make later on you will be able to live as those folks will never be able to live. I am sorry there isn't an easier path but the good thing about this one is it works. You can repeat the motto to yourself as you pass up a purchase in order to hit your goals. When you work late and are tired you can say the motto again to yourself. Of course this isn't a magic formula. I am not into that but it does remind you that you will win and the payoff will be worth the cost. I don't want to walk across hot coals because it is fun but if I can be shown how a short painful walk will do away with a lifetime of worry, frustration, stress and fear that being constantly broke brings me then bring on the hot coals. My promise to you is if you will follow the guidelines of this proven system of sacrifice and discipline you can be debt free, begin saving and give as you've never given before. You will build wealth. The total money makeover isn't a magic formula to wealth. This system will not work unless you do. Your situation isn't your spouse's fault. Well maybe but we'll talk later. It isn't your parents' fault. It isn't your children's fault and it isn't your friends' fault. It's your fault. My financial life began turning around when I took responsibility for it. Please join me on a journey away from the young man I was. The one I described earlier who was racked with worry, fear and guilt over money. Take this journey with me on your own total money makeover. Remember the first part of the quest is confronting the man in the mirror. That man in the mirror is your total money makeover challenge.