Once you’ve got a bit of money behind you, the whole thing gets a bit easier. Money begets money. You won’t pick up a lot of bargains at an antiques auction for £50. But there’s a hell of a lot more if you’ve got £5000. It’s that first million that is difficult – ho ho. But seriously, once you have started to move towards prosperity it isn’t a good idea to sit back and start counting your loot. It’ll disappear faster that way than by any other means. Instead you’ve got to get slicker and quicker, stay on your toes, be even busier and more focused and definitely don’t take your eye off the ball.

As you start to get richer, you might need to start gathering a few advisers around you, people you can trust and, most importantly, listen to. The reason? Because as your investments and capital start to grow, you will need advice and help to make things grow even more. Obviously you can listen, but you will need to make the final decisions about what you are going to do.

Not sitting back on your laurels means you have to be on the lookout for hidden opportunities to take your prosperity further. You’ve got to stay abreast of current developments, play your hunches, understand the market, know what you’ve got and what you can spend/invest/save.

Now is the time to start stepping up how opportunistic you can be – thinking laterally, not following the herd, being creative and innovative – that sort of thing. There’s no point in doing what everyone else does if you want to make some serious money …