The 20-something success stories are basically the myths of our age. A long time ago it was success by 50, and then it slowly degenerated into the top 30 by 30

The 20-something success stories are basically the myths of our age. A long time ago it was success by 50, and then it slowly degenerated into the top 30 by 30 as the optimal "age of success" just keeps dropping in the spirit of one-upmanship. It's not news if it's not novel. I'm waiting for the "Success by 12 or you're a nobody" narrative to take root. Unlike what your media circles of success-story-con-artists would have you believe, success is a SLOW, DELIBERATE process. You pick a path and you walk it, taking in the sights and sounds and deciding if it's for you. Then you pick another path and walk down it, and you continue doing so, all the while diligently socking 10-15% of your income away into a sound, diversified investment portfolio (which is your fallback plan). Or just do index funds if you don't want to think about it too much. Eventually, you might just find something that grabs you, and then you pursue it, and make something from it. THAT is the measure of success. And if you don't, you still have your investment portfolio from which you can live comfortably. Some people don't discover their success path until far later in life. * Julia Child (the most famous cook in America) didn't even start training as a chef until her 50s. * Stan Lee got his break with The Fantastic Four at age 40. * Colonel Harland Sanders started KFC at 65, and sold it 9 years later. * Harriette Thompson ran her first marathon at 76. * Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was 78. * Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing "Little House on the Prairie" at age 65. * Estelle Getty (Golden Girls) struggled as an actress for nearly 40 years until she finally had her breakthrough role in Torch Song Trilogy at almost 60 years of age.