Books like the total money makeover

David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American radio show host, author and businessman.

Ramsey was born and raised in Antioch, Tennessee. He was a 1982 graduate of the College of Business Administration at University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a degree in Finance and Real Estate. As a real estate investor, doing business as Ramsey Investments, Inc., he built a rental real estate portfolio worth more than $4 million by 1986. The bank that was financing his real estate was sold to a larger bank who demanded immediate repayment on the loans. He was unable to pay, and eventually filed bankruptcy in September 1988.

After recovering financially, Ramsey began counseling couples at his local church. He attended workshops and seminars on consumer financial problems. Ramsey developed a set of lessons and materials based partially on his own experience and partially on works and teachings by Larry Burkett, Ron Blue and Art Williams of the A.L. Williams company, now Primerica. In 1992 he wrote his first book, Financial Peace.