You Can't Do It Yourself

E-Trade, Scottrade, Ameritrade, Turbo Tax, WebMD, InsureMe.com, Cars.com, How-to books, home hair color, do-it-yourself haircut kits, and the list goes on. These days there are resources available to empower people to do things that should require the assistance of a professional. Yes, times are tough and people are trying to cut costs. However, just because you diagnosed your rectal warts by checking out WebMD doesn't mean you can start wearing a white coat and start telling your real doctor their business. It's no
secret that 4 of 5 human beings are complete morons. No offense, but it's true. What is scary is that 5 of 5 given people think they are competent to be their own doctor, financial advisor, accountant, contractor, car expert, personal trainer, and hair stylist. What a joy it must be to be so gifted with so many talents.

Online trading:
It's a good thing. It allows people to take managing their portfolios into their own hands. The site comes equipped with various tools to track the market or a particular company with ease. However, purchasing individual stocks is gambling, I don care what you read in the Wall Street Journal or what your brother-in-law says about a company. Sites like E-Trade try to
demonize brokers and financial professionals as greedy dunces. Granted, this is sometimes reality. However not every doctor out there is a saint, just like any profession. We live in a buyer beware world, so it's important people do their homework, but at the same time realize they are not the professor.

WebMD:
This site is great for diagnosing your poison ivy or finding out why it burns when you piss. However, your doctor is your doctor, give the poor bastard some credit. I realize money is tight, think of how much tighter it is when you overlook something serious. I can't stand armchair doctors. Don't tell me what the eleven o'clock news says is killing me.

Turbo Tax:
Unless you majored in accounting at uni, do not attempt to do your own taxes. I dabbled myself in Turbo Tax this past year and it worked out ok...as far as I know. It's a complex undertaking, alot of ins and alot of outs. Leave this work to a professional. They are better equipped to help you help yourself.

Do-it-yourself handymen:
These are the guys who wear alot of Carhart gear, tailgate you in their monstrous Ford F-350, and maintain a garage the way the Rainman manages his baseball cards. Alot of guys are passionate about spending hours upon hours on these arduous projects involving power tools, trucks and breathing masks. I like spending hours upon hours drinking beer, watching sports, and doing other non-labor activities. Am I crazy?

Personal Trainers:
We all know delusional out of shape gym goers that think they are the almighty Oracle of working out. They have all the nutrition advice you need, tell you your business at the gym. To these people I say go find out what Men's Health says about fucking yourself.

The point is, find a professional you trust and stick to them. Don't live in your fortress of distrust and excessive self reliance. Let your walls down and allow yourself to be helped. Our society has become very introverted and anti-outsider. After the most recent economic crash, various medical malpractice cases, and other cases of professionals being disgraced, it's easy to see why people are skeptical. However, I wonder how many people who lost half their retirement savings in 2008 consulted with their advisor (if they have one) within 2 years of the slide. How many people have not seen a doctor in the past year or two? Or how about taking your car in for a tune up? People need to get over themselves and accept help.