First tool: the "FU money" calculator
All of this had to start somewhere. Some weeks ago, I wrote something dumb to give myself an excuse to play with jQuery and also to answer a basic question: how long can I go out on my own? The results of that evening some weeks ago can now be shared with the world:
FU means Freedom Unfurled, of course. Go find out if you can strike out on your own, and if you do, how long you can operate before you have to find some kind of income. All of the magic happens with JavaScript in your web browser, so no data leaks back to me.
Play with the numbers and see how you'd fare.