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Shoo, Jimmy Choo!: The Modern Girl's Guide to Spending Less and Saving More
Remember when Sex and the City ’s Carrie Bradshaw faced the brutal realization that she couldn’t buy her apartment because she’d already spent her money on a closet full of Manolos? Well, if Carrie had met Catey first, she’d own her co-op and be on her way to a comfortable retirement! Catey Hill is the online money expert for the Daily News Web site—and author of this humorous, practical “girlfriends guide” to personal finance for 20- and 30-something females. (The ones with the designer shoes…and maxed-out credit cards.) With a hip, “I’ve been there” voice along with worksheets and exercises, she helps women evaluate why they spend, get out of debt, and create a savings and retirement plan that even allows for the occasional splurge. Among the topics she student loans, car payments, investing, saving for a home, and more.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2010
22 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
About the author
Catey Hill
2 books6 followersCatey Hill is the money editor for the New York Daily News online. Previously, Catey was the marketing manager at Plum TV and the author of The Plum Wealth Report, a specialized blog focusing on the purchasing behaviors of affluent consumers. She first realized her need to kick her shoe habit and get her finances in order when working as the financial marketing manager for Forbes magazine. Catey resides in New York City.
Watch a short video about Shoo, Jimmy Choo! here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLkTPb...
Watch a short video about Shoo, Jimmy Choo! here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLkTPb...
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 21, 2012
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about finance, I found this book particularly helpful. It does not read like a text book, which I enjoyed. What I did not like was the constant mentions of blowing money on designer clothes and vapid item. I felt she was addressing a specific audience I was not a part of, so part of the message was lost on me. I believe she could have written this book without the cliched or stereotypical females and spending comments. Despite this, I learned a lot in terms of my FICO score and how to improve it, 401k, various investment options etc.
June 16, 2017
Found this in a sale for 50cents and thought why not. Got through the first 60 pages and decided uh uh. That's enough. I'm in my 20s and I barely learnt anything I haven't already figured out for myself. Not worth a read.
August 26, 2020
Very helpful book on practical ways to live debt free, save, and more!! I would definitely recommend for people starting out on their financial journey right out of college.
April 7, 2023
Useful. And a good place to start getting financial life in order.
March 28, 2025
some good advice but outdated.. kinda insane how times have changed.. the common theme of this book is that being in a significant amount of debt is equivalent to being fat lol
March 1, 2015
I think every 20 year old girl should be required to read this.
I am 43, not 20, so I found very little benefit to this book, other than entertainment.
However, I do recommend it to girls starting out in life on their own finances.
I DO NOT think it is ok for ladies to be financially ignorant. I read a LOT of financial websites, newspapers, magazines, books and watch CNBC. In fact, I used to work for CNBC. I find in my travels through life, most women leave their finances to their husbands, or simply ignore them, sticking their heads in the sand, hoping for the best. This bothers me...so therefore I am happy to see someone wrote a fun book on finances that ladies can relate to...written simply so everyone can understand it.
I understand the concerns some have that it is condescending to assume women are financially ignorant and need their hands held to understand the difference between a 401K and an IRA. Unfortunately, I don't think it is condescending. I think it is real. Most women I meet (and men BTW) know nothing about personal finance! It is shocking!
It is a good STARTER book. But by no means do I want ladies to stop here. Next, I want you to read Suze Orman's Young, Fabulous, and Broke. Then, I want you to read all of Suze's books. Yes, I said it. All. Then I want you to read Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover. I want to then re-read that book. Memorize it. Then, move on to others. But start here and read this book first. It is fun.
I am currently reading a John C. Bogle book that is 605 pages. Dull as all heck, but very, very important. I only WISH I read Common Sense on Mutual Funds 23 years ago! sigh.
