The forest through the trees...

The odd thing about financial op-ed is that most of it is backward looking and generally useless for aiding a person's financial success as well as preventing financial ruin.

But every so often--usually about every 3 years, more recently every 6 months--an article appears that if it was the only thing you read, I mean really read with complete awareness, then acted on it, your financial situation would be free from worthless concerns about which growth fund will perform better next year. Sometimes these treasures exist outside of the financial press, but are more difficult to discern in my opinion.

Individuals not Institutions

In the midst of a financial crisis everyone (myself included) looks to place blame. And we find a name--the worst of the worst--Madoff. Prior to finding that name we blame the institutions who propogated the crisis. But an institution is nothing more than a conglomeration of individuals who being of sound mind have the capacity and requirement to make judicious and ethical decisions every day.