No two paths to wealth are entirely alike. But you can learn a lot from following other peoples' journeys. Take, for example, money influencer Delyanne Barros. Her path to wealth included three key steps.

Here's how you can implement her three steps to get you ahead financially, too.

Barros works for herself today but had a 9-to-5 job before that. She could have quit that job and lived off her self-employment earnings sooner than she did. Barros stayed at the job for six more months, waiting until she made more from her side hustle.

More than a third of U.S. adults now work jobs on the side. The average person from this group earns $891 a month -- not enough to live on. Barros' story is a good reminder not to quit your day job too soon. That can cause financial stress and challenges that put your ultimate goals further out of reach.

Barros also made a point of avoiding lifestyle creep. She says she kept her lifestyle the same, even after earning seven figures for two years.

Lifestyle creep happens when your spending increases with your income. It's easy to pay more for nights out, luxury goods and other wants when earning extra money. But doing so stops you from building wealth. It can also encourage debt.

The average American consumer is now $104,215 in debt. You can keep your number as low as possible by avoiding lifestyle creep. That takes discipline, but it's an effort worth making, as Barros' story shows.

Finally, Barros says investing extra money into index funds also sped up her path toward wealth. Index funds are equities that track the performance of some broader sector.

For example, VOO, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, is an index fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500. You can buy it to get exposure to the full S&P 500 without having to build individual positions in every company.

Barros is far from alone in recommending this investment strategy. Warren Buffet swears by index funds -- and for good reason. Over the last 20 years, the S&P 500 has produced average annual returns of 10.473%.

You may lose money in any given year. However, broad market indexes like the S&P 500 have historically increased over time. This means they can help you build wealth faster than storing extra earnings in a savings account. For example, imagine putting $20,000 into an S&P 500 index and leaving it there for 20 years. If the S&P increased at an average annual rate of 10.473%, you'd end up with $146,606.41 after 20 years -- even if you never added another cent to the account.