I am very lucky, my Dad taught me a lot about finances. My Dad knows more about finances than my accountant. Seriously. I think they could have a throw down on retirement funds, and my Dad would be the victor. Even so, his knowledge is very limited. I only wish it occurred to me 23 years ago to learn more. I was too busy working and propelling forward...and totally neglecting my financial plan. This book will get you sorted pretty quickly. I wish someone gave me this book when I graduated high school, to supplement my Dad's guidance.
I did pick up some great tips from Catey Hill. And more importantly, I picked up inspiration.
And I really did put the Post-It note on my credit card, marked in thick Sharpie lettering: "Is this necessary?". I pay my credit card debts in full every month, I own stocks, bonds, mutual funds, have been contributing to IRAs since I was old enough to hold working papers as a teenager, I know all the differences between a Roth IRA, 401K, Traditional IRA (my Dad's lectures on IRAs are epic), and I know what a P/E is. But at the end of the day, everyone needs to be reminded that you do NOT need to spend your hard-earned money on stuff...and I want to retire when I am 55, and learning everything I can about my finances will help me achieve my goal. You can too. Start now by reading this book.
I am 43, not 20, so I found very little benefit to this book, other than entertainment.
However, I do recommend it to girls starting out in life on their own finances.
I DO NOT think it is ok for ladies to be financially ignorant. I read a LOT of financial websites, newspapers, magazines, books and watch CNBC. In fact, I used to work for CNBC. I find in my travels through life, most women leave their finances to their husbands, or simply ignore them, sticking their heads in the sand, hoping for the best. This bothers me...so therefore I am happy to see someone wrote a fun book on finances that ladies can relate to...written simply so everyone can understand it.
I understand the concerns some have that it is condescending to assume women are financially ignorant and need their hands held to understand the difference between a 401K and an IRA. Unfortunately, I don't think it is condescending. I think it is real. Most women I meet (and men BTW) know nothing about personal finance! It is shocking!
It is a good STARTER book. But by no means do I want ladies to stop here. Next, I want you to read Suze Orman's Young, Fabulous, and Broke. Then, I want you to read all of Suze's books. Yes, I said it. All. Then I want you to read Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover. I want to then re-read that book. Memorize it. Then, move on to others. But start here and read this book first. It is fun.
I am currently reading a John C. Bogle book that is 605 pages. Dull as all heck, but very, very important. I only WISH I read Common Sense on Mutual Funds 23 years ago! sigh.
I am very lucky, my Dad taught me a lot about finances. My Dad knows more about finances than my accountant. Seriously. I think they could have a throw down on retirement funds, and my Dad would be the victor. Even so, his knowledge is very limited. I only wish it occurred to me 23 years ago to learn more. I was too busy working and propelling forward...and totally neglecting my financial plan. This book will get you sorted pretty quickly. I wish someone gave me this book when I graduated high school, to supplement my Dad's guidance.
I did pick up some great tips from Catey Hill. And more importantly, I picked up inspiration.
And I really did put the Post-It note on my credit card, marked in thick Sharpie lettering: "Is this necessary?". I pay my credit card debts in full every month, I own stocks, bonds, mutual funds, have been contributing to IRAs since I was old enough to hold working papers as a teenager, I know all the differences between a Roth IRA, 401K, Traditional IRA (my Dad's lectures on IRAs are epic), and I know what a P/E is. But at the end of the day, everyone needs to be reminded that you do NOT need to spend your hard-earned money on stuff...and I want to retire when I am 55, and learning everything I can about my finances will help me achieve my goal. You can too. Start now by reading this book.
April 21, 2011
Shoo, Jimmy Choo
Author: Catey Hill
Overall: 4 out of 5
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased by Myself
Description: (Author Website) Remember when Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw faced the brutal realization that she couldn't buy her apartment because she'd spent her money on a closet full of Manolos? Well, if Carrie had met Catey first, she'd already have owned that co-op, had a pile of savings and been on her way to a comfortable retirement.
