101 Quotes from The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

The Total Money Makeover is one of the best selling personal finance books of all time.

It’s helped millions of people build wealth and improve their understanding of money.

Here are 101 of my favourite quotes from The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey.

1. Don’t wait for a heart attack to show you that you’re overweight.

2. The borrower is servant to the lender.

3. The Lottery is a tax on poor people and on people who can’t do math. Rich people and smart people would be in the line if the Lottery were a real wealth-building tool. But, the truth is that the Lottery is a rip-off instituted by our government.

4. The best way to build wealth is to become and stay debt-free.

5. The sooner you understand that no one gets rich quick by using secret information, the better.

6. Debt is not a tool; it is a method to make banks wealthy, not you.

7. There is no short-cut to any place worth going.

8. Most people concentrate on the urgent in our culture. We worry about our health and focus on our money only after they’re gone.

9. The goal is not to be normal because, as my radio listeners know by now, normal is broke.

10. The secrets of the rich don’t exist, because the principles aren’t a secret. There is no magic key, and if you are looking for one, you’ve set yourself up for pain and the loss of money.

11. You need to be far more worried about the danger of using credit cards than the danger of being robbed while carrying cash.

12. Wealth is not an escape mechanism. It is instead a tremendous responsibility.

13. I am not against the enjoyment of money. What I am against is spending money when you do not have money to begin with.

14. Should anyone wear a $30,000 watch? Should anyone drive a brand-new $50,000 car? Should anyone live in a $700,000 home? Absolutely, they should. The problem with people is, they buy those things when they can’t afford them.

15. It is human nature to want it and want it now; it is also a sign of immaturity.’

16. Energy, thrift, and diligence are how wealth is built, not dumb luck.

17. Always manage your own money. Celebrities and pro athletes often lose their entire fortunes because they give up the responsibility of managing their own money.

18. All winners pay a price to win.

19. The money manager who loses your hard-earned investments won’t live with the regret and pain that you will.

20. Studies show that the zip codes that spend four times what anyone else does on lottery tickets are those in lower-income parts of town. The Lotto, or gambling of any kind, offers false hope, not a ticket out.

21. Debt adds considerable risk, most often doesn’t bring prosperity, and isn’t used by wealthy people nearly as much as we are led to believe.

22. Quick, easy money is one of the oldest lies, or myths, in the book of the human race.A shortcut, a microwave dinner, instant coffee, and dot-com instant millionaires are things we wish would give us high quality, but they never do.

23. One of the paradoxically dumb things we do is to destroy our finances by buying garbage we can’t afford to try to make ourselves appear wealthy to others.

24. The first major Baby Step to your Total Money Makeover is to begin the emergency fund. A small start is to save $1,000 in cash fast.

25. Separate checking accounts mean one of two things, either ignorance or problems.

26. When your money makes more than you do, you are officially wealthy.

27. 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.

28. The number-one cause of bankruptcy today is medical bills; number two is credit cards.

29. No one develops and makes a six-figure income on three hours a week.

30. If you have a car or a boat that you can’t pay off in eighteen to twenty months, sell it.

31. Being real takes tremendous courage.

32. When you can comfortably live on your investment income, you are financially secure.

33. If I loan money to a friend or relative, the relationship will be strained or destroyed. The only relationship that would be enhanced is the kind resulting from one party being the master and the other party a servant.

34. Money is a hard worker, harder than you. Money never gets sick, never gets pregnant, and is never disabled. Money works twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

35. Money gets its job done, and it asks for only directions and a firm master.

36. Giving is possibly the most fun you will ever have with money.

37. Only the strong can help the weak. If you want to help someone, many times you can’t do so without money.

38. Staying away from car payments by driving reliable used cars is what the average millionaire does; that is how he or she became a millionaire.

39. I don’t like the idea of working one hundred hours per week, but sometimes extreme situations require extreme solutions. Temporarily, just for a manageable period of time, the extra job or overtime may be your solution.

40. It is really hard to sell books and tapes that teach the necessity of lots of hard work, living on less than you make, getting out of debt, and living on a plan, but I’m trying, because it’s the only way that will work.

41. We teach people to carry cash.

42. You must walk to the beat of a different drummer, the same beat that the wealthy hear. If the beat sounds common or normal, evacuate the dance floor immediately.

43. I know from personal experience the pain of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and lawsuits. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and it is not worth it.

44. A note to all of you under forty: All of us over forty are giving you a collective yell, ‘INVEST NOW!

45. We have met the enemy and he is us.

46. You can get anywhere if you simply go one step at a time.

47. If you carry cash, you spend less, and you can get bargains by flashing cash.

48. Money gives power to good intentions. That’s why I’m unashamedly in favour of building wealth.

49. Stuff is wonderful; get some stuff, but don’t let the pursuit of wealth become your god.

50. 78 percent of us will have a major negative event in a given ten-year period of time. The job is downsized, rightsized, reorganised, or you just plain get fired.

