Hot Topic: Our Budgets, Ourselves.

Several personal finance books aimed at women landed in my mailbox recently. They were hard to miss. The books had pink covers and the catchy, if cringeworthy, titles, ''Shoo, Jimmy Choo!'' and ''Hot (Broke) Messes.'' And then there was the one I found on Amazon, ''A Purse of Your Own.'' The titles may seem better suited for the cover of Glamour magazine. But that doesn't mean women don't face special financial challenges. Women live longer, earn less and take more breaks from the workplace to care for children and elderly parents. And though studies show that women tend to save a slightly higher percentage of their paychecks then men, they ultimately end up with smaller balances because of their lower earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]