I am in control of my financial life.

Some of the dials are yours and some are painted on. Rent goes up because somebody else decided. The price of nearly everything moved this year without consulting anyone in this house.

Control, honestly held, is partial — which isn't a lesser version of control. It's the actual shape of it.

You steer the parts that steer, and most of the work is knowing which those are.

People who call themselves in charge of their money usually mean something modest: they know what's coming, they've decided the order of things, and nothing arriving in the post will be a surprise.