There is only 4 ways to make "big" money, that I've been able to perceive.
1. If you are very talented, AND study and work hard, and a little luck, you can be a surgeon, or a rock star, or movie star, or a CEO, or a professional athlete, and be well paid.
2. If you can think up something new, and that means a lot of work discovering what Doesn't work. As Edison said, the 600 elements he tried weren't failures. He discovered there were 600 ways NOT to make a light bulb. If you invent something valuable like a new operating system, or electronic device or ENERGY source, you can be well paid.
3. If you do something valuable, provide a service, no one or few people WANT to do, like go to sea, or pick up garbage, you can be well paid.
4. You can outsmart other people. Stocks, politics, or sue in the courts, ect. you can get rich. I'm sure these folks study very hard to become successes as well. I'm just not convinced of the intrinsic VALUE of their "services" so I didn't seek that sort of career. I would include in this category, criminals that try to outsmart the law. That's not to say, the first bunch mentioned are criminal minds. Arguable maybe!
Other than these, I guess you'll have to work for a normal wage and struggle to make ends meet.
If I overlooked any method of making "a good" salary, I'd sure like to know!