The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health

Dave Ramsey speaks from experience. He is incredibly black and white, and full of faith. I actually did some of the things he recommended in the past when I was younger and had debt, and not only did they work, they gave me an incredible sense of control. This book is a very approachable method in reviewing and planning your finances. It is intended to be used by implementing a chapter a week, but if you have already accomplished the beginning items, you can move a bit faster...as long as you pay attention to the lessons you are skipping and are sure you understand them. The characters he uses for illustration purposes are one dimensional, but readers can easily see themselves or those close to them in the characters. The workbook is NOT BORING, NOT DRY, and easy to understand. It can be used in conjunction with the Financial Peace (or Financial Peace Revised) book, but works well on its own. After reading it, if you are understanding that materialism is good, but not to be worshipped, you can accumulate a good bit of wealth in a reasonable period of time. The book is very motivating. Anyone can understand it, anyone can use it. You don't have to be broke, up to your eyeballs in debt or bankrupt to appreciate it. In fact, you'll have a leg up on those who are. If you are looking for a way to plan you future, are facing a promotion and want to be wise with your money, or are just interested in a basic, non-threatening way to learn about home economics and investing, this is the book to read. Comes with great forms to help you evaluate equity, learn about your household budget (he calls it a 'cashflow' plan), percentages of income should be dedicated to what expenses, etc.,etc.

I started reading this "manual" and very rapidly worked through the exercises. Honestly, this is going to require some serious work on our part to control our out of control spending. However, working through these exercises do show where the person in the mirror is the person needing the most work-- "me". I am definitely the spender and the reason why we have been in bankruptcy twice in our married life. As retirement is now upon us, better understanding and control of my habits is a necessity. I believe the set of books I purchased and firm instruction give me some hope going forward.

Love it

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it is a little dated. I bought this book along with Financial Peace Revisited, and I found this one to be more helpful. It is just the basics/outline of the book, but he actually gives examples so you can build your budget worksheets, which i found really helpful. Having said all that, I highly recommend the books to anyone that doesn't have a written budget. I thought I had one, albeit in my head, but it turned out that I had no idea where our money was going. I was in shock when I really started tracking our spending and found that we were overspending in areas we didn't need to. Now we use cash and our debit card, instead of our credit card and I feel I'm in much more control of our money. One of these days we'll be out of debt...

Great information in this book. Dave Ramsey is one of the top in his field. I enjoyed this.

I am really enjoying this book. I am SO glad I got this book and not the newer version (Total Money Makeover). Sure some of the things are out of date (mutual funds have changed since the '90s for example, and things cost more), but the principles he teaches are sound and the same as the newer one. When the newer version arrived from the library, I was so annoyed reading it. I don't care about other people's situations and stories. Sorry I don't. Or his for that matter. This older version kept that kind of "filler" (because that is what it is) to a minimum. Read this one and save yourself some money. I also found that this version was easier to get from the library too.

I find, when I am in the middle of a mess, esp a financial one, it feels like I can see no light at the end of the tunnel, like this will go from bad to worse and end up in bankruptcy. Then someone as dynamic as Dave Ramsey writes a 'plan' to get out of this mess, and shares that he also has been there, has given me hope. Hope is a gift not many can give. Now, I also have a plan. I would go to a store, or a mall, and see something that wasn't too expensive and think "I deserve that, I have been locked up in this financial mess for so long, I deserve to treat myself." WRONG. No, I do not. It was that kind of "comfort spending" that got me to where I am today. First plan-----don't go to the mall! Wow, what a profound idea! Instead, I look around and do something in my own home with what I have--move around the furniture around, find a can of left over pant and paint a wall---or a picture. Move on. Thank you, Mr. Dave Ramsey, you have changed my life. You have also helped give me the courage to tell my adult children when they are right or wrong---ONCE---then move on. I did my part, they are adults & have to do the change themselves. Long note, sorry. Thanks again!

Content is very helpful. Fonts used and examples given are easy to understand and comprehensive. Unfortunately it is printed on brownish yellow newsprint and viewing it in regular light is inadequate. I would rather have payed a little more for higher quality paper for the pages. The book was also damaged from packaging in a thin brown envelope. Copyright is 1998–27 years ago. Computer and Internet services it mentions need updates. No internet sources mentioned. Credit Report information is out of date.

Sehr gut, um Finanzen neu zu begegnen und diese anders zu betrachten. Formularmuster erleichtern den Start.

Me ha gustado mucho pero la mayoría de teoría no vale para mi país...q se le va a hacer. De todas formas tiene ejercicios prácticos para abrirte los ojos acerca de cuánto dinero necesitas ahorrar en realidad que hacen que el libro valga la pena. Aún así debo decir que lo compré en oferta flash, y en oferta desde luego vale la pena

Alles gut, Schnelle Lieferung

This is a great book - even if you live in the uk - I have started the Dave Ramsey plan and so far is going well