We’ve already said you need to think long term. Trying to get rich quick only leads to disappointment and over-anxious hustling. And you do need to build a good base or your financial castle can topple at the first gust of wind. The longer you take to make your money, the more diverse you’ll be with investments and income streams.

The quicker you make your money, the more likely it’ll be a single strand and thus easy to break.

Getting rich over time usually means you’ll:

• build long-term income streams
• be insured against recession or sudden and negative market downturns
• have time to have a life as well – that old work/home relationship is less likely to be fractured
• be better at making money honestly and decently
• have time to make the relevant adjustments and thus not so likely to rush out and spend inappropriately
• gain the experience necessary for long-term financial security as you go along.

If you make your money too quickly there is a tendency to:

• spend it inappropriately
• not have time to learn to handle it well
• risk losing it by having your income coming from one area only.

If you really do want to earn a lot quickly you might like to take a leaf out of 79-year-old Stella Liebeck’s book. She sued McDonald’s because she burnt herself with spilt hot coffee and was awarded initially $2.9 million – later knocked down to a mere $640,000.

This may not have been a deliberate game plan but it did pay off – and quickly. Personally I would rather make my money slowly and enjoyably and not have to sue anyone to get it – or win the lottery, or have a close relative die, or have to marry someone inappropriate merely because they had a quid or two. Make your money slowly and you’ll enjoy it more. It will last longer and you’ll sleep nights.