It's big bucks time: Wall Street bonuses to soar outrageously high.

A few weeks ago, there was a piece about the many delightful ways that Wall Street people will treat themselves with their bonuses. For the first time since the Internet went bust, America's traders, brokers and investment bankers are going to have some real cash waiting for them at the end of the year--about $17 billion of it.

Wall Street's answer to a spawning run doesn't occur until just before Christmas, but already yacht salesman, private-jet brokers, fancy car dealers, the International Guild of Butlers and others who routinely toss baited hooks into the Street's waters are feeling a jolt on their lines. Hummer of Manhattan said that sales this September rose almost a third from September 2004. The difference? "Wall Street guys."

This is refreshing news. For several lean years the world's most gifted conspicuous consumers have been spending in fear or, worse, not spending at all.

It's been tragic, really, as if Pavarotti had been forbidden to sing, or Houdini to escape. No longer! Wall Street guys are back in form, and intend not merely to spend their $17 billion, but to spend it with a vengeance.

To compensate themselves and their loved ones (dogs, mostly) for years of brutal repression, they apparently intend to consume even more conspicuously than usual. "People have had enough of listening to bad news," said Glenn Mazzella of World Wide Yacht Corp. "They want to go yachting, and they want to go skiing and they want to drive a Maybach. They're tired of feeling embarrassed." (A Maybach, a German car, retails for $325,000).

Still, I worry. After so many years of doing without even the most basic luxuries, Wall Street guys may be a bit like a wide receiver who, having just caught his first touchdown pass in two years, cannot recall the rules governing celebrations. The moment he pauses to wonder if it's OK to hurl the ball into the stands, or shake his booty in a sexually suggestive manner, he loses the fans' attention, and dances in vain.

If you wish to consume not merely conspicuously but also successfully, you must learn four important rules. (Re-learn them, in most Wall Street cases).

So let's review:

Rule 1: Don't worry about those less fortunate than you. They exist, it is true. What with killer hurricanes, tsunamis and children starving in Africa (them again!), it's not easy living up to the carefree standards of the 1980s. But a moment or two of historical research will show you that the poor and the dying have always been with us, and usually they're pretty tolerant of the rich.

Rule 2: From that tiny faction of nags who have plenty of money themselves but never shut up about the poor and "the working man," you have nothing to fear but fear itself. Here's the sad truth: There are people in the world who will try to make you feel guilty for no reason other than you want whatever you want when you want it. Well, if empathy is one of those "last place" emotions, guilt never started the race. If you succumbed to feelings of guilt, you wouldn't have made the dough in the first place.

Rule 3: You need sex. Lots of it, and with different people. And not just any sex: You need to have sex with the sort of women who appreciate the nerve with which you own your Lamborghini. That's one of the great things about spending your money as openly as possible and wearing your wealth on your sleeve: It's honest. You're letting the lady of your dreams (and remember, dreams only last one night) know exactly who you are.

Rule 4: Just because you've spent a huge amount of money on yourself doesn't mean you can stop making it. Why?

Because you'll need to make even more next year.

Michael Lewis is the author of "Liar's Poker," "MoneyBall" and, most recently, "Coach."