Ms. Morgenson, one of the New York Times' Sunday business writers, sees the world in black and white. Apparently she does not believe in hues.

Her latest column (Sunday, July 31) is an example: "Some Bankers Never Learn."

In this column she vilifies the mortgage industry (as...

Like it or not, your credit score is hugely important.

One expert told me that even small differentials in credit scores can -- over time -- create large differences in net worth. Since a credit score will affect the cost at which you can borrow money (the interest rate),...

I feel that far too many commentators go overboard advocating a "no debt" approach to credit cards.

Yes, credit cards are seductive. And, getting into credit card debt is so very easy. What's more, credit card issuers can be tricky, maximizing profits by tripping people up with hidden or excess...

I read all the print and online financial columnists.

Whether the column is about getting a credit card, a car loan, or a mortgage, every single columnist at some point gives the same worthless advice: "Be sure to read the fine print."

This is a dumb suggestion. Unless the...

The life of an entrepreneur is a 24 x 7 dash for customers, investors or lenders. For the first year or two of a start-up, it's a race against the burn rate. Every day you are spending money on employees, rent, supplies, whatever. The goal is to reach break-even before...

As I do research for my new book, The Skinny on Creativity, I reach certain conclusions. One conclusion is that people will be as creative as they need to be. In other words, when pressed, people can be very creative.

By way of testing my various hypotheses,...

As I do research for my new book, The Skinny on Creativity, I reach certain conclusions. One conclusion is that people will be as creative as they need to be. In other words, when pressed, people can be very creative.

By way of testing my various hypotheses,...

Ok, so you've finally decided to flex your entrepreneurial muscles and lo and behold, you invent the better mousetrap. It just vaporizes mice -- no muss, no fuss. No cheese needed, no snappy sounds -- nothing. Any mice in your house just vaporize.

HOORAY, you say to yourself. You're...

I just finished reading Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows, subtitled "What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains."

Carr is an excellent writer. One of those non-fiction writers in the league with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely who can teach and entertain at the same time.

Carr...

My company is trying to develop new and unique content for the print and digital book world. Our premise is that internet-age readers (basically all of us today) absorb, process and retain information differently than did prior readers (our parents).

And so we find ourselves at what some might call...

Millions of articles are written about investment strategies. One that almost all commentators speak to is diversification -- the idea that since you cannot predict the return on investment from any one asset category, you should hedge your bets by spreading your investments. And, you need to revisit these allocations...

In preparation for a speech I am giving tomorrow night, I have identified the most powerful financial principles in the Universe:

1. Compound Interest - identified by Einstein as "the most powerful force in the Universe." More so than nuclear fission, I guess. Understanding how compounding works...

We need increased consumer protection because not all companies issuing consumer products -- credit cards and mortgages being the best examples -- play by the rules.

Obviously lenders need to make money. Therefore, any bank...

As Congress contemplates how to sculpt the next phase of regulations to prevent overaggressive or unethical conduct in the financial world, we need to ask a basic question: Can the regulators ever keep up?

It...

When I started writing a book about networking (The Skinny on Networking), I did not realize that one of the main themes would be the subject of comfort zones.

We all know that networks are important. We all know that our value in business depends in part on the extent...

If you want to understand the economic crisis, there are several hundred 250-page books for you to read. If, on the other hand, you want a one-page explanation, this is it.

Beginning in the 1990's, the U.S. became infatuated with homes as investments. The government encouraged home ownership. Private entities...

One of my goals with this e-letter is to introduce readers to new, well-written books.

One I read this weekend is The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. Lewis is the brilliant writer who has also penned Liars Poker, The Blind Side and Moneyball.

The Big Short is the story of...

I am currently writing a new book, The Skinny on Networking, and in preparation, I am reading every book I can find on the subject. One of the best is Keith Ferrazzi's, Never Eat Alone.

Ferrazzi's premise is that the way to build a network is to help everyone...

My office is two miles from my house. There are two stoplights between house and office. For the first six months after moving into my new house, all I thought about was the great commute I had. Didn't matter if I got behind a school bus or hit one or...

Our brain is divided into two parts: the rational, analytical side. And, the instinctive, emotional side. For hundreds of years philosophers and scientists presumed that if we could just gain more control of our rational side (think Dr. Spock), our lives would be less chaotic and even happier.

But,...