SHOO, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide [...]]]> Over the past week, I’ve been reading a new book, SHOO, Jimmy Choo! by Catey Hill.  The publishers of this book were kind enough to send me not one, but three copies, so read through and find out how you can get your hands on one of these books.

SHOO, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More is a new personal finance book by Catey Hill, who is described as a recovering shoe addict and also the Money Editor of NYDailyNews.com. I have to admit, when I first saw the title, I wasn’t expecting much for me in this book.  After all, I’m not a big fashion person.  I can’t imagine spending that kind of money on shoes.  But once I started reading, I realized just how wrong I was.  This isn’t just for people overspending on shoes and clothes.  This is a book for everyone trying to learn more about finances.

Let’s be honest – we all have our “Jimmy Choos.”  By that, I mean that item or service that we continually spend money on when we really shouldn’t.  Maybe you live in a posh apartment or love to splurge on restaurants and expensive groceries, maybe you’re an electronics person or you are always buying books or something else.

But this book goes beyond just controlling your spending and increasing savings.  It’s really a great overview from learning how to make ends meet to planning for a great retirement.

The book is divided into four parts, but I would say that it can also be divided into two halves: taking control of your finances and then learning to make the most of your money for the future. The four parts are: Style, Diet, and Fitness… For Your Finances, (Spending) Style, (Debt) Diet, and (Financial) Fitness.

The first thing in my book that caught my eye was the idea of Spending Triggers.  Why do you spend?  It definitely made me think.  I’m definitely a Spender by Category – I’m great about certain budget categories, but other things I just spend and spend without thinking.  I never thought about it that way.

One thing I really liked about this book is that Ms. Hill doesn’t just assume that because you’re reading the book, you have loads and loads of credit card debt.  She acknowledges people who don’t have debt (or debt other than education and mortgage debt).  Just because you pay all your bills at the end of the month doesn’t mean that you’re not in need of a financial makeover.   You can pay all those bills but not be saving a penny.

The section on credit cards is very interesting.  Not only does Ms. Hill go over the various types of credit card accounts, but she offers some great suggestions for controlling your cards and making them work for you.  Now that’s what I like to hear.

The last section of the book is about what to do once you have managed to get your finances under control.  You have all this new found money.  Now what do you do with it?  Ms. Hill covers finding a great job, retirement, savings, taxes, homebuying, and my favorites, insurance and relationships.  So many books don’t cover the importance of insurance – both insurance on your stuff and insurance on your person.  If you don’t read anything else, read this section.  In the relationship section, there is a discussion on paying for a wedding, how to afford a baby, and the ever popular prenuptial agreement discussion.  It’s certainly not romantic, but it’s something that should be considered.

I came to a big realization when reading this book.  One section discussed whether or not you are ready to buy a home.  As I have mentioned, I have been considering buying a condo.  Financially, I think I’m ready, but after reading this section, I am starting to rethink.  Just because I can afford it doesn’t mean I should.  After all, I’m decidedly unhappy in my current job.  Instead of locking myself into a home, I should continue to rent while I figure out where I want to work and what I want to do.  If I’m stuck with set mortgage payments, I have less room to play with salary.  Of course, I want the best salary possible, but I also want a great job I enjoy.  So after reading this, maybe I will just get a roommate and see what happens next year.

Over all, I really enjoyed reading this book.  Don’t let the title fool you.  Sure, it’s great for people who have a fashion splurge gene, but it’s also great for the rest of us too.

Want to know more?  You can check out the website at ShooJimmyChoo.com and follow the author on Twitter at @CateyHill.

And now that you’ve read all of that, you’re wondering, “Hey Megan!  Where can I get my hands on this book?”  Want your own copy of SHOO, Jimmy Choo!? Well, conveniently, I have three copies to giveaway.  And winning is easy!  Just leave a comment here and you’re entered to win.  If you have a blog and post a link to this site, that’s a second entry.  Tweet about the contest?  Third entry!  For the latter two, send me an e-mail (megan AT countingmypennies.com) with a link to your tweet and/or blog post.  The deadline for entries is Monday, February 1, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.  Winners will be notified Tuesday evening.  And though you can enter three times, each person can only win one copy of the book, in case that wasn’t clear.  Gotta spread the love, after all!

The first book to be reviewed is The Money Book [...]]]> I’m always looking for new things to blog about, and while rearranging some shelves last night, I decided that perhaps some personal finance book reviews might be a nice addition. If nothing else, it never hurts me to go back through these books in detail.

The first book to be reviewed is The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman. As you may have noticed, I’ve listed YF&B as one of my favorite PF books over on my sidebar. This was really the first PF book I read, upon suggestion of a friend. She raved about the advice contained within, so I decided it was time to check it out.

As can be gleaned from the title, the book is aimed at what is being termed “Generation Debt,” those of us between 25 and 35. Do you need to be broke for this book to work for you? I don’t think so. I wasn’t even in credit card debt when I picked up the book, and I already had an emergency fund in place. Sounds like I was in a great financial position, right? Well, not really. I didn’t know how to plan ahead. I didn’t know anything about Roth IRAs, and I wasn’t sure how to best look at retirement, when it’s decades away. I don’t know enough about mortgages or investing. This book explains all of that and more. Sure, there are sections that perhaps don’t apply to me, but I still recommend this book to all of my friends. It answers questions for people just starting out, and for those who have been working for a while, but feel like they’re not working towards a goal.

This book is arranged very simply, with a new topic each chapter. Each chapter starts with The Lowdown. This section features very clearly presented information about what you need to know about that chapter’s topics. Some of these sections are more detailed than others, and I found myself reading and re-reading the section on investing, just to be sure that I understood every bit of it. The next section is called Strategy Sessions. These are set up in question/answer style, with a problem, a solution, and then details on how to actually achieve the solution. Finally, the chapters end with the Playback section. This is a bulleted recap of what you need to do for the topic discussed in that chapter.

Website:
The book includes a code that you can use to sign up for the YF&B section of Suze’s website. I think this is a really great feature of this book and of many other of her books. The website features a number of resources designed to work with the YF&B book. The first is an action plan. For many YF&Bers, being faced with all these things that they need to do in regards to their finances can be overwhelming. In her book, Suze breaks these things into Action Steps, but if you read the book in one sitting, you will find yourself faced with a number of Action Steps. That’s where the website comes in. You answer a few questions about your current situation and the site sets out Action Steps for you. You can’t move to the next one until you complete the one before. This is an easy and simple way to prioritize.

The site also features book updates, which I find crucial for personal finance books. Things change! The site currently only has three additions/corrections to the book, but I still feel much more comfortable knowing that someone is tracking the book for changes.

Throughout the book, you will find references to Resources available online. The resources section covers information on student loans, retirement and Roth IRA information (including suggestions on where to open and what to invest in), funds and ETFs, home buying, and much more. I found this section very helpful when looking at opening a Roth IRA. I knew that I should be looking for a discount broker or no-load funds, and that at least for now, I wanted to invest in index funds. But even knowing that, I still didn’t know where to go. Suze doesn’t tell you where to go. But she does provide a list of discount brokers and no-load fund companies. It was a great place to start.

Additionally, there are a number of PF calculators and a forum for questions. I admit that I haven’t really used either of these features, but it’s nice to know they’re there.

So that’s the intro to YF&B. Next week, I’ll start my discussion of Chapter 1.