The point is that we love to debate minutiae. - Ramit Sethi

Listen up, crybabies: This isn't your grandma's house and I'm not going to bake you cookies and coddle you. A lot of your financial problems are caused by one person: you. Instead of blaming "the economy" and corporate America for your financial situation, you need to focus on what you can change yourself. Just as the diet industry has overwhelmed us with too many choices, personal finance is a confusing mess of overblown hype, myths, outright deception — and us, feeling guilty about not doing enough or not doing it right. But we can't just blame corporations and the media: With both food and money, we're not taking personal responsibility to step up, learn this stuff, and get started.

Look, the fact is, some people will NEVER buy from you. Apologetic messages only seem to please the non-buyers. Their complaints poison the well for your real customers. Your real customers will be relieved that you have something worthwhile for them.

All our lives, we've been taught to defer to experts: teachers, doctors, and investment "professionals." But ultimately, expertise is about results. You can have the fanciest degrees from the fanciest schools, but if you can't perform what you were hired to do, your expertise is meaningless.