You have very likely heard of the 2008 financial whiz of the year, Bernie Madoff. He's what's being called the "master of the ultimate Ponzi scheme." I would like to publicly thank Mr. Madoff. His financial empire and reputation, and the fortunes of many, many people ultimately crumbled. However, he left us with one very important point that financial advisors and planners have been trying to get across to their clients for years: pay attention. Your money is only as safe as the trust you give the people guarding it.

What do I mean? I'm not casting blame, because Madoff was the one who committed the crime, and we can suppose he'll be brought to some form of justice. But I think an important question is did folks just blindly invest and then not ask to see audited financial records? Are people so trusting that they'll invest large amounts of money and then hand over their financial futures to a complete stranger? Maybe Madoff or his representatives earned people's trust with savvy marketing materials, or quick financial talk.

Everyone wants to get rich. That's why they invest their funds in the first place. But is it prudent to invest money without doing our homework, and without asking for continued progress reports? We can say there are many things outside of our control when it comes to investments, and if you look to the stock pages of any major newspaper, you might argue that stocks are always up, down, or flat.

In today's tumultuous stock market, in the middle of a recession, if your investments do nothing but explode, wouldn't that raise an eyebrow or two? If something appears too good to be true, isn't it likely that it is in fact just that: too good to be true? Or do we just want to build our wealth and we don't care how we do it? I think people have more common sense than that. Get rich quick is not real. It's a marketing strategy that gets sold to us, especially in desperate financial times. All your problems solved, just invest in this amazing new opportunity and you'll experience explosive returns! Look, this guy is doing it...that guy is doing it.

As a society we're especially techno-savvy. We have gadgets that make our lives easier, allow us to be instantly connected and networking with people all over the globe, and we can do this 24/7, and completely wireless. Where we suffer as a society is in our financial education and training. We are led to believe that only certain people know how to make money investing, and we need to heed their advice. Finances are complicated. While we value our money and financial portfolios, we don't know how to build them without the advice of some financial expert.

I think if Bernie Madoff did anything for us, he's taught us that we need to educate ourselves about investing, and financial strategies. We need to ask questions. We need to request reviews. We shouldn't just blindly accept the returns or advice from one source. Questioning conventional financial wisdom and investment strategies will allow us to make safe choices, and not get taken. Madoff took advantage of some of the wealthiest, intelligent, and arguably successful people in society. No matter how successful someone is, without a sound financial education, they are prey for Madoff or someone just like him.