Ladies, if you're a latte-in-the-morning, closet-stuffed-with-shoes, can't-resist-a-sale kind of girl, it's time to take a good, hard look at how you manage your money. SHOO, Jimmy Choo! will help you stop spending so much, get out of debt, retire in style, save for vaca (and shoes!) and so much more. So, shoo, Jimmy Choo! You're taking control of your finances today!
SHOO, Jimmy Choo! is your ticket to becoming a rich girl once and for all!
From My Point of View: Let me preface this review by saying I NEVER read books like this. I feel confident with my fiances -- I'm not loaded with debt (student and cars loans, but no credit card issues), I don't spend crazy amounts on my clothes (the cheaper the better), but with my pending nuptials, I figured
picking up a book or two would get me in even better shape before I take on someone else's finances too.
Like I said, I don't read books like this, so I don't have others to compare it to, but I LOVED this book. Catey wrote in a very entertaining and easy-to-read manner. This book compares finances to clothing and shoe shopping to make the concepts easy to understand. (Just a note: This book is VERY Confessions of a Shopaholic - esqe. If shopping is not for you - neither is this book.)
By page 10, I was scanning and organizing all my financial documents on my computer (she recommends paper files, but I like being eco-friendly). And I was enjoying it! But I'm a very organized person, so this might just be my personality. I remade all the spreadsheets she provides and filled them. It was not only easy to set goals and create a budget, but also -- dare I say it -- fun.
There were a few things that I didn't like though. The main one being the budget. Obviously, everyone's budget is going to be different, but for example, she recommends 10% of your budget be car related (insurance, payments, gas, maintenance). This is SO impractical for me. I drive my gas hog SUV 50 miles a day. That makes gas and maintenance alone almost 10% of my monthly budget. So I did have to do some figuring to make her suggested budget work for me.
Overall, Catey's financial advice is easy to understand. She makes finance sound like fun (is that possible?)! If you're looking to brush up your bank account or need some financial help, I would HIGHLY recommend picking this book up.
Author: Catey Hill
Overall: 4 out of 5
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased by Myself
Description: (Author Website) Remember when Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw faced the brutal realization that she couldn't buy her apartment because she'd spent her money on a closet full of Manolos? Well, if Carrie had met Catey first, she'd already have owned that co-op, had a pile of savings and been on her way to a comfortable retirement.
Ladies, if you're a latte-in-the-morning, closet-stuffed-with-shoes, can't-resist-a-sale kind of girl, it's time to take a good, hard look at how you manage your money. SHOO, Jimmy Choo! will help you stop spending so much, get out of debt, retire in style, save for vaca (and shoes!) and so much more. So, shoo, Jimmy Choo! You're taking control of your finances today!
SHOO, Jimmy Choo! is your ticket to becoming a rich girl once and for all!
From My Point of View: Let me preface this review by saying I NEVER read books like this. I feel confident with my fiances -- I'm not loaded with debt (student and cars loans, but no credit card issues), I don't spend crazy amounts on my clothes (the cheaper the better), but with my pending nuptials, I figured
picking up a book or two would get me in even better shape before I take on someone else's finances too.
Like I said, I don't read books like this, so I don't have others to compare it to, but I LOVED this book. Catey wrote in a very entertaining and easy-to-read manner. This book compares finances to clothing and shoe shopping to make the concepts easy to understand. (Just a note: This book is VERY Confessions of a Shopaholic - esqe. If shopping is not for you - neither is this book.)
By page 10, I was scanning and organizing all my financial documents on my computer (she recommends paper files, but I like being eco-friendly). And I was enjoying it! But I'm a very organized person, so this might just be my personality. I remade all the spreadsheets she provides and filled them. It was not only easy to set goals and create a budget, but also -- dare I say it -- fun.
There were a few things that I didn't like though. The main one being the budget. Obviously, everyone's budget is going to be different, but for example, she recommends 10% of your budget be car related (insurance, payments, gas, maintenance). This is SO impractical for me. I drive my gas hog SUV 50 miles a day. That makes gas and maintenance alone almost 10% of my monthly budget. So I did have to do some figuring to make her suggested budget work for me.
