on a pbs show, someone said that the total amount of money on deposit globally was 36 trillion in 2002. total money on deposit in 2007 or 2008 was 72 trillion. side note, when the market goes down wealth is destroyed making people richer, poor people more so, because less paper money is in circulation. when the market goes up more money is created making people poorer. are these markets meaningless and really peoples wealth just stays the same taking into account the creation of more paper money with prosperity and rising markets.
you ask a good question question worthy of my intellect here is the answer if your wealth is in cash, without a doubt that wealth changes value with inflation and deflation if your wealth is in property or in GOLD bricks, then that wealth will oscillate based on availability and usability of the said wealth