Mr Money Mustache excepted.
Why?
What do you consider "successfully investing"? I think many people here are successful investors.
You can see some details in my journal. I'm pretty ordinary. I invest in index funds. Buy and hold. I did get fancy and tax-loss-harvest last year to save my marginal tax rate on $2800 of income.
- Graduated college in 2003 with zero/negative net worth (I wasn't tracking it then - I had some savings but only $8k in student loans).
- Got a good job with a salary of $47k plus bonus and 10% contribution per year to retirement accounts.
- Started contributing in Roth, eventually contributed to a 401k when my company added one, and finally started a taxable account as my savings rate grew.
- No unemployment or health setbacks. Market corrections, I guess? The market goes up and down, but mostly up, and that's all I'm counting on.
- 16 years later, salary is $110k (+ bonus and 10% retirement), and net worth is now just over $900k.