Given that 80% of the world doesn't have that, yeah. But for that 20%, the author's path isn't entirely unreasonable (if a bit quick). Make $$$, spend $, invest $$. it requires living somewhere other than CA and probably not having kids, but if you can make those sacrifices and can play the software engineer game, it's more a matter of math working out than it is an unreasonable path.

JFYI, an old Italian proverb/saying:

Fare i conti spesso, moderar le voglie, spender men di quel che si raccoglie.

That roughly translates to:

Do the (financial) math often, limit your cravings, spend less than you can gather.