To anyone concerned with financial planning and then creating a stable and abundant future, the issue of wealth is an important one.
But what really is wealth? The perception of wealth is fully dependent upon each individual.
Family heirlooms such as small trinkets and memorabilia may be incredibly important and valuable to one person but their value in the open market might be negligible.
Everybody values things differently, and our perception of value largely determines our perception of wealth.
Nevertheless there are common denominators that we can use to evaluate our wealth.
The most obvious one is money, but even money has its ups and downs as we all know.
There was a time when the money printed by a government was backed by gold, silver or other valuable commodities.
Those days are long gone and now the value of printed money is based on the good credit of the country that issued it.
If that country is having financial difficulties, its money becomes volatile on the world markets.
In a global economic downturn such as we're in right now, the form that your wealth takes is critically important.
Asset allocation describes the various components of your personal wealth portfolio and the forms that you are holding it in.
You might have real estate, precious metals, stocks and bonds, and cash all included in your net worth.
The recession however has likely had an impact on the value of your portfolio because certain aspects of your wealth become less valuable.
For example, Wall Street has suffered some of its largest losses since the Great Depression over the last several months.
If your wealth was comprised primarily of stocks and bonds, it's likely that you lost a considerable amount of money.
But the good news is that a recession also creates opportunities.
Wealth changes hands because it becomes so volatile in terms of its ups and downs in value.
In a recession, clearly the old adage of buy low and sell high applies.
Look for opportunities in these recessionary times that will allow you to create wealth now and to build wealth for the future.
Of course doing this requires a level of understanding and expertise that many people simply do not have.
If you find yourself in this situation, make it a point to obtain a financial education that enables you to prosper through this coming recession.
Most people are very nervous right now about these economic times.
But to those who know how to spot them, the recession will present opportunities of a lifetime.