It’s often been said that searching for sound financial advice is like searching for a religion, everyone has a suggestion and everyone thinks they are one-hundred percent right. When it comes to personal finance, there are a number of different views, from ultra-conservative and risk-adverse to the extremely-liberal complex plans of credit-card arbitrage and leveraging beyond belief. I recently picked up a copy of Dave Ramsey’s “The Total Money Makeover,” and found it to be a shot in the arm of common sense for the world of personal finance.

Dave Ramsey has a daily radio show which is played on over three-hundred stations nation wide. On his show, he offers a unique blend of conservative and Christian financial advice. Ramsey tries to keep people’s financial life as simple as possible, he tells his listeners to have a budget, save money, and avoid debt like the plague. In addition to his radio show, he frequently visits CBS’s “The Early Show” and has a column in a number of newspapers nation wide. If you are familiar with and pleased with his radio show, “The Total Money Makeover” might just be for you! In the book Ramsey discusses a number of topics of personal finance, and what the realities are of participating in them. In the first three chapters, Ramsey takes on a topic that has become integral to living in America, debt. Ramsey contends it is never a good idea to purchase anything on credit because of the great amount of risk it adds to your life.

In the fourth and fifth chapter of the book, the author looks at a number of myths relating to personal finance. One of the “myths” he discusses is that individuals should borrow money to build up their credit score. Dave lambastes the myth and states the only way to have a great credit score is to consistently borrow money and make payments, and that people really don’t need a good credit score.

Starting on chapter 6, Dave Ramsey presents his plan that has gotten millions of Americans “out of debt and into wealth,” in a system he calls “the baby steps.” First he tells his listeners to save $1,000 as a beginner emergency-fund to take care of any problems that come up. He then suggests that you pay off all of your debt from smallest to largest, attacking the smallest debt first, and working your way up to the largest debt. After you are debt free, he suggest saving three to six months of expenses for emergencies, and then saving 15% of your income for retirement. Following such he suggests that you save for your children’s college, pay off your house early or on time, and build wealth.

The book itself does not offer any uniquely new or amazing wisdom, but it is a great motivational tool. The book is filled with stories about people who have followed dave’s plan and have won because of it. His plan doesn’t contain any complex mathematics, but it’s not just a written theory. Rather it’s something that takes into account human psychology, which makes his plan succeed where so many others tend to fail.