The Total Money Makeover

wealthy people that I know who are fulfilled didn’t just have a Total MONEY Makeover. They had a life makeover. Because personal finance is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent knowledge, you will either make your life over in this process, or you will end up miserable.

to use riches is to cause them to be consumed, to trust in riches is to count upon them for things they cannot provide, but to possess riches is to have the right to say how they will or will not be used.

Another paradox is that wealth will make you more of what you are. Let that one soak in for a minute. 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.

We further must recognize that while wealth is very fun, it comes with great responsibility.

“Do you know how tough it is being Dave Ramsey’s kid? Dad, you are so hard on us, making us buy our own cars, manage our own checkbooks. You cut us no slack.”

“He who dies with the most toys is still dead.” Stuff is wonderful; get some stuff, but don’t let the pursuit of wealth become your god.

False Cents of Security

According to Proverbs 10:15, a rich man’s wealth can become his walled city. In Bible times, the wall around the city was the city’s protection from the enemy. If all you get from your wealth is the wrong view of it, wealth will destroy your peace. If you get from your wealth the idea that you are some big deal because you gathered some money, you missed the essence of a Total Money Makeover. The wealthy person who is ruled by his stuff is no freer than the debt-ridden consumer we have picked on throughout the book. Antoine Rivaroli said, “There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.”

Only the strong can help the weak, and that is true of money too.

Giving Is the Biggest Reward of the Entire Workout

When your money makes more than you do, you are officially wealthy. When you can comfortably live on your investment income, you are financially secure. 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. Money gets its job done, and it asks for only directions and a firm master.