The Total Money Makeover

Finance coach Dave Ramsey sets out a plan for getting out of debt, staying out of it and building wealth, organized as seven baby steps. Readers first save a $1,000 starter emergency fund, then clear every debt but the mortgage with the debt snowball: minimum payments on all except the smallest balance, with each freed-up payment rolled into the next. Later steps build a cushion of three to six months of spending, put 15% of household income into retirement savings, fund the children's college, clear the mortgage early, and finally build wealth and give. Ramsey frames the plan in fitness language, takes on ten money myths and adds worksheets and success stories. It first appeared in 2003.

Author and photographer Vincent Pugliese named it as one of three books that had an immediate effect on his life.