If you're invested in the stock market, you've likely lost a lot of money in the last year. I've spoken to people who've lost 20, 30, even 40 percent of their portfolio. My own has taken quite a hit.
However, it all seems to pale in comparison with the toll taken by Bernard Madoff and his Ponzi scheme, which robbed investors out of a total of $65 billion. I've read a number of reports sympathetic to these victims as well as a few that pointed fingers of blame in their direction.
You'd certainly expect the Madoff victims to be angry, and they are. You'd expect them to feel sorry for themselves, and to a certain extent, they do. However, out of this crisis, a silver lining has emerged. Support groups for victims are forming left and right, bringing people together so they don't have to go through this alone.
"These people have connected with each other in their grief, in their fear, and they've found a community of compassion and of sharing that has really transformed their situation. People who still have some liquidity are helping others pay their rent. A teacher who lost everything is now tutoring some of the children of wealthier families who have had to pull their kids out of private school. They have found wealth in their relationships with each other," says Lynne Twist, founder of the Soul of Money Institute. Twist is working with one such group, who've named themselves the Madoff Survivors Group.
What these people are exhibiting, whether they know it or not, is resilience. It's something I've become very interested in since writing my new book, "The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times." Resilience is one of the factors that my research found to be imperative to finding lasting success. It's what keeps you moving forward, what keeps you out of the slough of negativity, and what keeps you believing that you can effect change if you just try. It doesn't mean that you ignore the bad things that happen in life, but instead by tapping into your resources of resilience, you will focus on what you can control instead of dwelling on what you can't.
If you want financial comfort, it is necessary have to have resilience.
Luckily, it's not necessarily a trait you're born with. It's something you can develop. How? Take these lessons from the Madoff victims: