<i>At Digg, one mentor gave me the savvy advice that the fastest path to financial success was working for four years at three different just-about-to-IPO companies. A surefire way to retire by forty. (This is, for the record, pretty good advice.)</i><p>https://lethain.com/forty-year-career/<p>What are other fastest paths to financial success? Currently am a software engineer, so looking for advice in this career choice.
Real "The Millionaire Next Door." The basics are 1) get a decent job, 2) live below your means, 3) save and invest (mostly in low cost index funds or ETFs.) Do this for a couple of decades.<p>Finding three solid about-to-IPO companies would be like winning the lottery. You'll need more luck than you think. Take the luck out of the equation.
For starters, always define your important goals in terms of clear and unambiguous metrics.
For example: What are your criteria for 'financial success'?