Overall, Catey's financial advice is easy to understand. She makes finance sound like fun (is that possible?)! If you're looking to brush up your bank account or need some financial help, I would HIGHLY recommend picking this book up.
March 9, 2010
I thought I would absolutely hate this book (what a way to start a review!) but ended up rather enjoying it instead. A lot has to do with the fun, conversational tone the author maintains throughout the book. Though slanted more towards the "young and fun and fabulous" female audience (if you don't know what Jimmy Choo sells, then you won't get about 95% of the references in the book) I also felt the author had a rather funny undercurrent of humility, which I think comes from her personal experience of shopping debt. Good for her to come out and write this book! To the hardcore economics fans, you very much will scoff at this and turn your noses up at this "dumbed down" book about finances, but who said this book was for you, anyway? Catey Hill shamelessly writes to "her girls" only, and even someone like me who doesn't exactly fit her demography (I can't walk in 4 inch heels, nor do I ever want to!) found useful tips. A very pleasant and helpful book.
May 13, 2010
Some good advice, but not much that hasn't been covered better by others (Suze Orman's "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke" covers most of the topics in this book in much better detail).
The writer tried to make the text sound like a best friend who was just chatting you up with advice over coffee, but the effect was more artificial and sometimes even condescending than I think the author intended.
It's not a BAD book, and the advice is good for someone who has never read a financial book before and might feel a bit intimidated about the topic, but otherwise it's not particularly insightful.
Also, for a book that seemed to be advertising itself to women with a tendency towards liking fashion and shopping, I was surprised that there wasn't more information about how to be fashionable without breaking the bank (perhaps information on picking out a classic wardrobe or identifying fabrics that last or how to find luxury items at a lowered cost).
The writer tried to make the text sound like a best friend who was just chatting you up with advice over coffee, but the effect was more artificial and sometimes even condescending than I think the author intended.
It's not a BAD book, and the advice is good for someone who has never read a financial book before and might feel a bit intimidated about the topic, but otherwise it's not particularly insightful.
Also, for a book that seemed to be advertising itself to women with a tendency towards liking fashion and shopping, I was surprised that there wasn't more information about how to be fashionable without breaking the bank (perhaps information on picking out a classic wardrobe or identifying fabrics that last or how to find luxury items at a lowered cost).
July 27, 2013
Not my style at all! I should have known that I wouldn't relate to this book. I don't own Jimmy Choo's and I never plan to own a pair. The financial advice is ok, but it is presented in a way that I couldn't handle. There were too many i-like-to-use-random-hyphens sentences. It is also written in girlfriend speak. Ick. This book is directed toward women who have to have a latte every morning and get mani-pedi's once a week. In her spreadsheet she was spending $400 every two months to get her haircut. Granted she lives in New York City, but it was at that point that I checked out.
If you need someone to help walk you through the steps of cutting back from 1-2 lattes a day to 2-3/week or need someone to tell you that its okay to stretch out your mani-pedi's to once every two weeks, then this is the book for you.
If you need someone to help walk you through the steps of cutting back from 1-2 lattes a day to 2-3/week or need someone to tell you that its okay to stretch out your mani-pedi's to once every two weeks, then this is the book for you.
September 13, 2010
I know very little to nothing about money, except that it comes in my account and leaves the moment I purchase something on ShopBop. Oh, and somehow my employer takes some of it for "taxes". Or whatever.
That was me pre Shoo, Jimmy Choo!
Post:
Interest is the devil. I won't have more than two credit cards. AmEx has great rewards, but you have to make the payments in full. I will NEVER make any late payments, and I know what my credit score is (which I got for free on annualcreditreport.com)
I have renter's insurance, I know what FICO stands for, and as a general rule of thumb, I will not pay more than 28% of my pre-tax monthly income on housing costs... to name a few.
