Well let us put your theory to the test.
When my grandfather had a grocery store which also sold general goods he basically had a customer base of roughly 10,000 people. His only opportunity to increase that customer base was to open another store. His opportunities were limited because of the effort it would take and investment to open a second store.
Today with the flick of my mouse I have a customer base in my online EBAY store of literally Millions of people with lower overhead than my grandfather could ever hope for.
My packages are picked up at my door and delivered in a matter of days, money is deposited in my bank account faster than I can get the package ready to ship.
I can then take that money and immediately put it in my Ameritade account and invest it in some nice blue chip dividend stocks for a fraction of what my grandfather could have done. (being that he would have had to drive an hour one way just to find a broker deposit a check with him who would have then in turn had to get in contact with his and so on and so on. wasting time and effort) Or Bonds or Mutual funds or whatever else.
Not to mention all of the info on companies and stocks available at your fingertips whereas in my grandfather's day that info was nearly impossible to get in a timely fashion for all but the rich investor class.
That is just two examples.
If I had to venture a guess, I would say you have made the same mistake many college degree holders have made for years. You actually believed the hype that a college degree will make you wealthy. Its probably one of the worst things the education movement ever did.
One needs a degree to be an engineer or Doctor or Lawyer etc. And, that is as it should be. But just because one becomes and engineer or Doctor or Lawyer does not mean everything is gonna be gravy now.
See, the dirty little secret about money that no one really talks about is "a paycheck never made anyone rich"! Instead, what you do with that paycheck is the determining factor in whether you become wealthy or not.
The opportunities to become wealthy in America now are almost limitless. And, it doesn't take a college degree to take advantage of most of those opportunities.
What it takes is a computer, an Internet connection and very little effort.
Waaay more opportunities than my Grandfather or even my Dad ever had.
You say that you have lower overhead than your grandfather did. Undoubtedly, you don't have to stock shelves and sweep floors, but you do have to pay for shipping of items to you in bulk and then pay for shipping of each item from your house to the customer. I'd guess that packaging each item for shipping is more expensive than putting it in a brown paper bag and handing it to the customer who will then drive home. You can charge someone for "shipping and handling," but those costs are still part of the "overhead." If each of your customers could arrange to drop by your place in a couple of days to pick up the order themselves, you could be pocketing a great deal more money that is currently going to UPS, FedEx, or whoever your shipper is.
My great-aunt was born in 1903 to poor German immigrants. She married a man who worked in hardware sales and eventually owned his own hardware store. In the early days of their marriage, they pinched their pennies and dimes and went to the bank to buy stocks when they could. They weren't extravagantly rich or connected. They were just middle-class merchants doing some investing at a time when many in the middle and lower classes didn't bother with the stock market. They didn't have any fancy schemes for timing entry and exit from the market, but they became millionaires.
Maybe your grandfather was too far in the country to invest, but my great-uncle was from the country too. He and other family members found ways to invest. The internet helps with investing. It's nice to follow those daily trends to get a better feel for a stock. I probably check my stocks two or three times every day. I check my funds about once a week. The internet makes things convenient, but the notion that our fathers and grandfathers couldn't have invested just as effectively as we can simply isn't true.
I'm not looking to be particularly wealthy or to live a high lifestyle. I'm simply looking for a modicum of security and comfort. A middle-class job that wouldn't disappear and the better benefits that came with years of service cover most of what I need. I'm not interested in having to chase money 24/7/365, but the choice today seems to be between that perpetual chase or too high a likelihood of poverty. I think that's a poorer choice than what previous generations had.
Bill