How much would you be worth if you lost all your money?

Some days it's hard to be optimistic about your financial future. There are daily warnings of a housing bubble, stock market bubble, currency devaluation, higher interest rates. The wealth that you have today could potentially be wiped out in an instant based on factors beyond your control, yet you cannot live each day as if the sky is going to fall tomorrow.


"The real measure of a person's wealth is how much he would be worth if he lost all his money" -- Bernard Meltzer

That is why this quote is so relevant. Wealthy people are not worried if they lose all their money tomorrow because they know they can gain it back again. The important thing is your ability to create wealth, or put another way, your ability to add value to others.  No one can take that away from you.

Being wealthy is a mindset, a discipline. I heard someone say that a wealthy person can lose one million dollars today and make it back the next year. However, give a poor person a million dollars today and he won't be a millionaire this same time next year.

This doesn't just apply to financial wealth. The definition of wealth is different for every person. It's wherever you perceive value in life.

If you have skills that other people are willing to pay for, contacts that will lead you to your next opportunity, positive relationships that you've nurtured over the years, health because you've taken good care of your body, then you are wealthy beyond what your bank account says, and no one can take that away from you.