Ask HN: What is the smartest way to beat the system- do easy work for high pay?

Honestly, the easiest way to make money is through passive incomes. This may not work for the timeframe you're considering, but I do recommend a book called "The Wealthy Barber." It summarizes basic personal investment strategies, using the story of a small-town barber who ended up being independently wealthy by making sound and practical investments.

Obviously it's easier if you inherit money -- but this book makes the case that if you simply set aside chunks of your paycheck for investment, and invest it wisely and patiently, you eventually realize exponentially compounding returns. (The best advice I ever got was to max out my contributions to my company's 401K plan -- because it had a "company match" which was basically free money.) That got me a stake in a stock market which was rising fast. And then over the years (thanks to compounding interest) that money doubles and then doubles again in value...

Zero interest loans. Not that I have any, but that would go a long way.

Depends on your skill set. Look for passive opportunities with potential to scale.

Software development as a career.