{"id":17385,"date":"2020-11-01T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T01:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=17385"},"modified":"2025-09-12T16:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:28:06","slug":"dave-ramsey-motto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dave Ramsey Motto Behind Total Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the Dave Ramsey motto? How does the motto set you up for success during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-total-money-makeover\/\">the Total Money Makeover<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dave Ramsey motto is to live differently today so you can live differently in the future. You&#8217;re putting in the work on your financial health now to relax later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to better understand the Dave Ramsey motto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/personal-life\/health\/nutrition\/dieting-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shortform\u2019s guide to saving money<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-total-money-makeover-dave-ramsey-motto\"><em>Total Money Makeover<\/em>: Dave Ramsey Motto<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dave Ramsey motto in <em>Total Money Makeover <\/em>is: <strong>live differently from everyone else in the present so you can live differently from everyone else in the future<\/strong>. This means that to live a better life than most people, you need to do what most people won\u2019t do\u2014make sacrifices now in return for the payoff of financial security later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fix for your financial situation isn\u2019t a bigger salary, a windfall, or a better job, but acknowledging that your poor financial decisions are your fault and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-change-your-behavior\/\">changing your behavior<\/a>. This book lays out what you need to do, but only you can do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-myths-about-debt-and-money\"><strong>Myths About Debt and Money<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>People who get into financial trouble do so in part because they believe a host of societal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/myths-about-debt\/\">myths about debt<\/a> and money that encourage taking on debt and spending foolishly in order to buy things they can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest myths is that debt is normal. <strong>Debt has become so ingrained in our culture that most people can\u2019t imagine living without it.<\/strong> We don\u2019t know how to get a car, buy a home, or go to college without debt, and most people can\u2019t imagine living without a credit card. Further, financial institutions, stores, and other lenders aggressively push you to borrow because they benefit when you owe them money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You must reject the view that debt is normal before you can get control of your finances. The central tenet of the Total Money Makeover program is living debt-free and buying only what you can afford (what you can pay for immediately).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the Dave Ramsey motto? How does the motto set you up for success during the Total Money Makeover? The Dave Ramsey motto is to live differently today so you can live differently in the future. You&#8217;re putting in the work on your financial health now to relax later. Read on to better understand the Dave Ramsey motto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,31,43],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-17385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","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>The Dave Ramsey Motto Behind Total Money - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the key approach in Total Money Makeover? 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You have to work on your money now and not later, as the Dave Ramsey motto explains.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-02T01:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-12T20:28:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rich-dont-work-for-money-rich-dad-poor-dad-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-motto\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"The Dave Ramsey Motto Behind Total Money\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-02T01:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-12T20:28:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/\"},\"wordCount\":374,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rich-dont-work-for-money-rich-dad-poor-dad-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Total Money Makeover\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Money\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/\",\"name\":\"The Dave Ramsey Motto Behind Total Money - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dave-ramsey-motto\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rich-dont-work-for-money-rich-dad-poor-dad-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-02T01:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-12T20:28:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is the key approach in Total Money Makeover? 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