He mightn't save your soul, but if you listen carefully, he will fulfil your dreams.

He is Mr Loadsamoney and you, too, can be like him.

Mr Loadsamoney has gained in popularity here, particularly among those who feel they have been left behind at a time of great wealth. He holds out the prospect of getting rich quick. Follow me on the path to financial freedom, he says, where happiness is waiting with a Pina Colada.

Expect to see a lot more of him round these parts over the next year, as the SSIAs reach maturity. Last week, Mr Loadsamoney walked among us in the form of an outfit called Optionetics. For the last month, this crowd have been advertising free seminars in the broadsheet press. "Over 250,000 students worldwide have attended the award-winning Optionetics course. Isn't it time you found out why?"

Some people look at this mumbo jumbo and ask why.

I think of the Pina Colada and say why not. On Thursday, the seminar was in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin. There were only 10 of us there for the 1pm gig. It was hosted by Scott Lamm, who bounded into the room following an on-screen introduction. He was disappointed that so few turned up. All the other Dublin seminars were bursting at the seams.

Scott was dressed in black casual, and sported a glistening diamond ring on his right middle finger. On his left wrist, he wore a big mother of a watch, which he later told us was worth $23,000. Go Scott, go!

Anyway, Scott is a millionaire who does this teaching lark for fun, travelling around the world, spreading the word about Optionetics, which, in turn, is the reason he is a millionaire. You, too, can be like Scott.

I won't bore you about Optionetics, except to say it involves trading in options and is a combination of common sense and basic language training in stockmarket jargon. A few preacherman elements are thrown in. Scott tells how he left Morgan Stanley in 2000 to do this mumbo jumbo fulltime. He had worked on Tower Two of the World Trade Centre.

Optionetics, in a way, saved him from 9/11.

He introduces his family on screen, three kids and a granddaughter who has cystic fibrosis.

The little girl's plight has taught him that you must reach out and seize the day.

Seize Optionetics.

"You can be wrong seven out of 10 times and still make money, " he says. Right on.

They describe it as "highprofit, low-risk trading", but you might as well go down to your local dog track for a few nights, study the form, and take your chances. Or alternatively, pop into Paddy Power's on the way home and spread your bet around.

Rocket science, it ain't.

The objective at Scott's Optionetics seminar is to get you to sign up for the training, which is where the outfit makes its money.

None of this is unusual, or particularly interesting.

What is far more revealing about this stuff is the frequency with which Mr Loadsamoney is arriving in town. Ireland is now wealthy, and wherever you have wealth, the dreams of those without or with-a-little become inflated. Some of us can't figure out where all the money is coming from. Mr Loadsamoney is here to help you. It's all easy as pie.

There was a time when Mr Loadsamoney would have been chased out of town by all but the most gullible. Not now, as evidenced by the investment the likes of Optionetics makes in advertising. People keep coming back for more, reaching out to touch the easy money, to get a slice of the action that seems to be everywhere. To get their hands on that goddamn Pina Colada. To drive off into the sunset in the latest model SUV, fitted out with psychic bullbars, designed to keep reality at bay. Hi ho.