Being a consultant is a start, but you are limited in your wages by the amount of hours you can personally work.
Get a good partner (take your time), make a product.
Sell it. Hire some people.
I made my most money by buying, collecting, and building up small businesses, keeping the books clean, then becoming a major pain in the ass to large public companies who buy me to get rid of the competition.
Repeat.
I doubt I would take that approach, but the learned advice is appreciated. I don't aspire to have a plane, just want to have some control over how I work. My background is pretty unique among IT workers, and I'm not sure I can find many other folks that could fill the role I am envisioning.