The new year. A time to think about resolutions. A time to think about losing weight and getting more exercise. A time to think about new opportunities the new year may bring and to consider your business' prospects. All truly important stuff.

  As businesspeople we are all focused, ultimately, on creating wealth. Our job is to create wealth for our investors, ourselves, our customers, and our employees.

  The theme of this column is how to use capital to create wealth. I rant and rave about risk-adjusted returns, carry on concerning the cost of capital, and pontificate on profits. After all, in the long run, business is merely a game with dollars being used to keep score. The trick, of course, is to learn the rules.

  The goal in business - and your business can insidiously become your life - is to become wealthy. He who has the most toys wins. Once your pockets are lined, you fill other accounts that bear your name. Your house gets bigger, the cars get faster, the jewelry more expensive, and the vacations more exotic. Symbols of what some consider real wealth.

  I knew someone who was fabulously wealthy. Only her wealth, which would not be accepted as payment for any goods or services anywhere in the world, was the truest wealth of all. Most of us spend our entire working lives trying to create wealth. She did it every single day without trying.

  She created wealth wherever she went. Once touched by her smile and charm you were enriched. Your life was better because this beautiful worman's sparkling eyes made you laugh and warmed your heart.

  She never thought of herself. Never. How different that is from most of us who are so focused on ourselves.

  You may have asked her how she was doing, but that was not her concern. Her concern was for you, and for whom she was with, and she was always with someone.

  I remember dancing with her a year ago at the Christmas Ball. We all danced with her. We all danced with her because we wanted proof she was still with us on this planet. She danced with us because she wanted to have fun.

  This woman made her fortune by extracting every ounce of joy from life every single day of her 35 years. Maybe that was how she was able to confront life's setbacks. Her setbacks were not small. The news she was hearing was not good. Her visits to the hospital became more frequent.

  I saw her one day last summer lounging at the pool with her children. Her expression gave no indication of the silent, serious trouble lurking within her. Just that constant smile coupled with an attitude that moved the clouds away and let the sun shine down on us.

  "How are you," I asked. "Wonderful," she replied. "Aren't we lucky to be here?" We were lucky to be there. Me more so than her, for even though I was healthy, and she was not, I was lucky to be her friend. Everybody felt the same way.