LOVE this book. Saved my father's sanity, and my savings.
That was me pre Shoo, Jimmy Choo!
Post:
Interest is the devil. I won't have more than two credit cards. AmEx has great rewards, but you have to make the payments in full. I will NEVER make any late payments, and I know what my credit score is (which I got for free on annualcreditreport.com)
I have renter's insurance, I know what FICO stands for, and as a general rule of thumb, I will not pay more than 28% of my pre-tax monthly income on housing costs... to name a few.
LOVE this book. Saved my father's sanity, and my savings.
March 18, 2010
Really informative and helpful. Catey breaks down and defines the basics of finances, and offers realistic advice for smart spending and saving. And she does it without sounding presumptuous or monotonous. Catey is witty, and uses real-life examples that we can all relate to to illustrate her points. I felt more like I was talking to a girlfriend than reading a text book, and I now feel like I have a stronger understanding of my finances and what I have to do to make them grow in the future.
May 10, 2011
I thought this book was very condescending. Yes, I'm a girl. Yes, I like fashion, but I'm not a vapid caricature. With the repeated and very unnecessary allusions to (BAD) fashion, I got the impression that the author was having an inside joke at my expense. The tone was very mocking and sexist. More importantly, the advice was very basic. Way too basic. The only thing clever about this book was its cover. I'm so glad I took it out of the library!
September 5, 2012
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It definitely helped me get my finances in order with simple layman's term explanations. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the undertone that basically all twenty-something females are most concerned with fashion magazines and shoes that cost $600 a pop. If you can take this fluff with a grain of salt, the take home points of this book are really helpful. I definitely recommend!
May 18, 2015
This book was great. It was the first book I read about personal finance. I found some things were a little ridiculous and some were common sense. But there were other suggestions that were really great and made a difference. It really challenged the reader to get their stuff together and that was awesome. Overall it was a great book that I've shared with friends and think every girl should read.
June 19, 2011
I picked this up while I was waiting for my Mom in the library. I always feel that I am not the target audience for these books. Possibly because it would never occur to me to blow all my money on handbags and Jimmy Choos. The advice itself is good but it is standard fare just repackaged for young women. This isn't a terrible thing just not my thing.
September 6, 2014
LOVE IT! The BEST finance book I've read thus far. I learned a lot from Catey Hill regarding how-to budgeting for beginners, investing, boosting and fixing my credit score, etc. All the advice was easy to follow, and there's plenty of finance resources listed in the book, ranging from IRS tax questions to affordable wedding ideas. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE.....
September 29, 2014
Generally speaking the advice is solid. Turns out I knew most of it already which is why I have it three stars. There are a few places about stocks, bonds and retirement that I found helpful. While not super detailed they offered me a starting point. I am guessing a lot of other people might find this book quite useful though.
January 23, 2012
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It offered it some great financial advice; advice that is both easy to understand and take. If your mid twenties read this book... you will want to immediately change your whole financial outlool!
Currently reading
January 21, 2010I am loving Shoo Jimmy Choo! I have already started to reorganize my financial life!
March 1, 2012
Good practical advice--some better than the rest. Ideal for 20-somethings right out of college as alot of the info within has already been mastered by older/more established women.
June 2, 2011
BORING!
February 23, 2012
Good book for young female, specifically those living in the city. Catey does a good job giving an overview important financial areas in one's life while keeping it interesting and practical.
November 1, 2014
Very helpful book. Straight to the point with good and easy advice. Highly recommended.
March 10, 2014
While entertaining, I wouldnt call this book informative.Most of the information given is familiar as it has been covered else ware-in books and mags
February 18, 2015
Great tips on how to handle your money now so that you can be financially stable in the future.
March 11, 2016
I thought this was a great book - I was just a little too "old" to be reading it - I think it gave some wonderful financial know-how and is perfect for the college crowd of twenty-somethings.
December 31, 2010
Hard to read
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews