If there's one time of year when the world's money writers fall over themselves to give advice, it's new year. But among the overkill of earnest advice-giving are the basics for anyone who wants tips on how to thrive in 2009, or as seems more appropriate right now, remain solvent.

NEW YORK -- While problems in banks' mortgage portfolios had surfaced some time before, 2008 was the year in which a landslide of deteriorating credit and concerns over capital took down industry stalwarts such as Washington Mutual Inc. and Wachovia Corp., and sent stocks plunging to multiyear lows.