TODAY: The world's richest people lose another US$124 billion On Tuesday, TODAY published an interesting news article.  It reported that the Monday bloodbath in the stock markets wiped off S$175 billion from the collective fortunes of the world's 400 richest people. That is S$175,000,000,000.  More zeros than you and me can possibly earn in ten lifetimes. Understandably, these four hundred wealth barons would hardly flinch, since the drop only represented a small fraction of their entire net worth. Still, it struck a thought in me that wealth from the equity market is merely illusionary.  It is only as good as what the next person is willing to pay for your shares. When you hold your stock positions over a long period in time, history tells us the value of your holdings will go up.  Not hard to figure out why - The whole world has been ......