"Controlling your money" never means controlling other people

Controlling wealth (by that, I mean the money that you have saved) is not controlling people

(Side Note:If this seems familiar, then you saw my series of postings on Craigslist's "over 50" forum, as I answered questions about what I thought was the purpose of money and wealth. Many people seem to think that anybody who wants to save a lot of money must, therefore, intend to use it to control and manipulate. I think the opposite may be true - the presence of money removes the desire to control and manipulate!)

When all the talk of the 1% and the 99ers, came about, I wondered if I could make it to the 1%. I analyzed my options and realized that if I were to make it to the 1%, so that I was not controlled by others, then it STARTED with not being controlled, myself.

I considered every possible way in which the 1% could be controlling me. Every item upon which I was dependent, because the 1% could manipulate prices. For every item that was not in my control, I developed alternatives. In some cases, I could not come up with alternatives, but in those cases, the 1% needs them, too, which means they're also under someone else's control.

Here's how the list came out:
* Roads - Few alternatives, but the 1% need them too, so I won't have to personally take action if they get blocked. However, I did map out some possible routes from home to grocery and work that are totally off-road and mountain-bikable
* Food - I'm no farmer, but I found it very easy to grow potatoes, beans, green vegetables and squash. There's a complete diet there. Enough for my whole family from a 10 X 15 foot garden in the front yard. Learned how to can, so I get enough harvest to hold me over the winter. Most years, I use this stuff to throw parties and sell some, but if TSHTF and food prices skyrocket, I have my solution.
* Gasoline - This has two components. One is what it does to the cost of stuff. Foodstuff is handled by the garden, if needed. Shipping costs - everybody will suffer those, even the 1%, so it won't make me non-competitive. I re-arranged my life to not use much stuff, reducing my exposure. The other component of gasoline is my own cost of personal transportation. I have developed a daily/weekly routine that never takes me more than 20 miles from home, and I can bike it. I don't always, but I can if gas prices skyrocket. I do other things that require more miles, but they are entertainment, and thus can be curtailed optionally if TSHTF.
* Electricity - I switched my food storage from a freezer to canning, which keeps at room temperature. If electricity gets so high that I need to pull the plug on the fridge, I will lose no more than $50 worth...mostly condiments.
* Elec/gas - wood stove heats the house, with wood that falls on my own land
* Internet - might be a problem, as my business runs on it
* Money. Worst thing to depend on someone else for. As long as I had a mortgage, I rented out rooms, and all that extra cash flow went into the mortgage. I made the typical dumb college grad mistake and bought my first car using credit...that payment hung around my neck like a noose. I quit dating (and going out to "be seen" to attract dates) and got that car paid off in a year...then got socially active again. Never again with a car loan. Since then, it's been 5-10 year old cars, bought with cash.
* Money (again) - Money's a biggie, and the one that the 1% uses to control you the most. No debt is the goal. There are two kinds of debt. The kind with a loan document and the kind without. Every monthly bill is a debt!!! Don't have more than you need. One phone - cell or wired - not both. Internet service, pretty much need it if you're a job-seeker or trying to maintain yourself as a part of the economy. But - Cable TV. Never ever. Netflix, never ever. Movies come for free from the library or hulu or other online services. But after a while, you find way more interesting things to do, and now I don't even own a TV. Never pay for a magazine. You can get 90% of the useful content free on the 'net.

And so on.

After I had freed myself from the risk of being controlled by others, I realized that my ability to live on very little had gone way up...no mortgage, no payments for car or cable TV, etc. I was earning $40k and spending $12k.

I took my spare $ and started developing little products. Things that I could have contract-assembled for $50 to $150 and would sell for $100 to $300. I got them into distribution. None of them sold a lot, but I kept designing more and filling out the catalog more. I did not spend the profit on me, but then hired contract design engineers to speed up the flow of product development.

It took only two years for me to hit the 1% in AGI. I **Could** control things - I could make donations large enough to make a political difference. I choose to give to charity instead. I'm in the 1% now.

But, for me to have gotten to the 1%, it began with me not allowing anybody to control me. Get the control part taken care of and the rest becomes easy.