PUBLISHED: 27 Sep 2014 04:07:00 | UPDATED: 27 Sep 2014 04:19:13PUBLISHED: 27 Sep 2014 PRINT EDITION: 27 Sep 2014

If dining levels at high-end restaurants are a barometer of consumer sentiment, Australians are feeling flush with cash.

Top restaurants across the country consistently report healthy numbers of bums on seats.

Last Monday’s lunchtime crowd at Sydney’s Catalina Rose Bay was no exception. The place was heaving.

It might have had something to do with the widespread publicity around Catalina’s recent 20th birthday bash.

The fact that the sun was finally out after a long, cold, wet winter in the harbour city wouldn’t have hurt prospects, either.

When I asked owner Michael McMahon how he accounted for such high numbers on what is traditionally a quiet trading day for restaurants, he admitted it had been going on for a while. “We were packed yesterday,” McMahon said of last Sunday. “There aren’t many 120-seat restaurants doing 240 sittings a day.”

Investors certainly have reason to be feeling more confident about their lot these days.

If you want some guidance on career paths to get on this road to riches, 63 per cent of billionaires, such as Warren Buffett, have founded or joined private companies.