Pouring 50% of your liquid net worth into an illiquid asset class like art is crazy.

FORBES: How to Outsmart the Billionaires Who'll Bid $80 Million for "The Scream"

Authors Guofo Zhou and Yingzi Zu use some complex math based on the random-walk theory to show that the odds of watching half your liquid net worth evaporate are roughly similar to those of another major life event: death.

FORBES: We Can't Avoid Another Market Crash

Ms. HUELLE: Well, my credit line has been reduced, which is my safety net, which means now I have to be conservative going forward into the holiday season with my spending, because I now have to keep the safety net in my liquid capital account, whereas before, I could've, you know, spent a little more, got more objects in, but now I have to keep that in my account.

NPR: Business Owners Sound Off On Economy

There are millions more who have substantial net worth and large liquid assets.

FORBES: The Smarter They Are, The Harder They Fall

In regards to leverage, Basel III introduced a minimum 3% leverage ratio and two required liquidity ratios: (1) the Liquidity Coverage Ratio, which requires a bank to hold high-quality liquid assets to cover its total net cash outflows over 30 days, and (2) the Net Stable Funding Ratio, which requires the available amount of stable funding to exceed the required amount of stable funding over a one-year period of extended stress.

FORBES: Basel Barriers: How capital requirements would impede progress in the sovereign debt crisis

The net exposure represents the gross exposure less liquid collateral and CDS protection purchase from investment-grade counterparties outside of these countries, Konrad explains.

FORBES: Financials Fall, JPMorgan Shares Hit 1-Year Low On Greece Default Worries

Even if its net debt were zero, a government could still foster a liquid bond market by continuing to issue bonds and investing the proceeds in domestic or foreign private-sector assets.

ECONOMIST: Coping with surpluses

Raymond Greaves, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, has calculated that, in March, there were around euro4 billion of net prepayments on the liability side of Alstom's balance sheet for which he cannot clearly identify liquid assets.

ECONOMIST: Alstom