{"id":17367,"date":"2020-11-03T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T02:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=17367"},"modified":"2020-11-11T13:47:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:47:55","slug":"dave-ramsey-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Ramsey Tools: 15 Questions From Total Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the Dave Ramsey tools for financial health? What questions help you implement his tips?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dave Ramsey&#8217;s tools are offered throughout <em>Total Money Makeover<\/em>. Thinking through them with the <em>Total Money Makeover<\/em> workbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on for 15 questions to help you apply the Dave Ramsey tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Questions to Apply the Dave Ramsey Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A major obstacle to gaining control of your finances is the widespread belief that debt is useful and normal. But you\u2019ll never <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/building-wealth\/\">build wealth<\/a> while a significant part of your income is tied up with making loan payments. These questions are part of the <em>Total Money Makeover<\/em> workbook to think about this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Before reading the preceding chapter, what were your beliefs about debt?<\/li><li>How have these beliefs impacted your life and how you handle money?<\/li><li>How much total debt do you have and what are your monthly payments? What else could you be doing with that money?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/myths-about-debt\/\">Myths about debt<\/a> and money, denial that you have a money problem, a lack of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-financial-literacy\/\">financial knowledge<\/a>, and peer pressure can keep you from achieving financial fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What are your main obstacles to financial fitness?<\/li><li>How have these obstacles affected your life?<\/li><li>What can you do to get rid of them?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone needs a rainy day fund because financial emergencies will come up, and if you borrow to cover them, you\u2019ll only create worse problems for yourself. You should immediately create a $1,000 emergency fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What can you do to save $1,000 (for example, hold a yard sale, stop eating out, carpool to save gas money, work extra hours)?<\/li><li>Where will you put the money so it\u2019s accessible when you need it, but not so accessible that you\u2019ll spend it in a non-emergency?<\/li><li>What will be the biggest temptation to spend it for non-emergency purchases? How will you resist this?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You should have an emergency fund large enough to cover three to six months of expenses, enabling you to manage without an income. Depending on your circumstances, it should be between $5,000 and $25,000.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Based on your personal circumstances, how much do you need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/saving-for-emergencies\/\">save for an emergency<\/a> fund? (Consider factors such as your income, whether or not your income is stable, and whether or not your job is at risk.)<\/li><li>Where will you keep your emergency fund (it should be readily accessible)?<\/li><li>What is your biggest obstacle to saving this amount of money? How can you overcome it?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Giving may be the most rewarding thing you can do with money. You don\u2019t have to be rich to help people, but you can often do more when you have money.&nbsp;These questions think about the Dave Ramsey tools for enjoying your money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What\u2019s a cause near and dear to your heart that you would like to help someday?<\/li><li>What are some creative ways you could design a gift so that it would have a lasting impact on your cause?<\/li><li>Where will you need to be financially before you can make such a gift?<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the Dave Ramsey tools for financial health? What questions help you implement his tips? Dave Ramsey&#8217;s tools are offered throughout Total Money Makeover. Thinking through them with the Total Money Makeover workbook. Read on for 15 questions to help you apply the Dave Ramsey tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,43],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-17367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money","category-self-improvement","tag-the-total-money-makeover","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dave Ramsey Tools: 15 Questions From Total Money - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What tools are discussed in Total Money Makeover? These Dave Ramsey tools and exercises to practice them help you control your money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dave Ramsey Tools: 15 Questions From Total Money\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What tools are discussed in Total Money Makeover? These Dave Ramsey tools and exercises to practice them help you control your money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-04T02:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-11T17:47:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/crucial-conversations-tools-crucial-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Dave Ramsey Tools: 15 Questions From Total Money\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-04T02:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-11T17:47:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/crucial-conversations-tools-crucial-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Total Money Makeover\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Money\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/\",\"name\":\"Dave Ramsey Tools: 15 Questions From Total Money - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-tools\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/crucial-conversations-tools-crucial-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-04T02:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-11T17:47:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"What tools are discussed in Total Money Makeover? 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