Is investing basically useless if you don’t already have money?

I’m in my early 40s and pretty new to stocks, and I’m honestly trying to wrap my head around the whole “everyone should invest” idea. What I keep getting stuck on is this: If you don’t already have real capital, what’s the point? Putting small amounts into stocks you won’t touch for 10–20 years doesn’t really feel like building wealth. It feels more like parking money and hoping inflation doesn’t wipe it out. A 10% return on a few thousand dollars just isn’t moving the needle in any real way. At the same time, the only way I *see* people making serious money in the market is by putting in large sums and hoping the price moves in their favor. And once you’re doing that, it starts looking a lot like trading or straight-up gambling, not long-term investing. So it makes me wonder: Is investing mostly a young person’s game (time matters more than money), or a rich person’s game (money matters more than time)? Because if you’re older and don’t have much capital, it feels like you’re stuck in the middle. Not enough time for compounding to do much, and not enough money for returns to matter. I’m not anti-investing. I’m genuinely trying to understand if I’m missing something important, or if investing just isn’t the wealth-building tool it’s sold as unless you start early or already have money. For me, making money through work or building a business feels more important. Investing seems like something that makes sense *after* you’ve built real capital. Curious to hear from people who started late, or from anyone who thinks this take is completely off.