<prompt> Human: My sister is an avid listener to his podcast, and it has helped her a lot. Granted, shes not terribly financially smart, so I think anything with any sort of structure would have helped her.Ive given him a shot once or twice, but there was something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. I cant describe it, but I wasnt completely sold. Im finally getting my crap together financially, and reading the sidebar has helped, but Im looking for an external source as well no offense to you money wizards!. So what are your thoughts? Do you know of any similar sourcespeople?  <response>: I have never listened to his radio show or podcasts or anything, but I have read Total Money Makeover and would recommend it to people who ask for help.BruceCambridges post is spot on, so let me clarify why I think he is good, at least for a particular audience. His total approach as he admits is centered more on psychology than on mathIm an engineer and go for the math. I have never had someone come to me asking for help with personal finance stuff who liked the math and few even got the math. People who like math are not his audience. The two people Ive really worked closely with both needed the psychology as part of it. They were both religious, too, so getting the notion that debtsin in their heads was incredibly helpful.Some of his advice is just flat-out bad.For some people, that bad advice is actually a lot better than than the good advice we offer here on rPF. For example, one of those people I mentioned simply could not resist using a credit card that wasnt maxed out. Ive been helping her for years and she still cant resist. The only thing that worked was cutting up her cards so they werent an option. Then all of a sudden the emergencies where she couldnt see any way out but using the card had all sorts of other options. She picked up a second job, finally reduced her cell phone plan, etc. The credit card was too much of a crutch for her to make the changes she really needed to make.So, the short version is, when Im chatting with someone about personal finance, if we can talk about debt reduction or budgeting or expense tracking or retirement planning for more than about 2 minutes without them mentioning a spreadsheet, Ill recommend Dave Ramsey if they havent already read his book. My sister is an avid listener to his podcast,I think thats really his strong suit. There is a relatively large group of people who get excited by him, but not by spreadsheets or online forums like rPF.Im looking for an external source as well Check out the FAQ especially the recommended books. The reality is that personal finance really isnt that complicated, so if youre committed to getting your crap together, you dont need an external source. If you need motivation, Id recommend The Millionaire Next Door, Die Broke, and Your Money or Your Life. Practical strategies for achieving your goals are also in the FAQ, but again, that part is easy once you have defined some goals and committed yourself to achieving them. 