Book Review - Total Money Makeover

I read The Total Money Makeover, 3rd Edition in only a few hours. 
It is an in depth, yet easy to read book because Dave lays the the foundation for eliminating debt, learning to save and giving a right view of wealth in many "baby steps".

It is an important book to read for anyone, whether your debt load is high or you are just in debt "a little",  because it brings awareness to spending habits and makes one more responsible for their purchases. 

Dave Ramsey says we need to "Live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later".
Once we realize if we live beyond our means now, the debt will follow into the future. 
Financial strain can creates problems in many areas of our lives and affect relationships when it brings feelings of overload, depression, anxiety, stress and inadequacy.

He writes, "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 more free than the debt-ridden consumer.."

Dave Ramsey gives some very interesting statistics and dispels many myths that run in our society.
From many of the stories throughout the book, including his own, it seems The Total Money Makeover can work...if you have that "gazelle intensity".

So even though the book can be a quick read, it will take hard work, but the gain in the end will mean freedom.

This really is in line with the first limb of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras...the Yamas.

Asteya means non-stealing, non-misappropriation, desirelessness and non-covetousness.
Not having any desire to have something that is not yours by untruthful ways of obtaining it.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra II.37 says: asteyapratisthayam sarvaratnopasthanam
When abstention from stealing is firmly established, precious jewels come.

Mr. Iyengar writes in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,that upon the man who does not take what does not belong to him, all riches are showered. Being without desire, he effortlessly attracts what is precious, materially and figuratively, including the gem of all jewels, virtue.

Asteya does not just mean the literal sense of not stealing from others, it is also not taking more then you need or require. Often when we feel there is not enough of something to go around there is a sense of greed and we want to hoard it. When we sit back and look at what we would truly need to survive and prosper we would realize it is very little and that there is an abundance to go around for everyone.

I will end with a quote I often read to myself. 

Live Simply....

So others can simply live.

Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
www.plnyoga.vpweb.com