51. It’s fine to give money to friends in need if you have it, loaning them money will mess up relationships.

52. Life happens, so be ready. You need an emergency fund, an old-fashioned Grandma’s rainy-day fund.

53. Hundreds of times I’ve seen relationships strained and sometimes destroyed. We all have, but we continue to believe the myth that a loan to a loved one is a blessing. It isn’t; it is a curse. Don’t put that burden on any relationship you care about.

54. Savings without a mission is garbage. Your money needs to work for you, not lie around.

55. If you are a jerk and you become wealthy, you will be king of the jerks. If you are generous and you become wealthy, you will be most generous. If you are kind, wealth will allow you to show kindness in immeasurable ways. If you feel guilty, wealth will ensure that you feel guilty for the rest of your life.

56. Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity.

57. I can find only three good uses for money. Money is good for FUN. Money is good to INVEST. And money is good to GIVE.

58. Few people have the courage to seek out change.

59. College degrees do not ensure jobs. College degrees certainly don’t ensure success. College degrees do not ensure wealth. College degrees only prove that someone has successfully passed a series of tests.

60. Your actions should show that you care about money by learning something about it.

61. Wealth is not evil, and people who possess it aren’t evil by virtue of the wealth. There are rich jerks and poor jerks.

62. Bankruptcy is listed in the top five life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and the loss of a loved one.

63. If the Jones’s (broke people) think you’re cool, you’re heading the wrong way. If they think you’re crazy, you’re probably on track.

64. You have to save. You have to invest in your future. You won’t “be fine”. Do you get the picture?

65. You are the king or queen of your future.’

66. When taking advice, evaluate if the person giving the advice will profit from the advice.

67. We have all experienced loaning someone money and finding an immediate distancing in the relationship. We don’t control how debt affects relationships; debt does that independently of what we want.

68. The reason you’re afraid of investing is because you don’t know what you’re getting into. Learn about investments.

69. We all know college-educated people who are broke and unemployed. They are very disillusioned because they thought they had bought a ticket and yet were denied a seat on the train to success.

70. 80% of Americans believe their standard of living will go up at retirement. Talk about living in a fantasy!

71. If you make the sacrifices that most people aren’t willing to make, later on you’ll be able to live as those folks will never be able to live.

72. Debt brings on enough risk to offset any advantage that could be gained through leverage of debt.

73. Estate planners tell us that 70 percent of Americans die without a will.

74. Your largest wealth-building tool is your income.

75. Collectors are not your friends. Credit-card collectors are the worst, for they will lie, cheat, and steal, and that is just before breakfast.

76. With gazelle intensity, great focus, extreme sacrifice, selling things, and working extra, we clear all debt.

77. People who retire early, die early.

78. I want you to own a home because homes are a good investment. The fastest way to become a homeowner is through a Total Money Makeover while renting the cheapest thing you can suffer through.

79. If you’re sending your kids to college because you want them to be guaranteed a job, success, or wealth, you will be dramatically let down.

80. Student loans are a cancer. Once you have them, you can’t get rid of them. They are like an unwelcome relative who comes to stay for a ‘few days’ and is still in the guest room ten years later.

81. When your spouse gets the raise you are expecting, don’t raise your lifestyle with it. Save more! Invest more!

82. Broken hearts and broken wallets. That’s how cosigning usually goes, so unless you are looking for a broken heart and a broken wallet, don’t do it.

83. Bankruptcy is not something I recommend any more than I would recommend divorce. Are there times when good people see no way out and file bankruptcy? Yes, but I will still talk you out of it if given the opportunity.

84. A good person leaves an inheritance to their children’s children.

85. Never allow collectors electronic access to your checking account, and never send postdated checks. They will abuse you if you give them this power, and there will be nothing you can do, because you owe them money.

86. Hear me on this: college is great, but don’t expect too much from that degree.

87. There are benefits beyond just the money awaiting the young person who works to pay for all or part of college.

88. It’s stupid to guarantee someone else’s loan. I have cosigned loans and ended up paying them; one poor guy cosigned for me, and he ended up paying when I went broke. If you truly want to help someone, give money. If you don’t have it, then don’t sign up to pay it, because you likely will.

89. A big part of being strong financially is that you know where you are weak and take action to make sure you don’t fall prey to the weakness. And we ALL are weak.

90. It will rain; You need an umbrella.

91. To make more money, you have to plan to make more money.Some people’s problem is income, not spending.

92. Retirement in America has come to mean “save enough money so I can quit the job I hate.” That is a bad life plan.

93. College is important — very important — but it is not the answer to all your kids’ problems. I will be so bold as to say college isn’t even a need; it is a want. It isn’t a necessity; it is a luxury.

94. The purchase of a trailer is not a shortcut, but a setback on the path to owning real estate that goes up in value.

95. Ignorance is not okay. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you” is a stupid statement. What you don’t know about money will make you broke, and keep you broke.

96. I have been bankrupt and have worked with the bankrupt for decades, and it is not a place you want to visit.

97. 90% of solving a problem is realising there is one.

98. The worst time to borrow is when times are bad.

99. Stay away from loans. Make plans to avoid borrowing.

100. Don’t even consider keeping up with the Jones’s. They’re broke!

101. 49 percent of Americans could cover less than one month’s expenses if they lost their income. Half of this culture has virtually no buffer between them and life.

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