I very much disagree in recommending that new players essentially ignore amassing enough goods to cover their eventual run through the next Age Map/tech tree
I'm not saying they should ignore storing goods, but if you join a good guild that has many of its members selling goods all the time, you do not have to worry about needing to accumulate Bronze Age goods (and ONLY Bronze Age goods), since those goods sellers are basically stuffed with Bronze Age goods that they received as placeholders for goods trades. But if you plan on going beyond Iron Age, then you will have to worry about this issue, and should follow such rules. I know a couple of HMA campers who struggled through GE negotiations with EMA goods since those are much rarer than BA goods. At their level, they sometimes trade 1:1 HMA to EMA because they have so many HMA goods, and not enough EMA goods.
What I'm saying is that Bronze Age goods are the exception to the "storing goods" rule, since those are used so much more as placeholders for goods trading. I do believe that storing tons of goods is an essential rule to a smooth transition through the ages, but like with many essential rules, you can break the rules under very certain conditions. Heck, you can even break this rule for HMA or other ages if you stumble upon several campers of the previous age and work out a deal.
Rules/guidelines are important, but I think players need to understand why these rules/guidelines are there, and understand when breaking these rules are necessary instead of dogmatically following such rules.
You've detailed at length in past posts that at the beginning of your current cities you spent countless hours over many days sending out hundreds of messages to find goods dealers, stumbling upon a couple ones who just gave you those early goods.
I joined this guild as a happy accident, and had nothing to do with contacting the goods sellers, and then I later realized that at least 5-6 of the players are huge goods sellers and have tons of BA goods in inventory, but I'm certain if you join the highest-ranking guild that accepts new members, you will encounter a similar situation.
Last of all, Bronze Age is a terrible age to sit in for over a week. No GE, GB contributions, PvP, or easy ways to get GBs ahead of your age quickly.