How to become a Sovereign Individual?

Many have read the famous book – The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. And there are countless others who are yet to read this masterpiece. Regardless, in the current situation being a Sovereign Individual is a necessity not a luxury.

But who is a Sovereign Individual? There are many definitions. Everyone looks at this term in their own way. I believe that anyone who is NOT dependent on one income source, one location, one type of money, one digital identity, one asset type, one food source, one energy source, one skill, has good health and is financially independent is a Sovereign Individual.

Now, that may look like many things. But it is not. I wouldn’t say it is easy but it is definitely simple. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to become a Sovereign Individual. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your 20s or 60s, or you’re employed or run a business – this guide is for everyone. I have divided this guide into “Beginner” and “Advanced” depending on complexity. After implementing the “Beginner” points, you should move on to the “Advanced” ones. Below is the index to the entire guide, you can click on each option to directly read that part:

1. Income
2. Online
3. Health
4. Money
5. Location
6. Education
7. Asset
8. Energy
9. People (Links)

1. Income 💻

Gone are the days of relying on one single source of income. It doesn’t matter if you have a job or if you run a business, if you don’t have multiple cash flows – you won’t make it.

Nowadays, large companies are simply an extension of the State. They don’t care for you or your family. They just care about their Balance Sheet. If you just have “Salary” as your only source of income – your employer runs your life, not you. They can force you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. In short, you have near-zero freedom.

Beginner

Side Hustle – Build a side business. Preferably multiple side businesses. It could be anything – Selling art, flipping houses, teaching yoga. There are millions of ways, you just have to find something that interests you. Also I have shared a list of income sources you can try, inside SIR Community group (click here). Anyway, you can learn online too or from personal experiences. I know people who make more than an average salary by just talking about different types of shoelaces.

Investment – Invest in assets that give constant cash flow. Like stock dividends, crypto yield, rental property etc. Don’t just think about buying Stock A at ₹10 and selling it at ₹14. That is one-time cash flow after selling the asset you own. Focus on investing in assets that can give you a constant source of income without selling the primary asset. Be cash flow rich, not just asset rich.

Some Examples:

• Stock Dividend: If you buy stock A, you will keep receiving ₹X every quarter or year. You don’t have to sell A to make money.
• Crypto: You stake crypto B, you keep earning staking rewards or yields. You can sell or use that extra crypto you received as reward while holding B. You don’t have to sell B to make money.
• Rental Property: You own a 2-story building. Live on the ground floor and rent out floor 1. You will keep receiving cash (rent) every month without selling your building. This one I personally hate as I don’t like Real Estate as an asset class.

Advanced

Location Independent Side Hustle – Build businesses that don’t depend on a particular location. You or your customer can be anywhere in the world but you can still keep earning. Internet-based businesses are best.

Offer online services like social media marketing, coding, online teaching etc. Find a problem, bring a solution, ask for payment in bitcoin or monero. Decentralize your income as much as possible.

2. Online 📱

Currently, most of our life is spent online. Privacy, Freedom of Speech and Decentralization are the most important factors when deciding where sovereign individuals should spend majority of their time.

Beginner

Some basics on how to open online accounts:

• Create 1 separate email account for job, bank account, govt services etc.
• Create another (2nd) email with a random name, gender, location, age etc. for other online accounts. This will be mainly used to login to services that aren’t that serious like YouTube, Facebook, X etc.
• Always upload an avatar, a random character, your blurred face as ‘DP’ or ‘Profile Picture’.
• Never upload your clear personal picture as your DP. Preferably try to stay as anonymous or pseudonymous as possible.
• Avoid sharing your personal pictures with your or your family’s faces online.

Advanced

Some basics on how to operate online:

• Only upload pics after removing its metadata with desktop software like ExifCleaner, mobile app like Scrambled Exif or web app like Image Scrubber.
• Use a VPN like Mullvad or IVPN. Free alternative is TOR but it’s comparatively slower. You can access Tor through Brave Browser mentioned above in “Opt In” column.
• Use web apps like TweetDelete to delete your old social media posts at regular intervals. I delete all X posts that are 3 months older.
• Learn to self host apps yourself and reduce dependency on Amazon, Google & their friend’s cloud services.

3. Health 💪

During a time when doctors are going ‘woke’ and science is being censored, you have to be very careful about your health. Just because someone is saying something on TV or your favorite YouTube channel – doesn’t mean it is right. Study and research about everything. Try to keep things simple like our ancestors.

Beginner

• Buy your food from local organic market.
• Avoid all processed food – canned, packed etc.
• Avoid all junk food.
• Use natural methods to purify your water.
• Use natural ingredients for face, hair, body clean up and nurture.
• Eliminate porn.
• Minimum 5 days a week, practice meditation & yoga (workout, gym, running)

Advanced

• Start growing your own food – vegetables, fruits etc.
• Have an annual full body check-up.
• Check your source of water – go for the most natural source available.
• Eliminate all forms of plastic from your life – water bottles, plastic containers, etc.
• Find a doctor with similar values to you and build a long-term relationship with him/her.

4. Money 💵

Unlimited money printing by governments and banks has devalued fiat (₹, $) to an incredible extent. $100 in 1913 would be worth less than $3.87 today. That’s US Dollar which is a global reserve currency & used by almost every country, now imaging Indian Rupee. Basically, every fiat money has lost more than 95% of its purchasing power in the last 100 years. If you have most of your net worth in a centralized fiat currency (₹, $) and you’ve store that in a bank account, you are in deep trouble. Just a simple & scary data point, Indian fiat currency in last 28 years has lost 62% purchasing power when compared to US Dollar, which itself has also devalued.

