> investing of any kind was wildly out of reach for the common man
Oh baloney. I signed up for a Schwab account and started buying stocks at my first job long before the internet. My dad started buying stocks in the 1940s on his military pay (never much). Elevator boys were famously buying stocks in the 1920s.
All the "reach" required was some get-up-and-go to sign up for a brokerage account. It didn't cost anything. They didn't check your tax returns or do a credit check.
The whole point of the stock market was to sell stock to anyone who would buy it.
So that is about $3k in todays money you had laying around and could risk. Are you sure you are well attuned what is within the reach of the common man?
Oh baloney. I signed up for a Schwab account and started buying stocks at my first job long before the internet. My dad started buying stocks in the 1940s on his military pay (never much). Elevator boys were famously buying stocks in the 1920s.
All the "reach" required was some get-up-and-go to sign up for a brokerage account. It didn't cost anything. They didn't check your tax returns or do a credit check.
The whole point of the stock market was to sell stock to anyone who would buy it.