There are a lot of junk resources that just want to sell you things and are a waste of time. It takes a certain level of expertise just to find competent teachers. But I'll try to briefly summarize what I wish I had known when I started.
~80% of this game is showing up. (Pareto Principle.) Wealthfront, Betterment, or a target-date mutual fund is way better for growth than a bank account. Start there if you don't have a better idea.
If you want to be more aggressive, averaging 15-30% growth per year is not unrealistic. E.g. PSLDX alone has averaged 17.39% since inception in 2007, but it also had a 50% drawdown in that time. Some years are better, some worse. But that's one fund. You can do even better than this if you know what you are doing (e.g. https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&t...). See also, Nassim Taleb’s Barbell.
To play this game well, you need an edge. See Expected Returns (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10982323-expected-return...), a classic. The easy edge is "risk premium", but there are others. Edges are not that secret. Search https://ssrn.com for more ideas. When analyzing, beware that any monkey can optimize a backtest. The idea is to find a persistent edge, not overfit to past noise.
You also need risk management so you don't lose money too fast. You have to tolerate some volatility, but control risks. You can lose money by
1. oversizing bets (see "Kelly Criterion", also borrowing costs),
2. trading too frequently (bid-ask spread, commissions, fees, especially for mutual funds),
3. being on the wrong side of an actual edge, usually by buying too much insurance / fighting the risk premium,
4. and paying taxes and penalties (retirement accounts, beware insider trading, etc.).
If you can limit these, the remaining market noise is as likely to work for you as against you. It washes out. See my LessWrong series for more detail, starting with https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rPe6b7MCxaK8ZzYdC/you-need-m... Also, stop-loss orders suck; puts are better.
At 15-30%, you can double your money every four years or so. Paying the 10% penalty for early withdrawal from a traditional IRA is worth it for tax-free growth if you can compound for even a few years, so put as much in as you possibly can as soon as you possibly can. You can and should contribute some directly, but most will come from rolling a 401(k). The annual limit there is currently $58k if under age 50 and your plan allows after-tax contributions. If retiring early, don't contribute to Roth (you don't get to keep as much up front), but do convert to them after you stop earning and are in a lower bracket. I can't know your exact financial situation, please talk to a professional about this stuff.