ALKI DAVID is the majority shareholder of Leventis-David group, which owns Coca-Cola bottling plants in 23 countries. He also set up Independent Models, the UK’s largest model agency, and 111 Pictures, a film-production outfit. He has been in several movies and currently appears alongside Jason Statham in The Bank Job.

Sports fan David, 39, who is worth £4 billion, last year pledged several million pounds to Cambridge rugby club.

He lives in London, Cyprus and Switzerland with his wife, Emma, and three children.

How much money do you have in your wallet? I have a couple of hundred on me at the moment. I usually take out whatever the limit on the cash machine is, so anything between £200-£400.

Between massages and dinner, it’s easy to spend. There’s also tipping, of course. I don’t give that much, but enough. This Christmas I gave the concierge in the Palace Hotel in Gstaad 200 Swiss francs – about £100.

Do you have any credit cards? I have a Gold Mastercard and an Amex Gold. I also have an Amex Black Centurion (an invitation-only card that costs £650 a year). I once financed an entire reality TV show on that card. It cost a couple of hundred thousand euros in all. Some of the money was to pay off a customs fine because we were caught trying to bring a tarantula into Switzerland for the show.

Are you a saver or a spender? I spend to enjoy and to make things happen. You’ll only get the big prizes by taking some risks. Right now, I’m investing heavily on my new film project called Filmon.com. It’s a digital download service which I think is the future of digital TV.

How much did you earn last year? In total, global gains were probably around £40m. The money is from a wide range of things, though my investment in real estate in eastern Europe was perhaps the best performer.

I particularly like countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine where there is huge potential growth. Unlike some of the more buoyant economies like Greece, countries in eastern Europe have not yet reached saturation point. There are also plenty of buyers, so it’s easy to sell if you want to. Over the past five years, I have seen very steady growth in these countries of between 10%-20%.

How much was in your first pay packet? My first job was checking bottle caps at a Coca-Cola plant in Nigeria. I was eight at the time and I earned 50 kobo an hour – about 25p. I was born in Nigeria and I was working at one of my father’s plants.

Have you ever been really hard up? No. I’ve never felt poor. Having said that, there’s never enough money because someone else is always going to have more than you. I think it’s possible for anyone to feel poor – even a billionaire.

Do you own a property? I have a home in Knightsbridge, west London. It’s a Georgian property over six floors and has five bedrooms. I bought it eight years ago for about £2m – it’s probably doubled in value.

I also have a home in Greece with eight bedrooms and a chalet in the Swiss mountains.

So are you a nondom? I am. I spend my time between Greece, Cyprus, the UK and Switzerland. I went to school in England and Switzerland so they are both important to me.

I’m officially domiciled in Cyprus, though, where my mother lives.

What do you think of the government’s nondom charges? I don’t want to pay the annual £30,000 fee for being a nondom, but I’ll pay it. The UK is a very attractive place for nondoms and it would be stupid for anyone to change this. I don’t think, however, that this will drive away the more wealthy nondoms. Those it does drive away – good riddance to them, frankly.

What is the most lucrative work you have ever done? Did you use the fee for something special? I’ve done a lot of things that have made me money, but perhaps the most important thing for me is the acting. It’s the thing that gives me the biggest kick.

I always seem to play the bad guy though – I’m the new face of terror. In Spooks, I also played a terrorist. Right now, I’m playing a Turkish drug dealer. I don’t mind being pigeonholed, though I did turn down a BBC show where they wanted me to play one of Saddam Hussein’s sons.

Do you invest in shares? Do I gamble, you mean? No, I only invest in secure funds. I think you’d have just as much fun at the casino, which I don’t go to either. I invest in funds through Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Lehman Brothers and others. In total, I have around $200m (£98m) in managed funds.

I like capital guaranteed schemes run by Credit Suisse. Last year and this year there have also been some good fixed interest, high yield oil programmes which I’ve invested in. Natural resources and oils are a booming sector.

What’s better – property or pension? Neither. I don’t have a pension plan. I like to think I don’t have to worry much about my retirement. My long-term financial plan is to not run out of money and to try to stay healthy.

Are you financially better off than your parents? My father’s dead, so I have more money than him. To be honest, I don’t know. My father was a very successful businessman.

What’s been your best investment in life? I made an oil investment once, which I made an incredible amount of money on. It was a funky futures deal offered by Deutsche Bank about five years ago on Brent oil. I bought into it very heavily – about £80m in total through four different sources. It went up to £160m within four hours.

I thought I’d try my luck again and it didn’t work. I ended up losing £80m, so ended up broadly even. From joy to vomit – all within 24 hours. It put me off the markets completely.

What aspect of our taxation system would you change? The health sector in Britain needs a lot of attention. There should be a special health tax.

I don’t use the NHS but my wife does. She’s a qualified nurse from Northern Ireland, although she works as a make-up artist now.

It would be obscene for me to use the NHS because I would be taking away some of the limited resources available. As you can imagine, I have arguments with my wife about this.

What is your money weakness? Not having a crystal ball. You need to know almost everything to make more money. I also spend too much on toys. My favourite is a blue Bentley Arnage and a green Aston Martin Vantage. I also love bikes. I have an Indian Dakota 4 motorbike – an old-style, modern Indian built in Scotland.

I also have a couple of yachts to keep me distracted. A 210-ft one is being built in Italy. I’ve made a down payment on it but it’s going to cost me about £60m when it’s finished next year.

I also have a large Sunseeker in Greece. The cost of running them is about 5%-10% of the total cost if you include fuel.

What is your financial priority? To simplify things and have less clutter in my life. I have many little investments in other people’s businesses, but they’re just irritating now and don’t make me any money.

What is the most extravagant thing you have ever bought? The yacht that’s being built. I will probably sell it before it’s finished as the demand for quality boats has shot up recently. I’ll probably sell it for 15% more than I bought it for. It will rise in value simply because it exists.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money? That with it comes responsibility.