I've read a lot of money books. My first one was Beth Kobliner's Get a FInancial Life, then Your money or your life, and Andrew Tobias' book on personal finance. Ramsey covers many of the same points and he's got a very motivational style! He really abhor's credit though makes a small exception if you have to take a 15 year mortgage on a house. I do like his idea of paying cash for everything and I've switched a few things to my debit card, instead (I think he'd approve). It's good for post-Christmas reading as we pay off the holiday balances on credit cards. Give it a shot. The religious tone isn't that strong and is pretty common sense oriented. I think the faithful and the secular can find some useful actions to take.