Also, with the creation of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) every single transaction will be monitored by the government. No privacy will be allowed. Encryption will villainized. Slowly they will start banning transactions they don’t like. Already happening in many countries.

Beginner

Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) are the most effective ways an individual can remove the third parties interfering with their financial affairs. They can’t censor or ban you.

Keep a portion of your portfolio in BTC and XMR. The exact allocation will depend on your financial goals. Start earning BTC for normal transaction, through cashbacks etc. A good example here is the GoSats VISA card, wrote about it here – How to Earn Bitcoin & Gold for ‘Free’ in India

Advanced

Master the art of acquiring, saving and spending XMR or BTC. Interact with businesses that accept them for a service. Also if you run a business, start accepting both. By creating a crypto economy, you can unplug from the surveillance-based economy.

In bitcoin, learn to use Blue Wallet. For bitcoin’s lightning network, learn to use Phoenix Wallet. I have listed all resources – click here. And for Monero, get habituated to using Cake Wallet. All tutorials are freely available on YouTube and other video & text platforms.

5. Location 🌏

Location can be an asset as well as a liability. You need to ask yourself, is your current jurisdiction the best for you? Rate the way you’re being treated by your government and the citizens of your current country.

Your location will be your liability – If your government pushes a law that is directly or indirectly against you or your family, high taxes, lack of family security, fewer income opportunities etc. It can also be your asset when you have the option to choose from multiple locations after considering your family, willingness, ability to move, employment status etc.

Beginner

• Have multiple staying places in different parts of the same country.
• Focus on income sources that don’t make you stay in a single location.

When I say ‘Staying Place’ – it doesn’t mean you need to buy houses in different places. It can be the house of your trusted friend where you can stay for months if required.

Advanced

• Multiple Citizenship/Residentship – New citizenship & passports come in hundreds of thousands of US Tokens ($). This option doesn’t come cheap. Consider things like tax, access to health care, quality of life, cultural heritage etc. in the new jurisdiction before making any decision.
• Try not to buy stuff like cars that make you less flexible.

6. Education 📚

People often confuse education with academics. In the age of internet, education is free and unlimited. Unless you’re aspiring for a specific type of occupation, you don’t really need an academic degree from an established fiat institution. Their relevance is fading away and education is becoming decentralised. Consider alternative options.

Beginner

• Learn sales.
• Learn marketing.
• Learn to code.
• Follow accounts of those on social media who share a lot of information about topics that interest you. (More on this below – click here)

Advanced

• Consider homeschooling your children.
• Learn a new language – preferably a country’s language where in future you want to spend a significant portion of your life.

7. Assets 📈

Take a good look at your property, stock portfolio, bank accounts, crypto portfolio, gold and any other assets you may have. Restructure your wealth to not only maximize growth but whether it can take stress in case of global or local unrest.

Beginner

Diversify your assets. Don’t put all money into a single asset. Some asset types you may want to consider:

• Physical Gold (How to buy – click here)
• Stocks
• Index Funds or ETFs (Check IndexFundInsights.com)
• Crypto
• Real Estate

In case of gold, majority must be in physical form as you can take self-custody. You don’t have to depend on a government or a stock exchange to take care of your gold.

Advanced

Decentralize your Wealth – Plan to focus on those assets which don’t depend on a single government. Your wealth should be distributed in different jurisdictions under different governments. So that if your current country’s govt starts to pass illogical laws or some other emergency events take place, you & your family can quickly move to a different country with minimum loss of wealth.

Owning too much gold or stocks in just one jurisdiction is extremely risky and can be censored or confiscated anytime. At least if you are a single-digit $ millionaire, you should start buying gold etc. in other countries. Focus on countries that are pro-freedom, pro-capitalism and less taxes.

Crypto – This is a very unique solution to the location problem. You don’t need to be a fiat millionaire to decentralize your assets. Technically, politicians in your jurisdiction can’t stop you from owning bitcoin or monero. They are decentralized and uncensorable. But always remember, not to put all of your wealth in it.

Decentralizing from major cities & countries has its pros and cons, weigh them up carefully and continue to assess your situation. Continuously ask yourself questions, assess and take steps forward.

8. Energy ⚡

Nothing in today’s world runs without electricity. From electric grids getting hacked to intentional disruption of power supply to natural disasters – you just can’t depend only on one energy source.

Beginner

• Consider backup generator or inverter with battery.
• Always have an extra gas cylinder.
• Store water in multiple tanks.

Advanced

Consider installing solar panels.

9. People 👍

Best way to become a Sovereign Individual is to hang out with like-minded people. Below are some websites, YouTube channels, subreddits, Twitter accounts etc. with links that might help you to become self-sufficient in every sphere of life.

📱 Online Privacy

• Website: PrivacyGuides.org
• Twitter or X: @SethForPrivacy

💻 Income and Assets

• Newsletter: BowTied Bull
• Twitter or X: @InvestRepeat
• Reddit: r/IndiaInvestments, r/FIRE_Ind (India Specific)
• Telegram: @InvestRepeat

💪 Health

• YouTube: Andrew Huberman
• Twitter or X: @Mangan150

💵 Money

• Twitter or X: Crypto | Gold | Silver List

🌏 Location and Living Off Grid

YouTube: Nomad Capitalist, The Nomadic Movement

💡 Extra

• Newsletter: 5 Bullet Friday by Tim Ferriss
• Twitter or X: @LifeMathMoney, @Balajis

As always, please don’t take this as a recommendation, investment or life advice. This is just me sharing my vision for a better life and living.

Never forget: Being a Sovereign Individual is a necessity, not a luxury. And if you have any questions, please post them to me on X – @InvestRepeat. Also, you can join my private Telegram channel (Username: InvestRepeat).

Your man,

SIR