I am the master of my wealth.

Some people can state their rent, their monthly outgoings and the date the card bill lands, straight off, no phone. Others couldn't tell you within a hundred — not from carelessness, but because looking became the frightening part somewhere along the way.

Mastery starts embarrassingly low down. At looking. Not a plan, not a strategy, just the willingness to see the actual number on an ordinary afternoon when nothing in particular is wrong. Everything anybody ever does with money rests on that one unremarkable act.