This was a lesson that had been given to me early in my career but I was too entrenched in the traditional ways of thinking to actually heed that lesson. As it turned out it was an opportunity lost. More than ever, as the recession takes hold, that lesson assumes an even greater importance. Had you and I created multiple streams of income we would all be better placed to weather the current economic storm.

Then if your prime source of income suddenly disappeared - as is happening to thousands, if not millions, of people all over the globe - you would have other sources of income to support you. Particularly if those sources of income were passive income (residual income). You might recall that passive/residual income is income that rewards you well into the future for your current efforts, such as you would earn if you recorded a hit song or wrote a best selling novel. Or you buy a rentable property.

Admittedly, these methods of wealth creation might also take a hit in a recession but maybe not all of them. Even if all of your income streams take a hit it is unlikely that they would all disappear, particularly if you made some of them recession proof.

You see, here's the thing. Thousands of people have lost their jobs. Thousands more will experience this in the year ahead. For many their only source of income has disappeared. And, even if there wasn't a recession, many of these people may have lost their employment anyway.

This is because of the ever increasing pace of change. Consider how many of the established corporations from 30 years ago are still in existence. They have merged, downsized, re-invented themselves or just plain disappeared. In the past we could confidently expect our employer to be with us through to our retirement. We had a single source of income that was relatively safe.

Not so today.

And that is why setting up your multiple income streams is not only a means of wealth creation, it is essential to your survival.

Consider the employee of yesteryear. She was safe in her employment but was never going to create wealth. Nowadays we need to do more. Not only because we are vulnerable to change but because our expectations are different.

Now we want real financial freedom. And so we should. Without it you would have evolved little from the ancient days of serfdom. In those days you worked the land for the landowners in return for a roof over your head and a little money. And mostly you were grateful for that.

Now you have the vote and the right to negotiate the terms of your labour but not true freedom. Not the liberation that comes with true financial freedom. That comes with the real ability to exercise choice.

And surely this is what evolution is about. Not just about democracy but about having the freedom of choice that can only be had with financial freedom. This is our birthright - the obvious outcome of evolution.

However, those who have lost their jobs or who are feeling vulnerable do not have this freedom. This applies to the majority of us. We are still not far removed from our ancestors and serfdom. The chance for us to create real financial freedom has passed us by.

Or has it?

What is happening with the economy right now is the precursor to the growth of individual wealth - what Paul Zane Pilzer calls the Democratization of Wealth. As thousands of displaced persons seek to do something about their financial circumstances many will realize that working for a corporation is no longer the safe option. People will come to realize that the safest route is to take responsibility for their own welfare. The bastions of the corporate world have proved irresponsible and untrustworthy.

This is the time to stake your claim at the cutting edge of evolution. Using the technology and power of the internet you can fast forward the spread of the Democratization of Wealth.

Good luck.