Quote Originally Posted by splinter1545 View Post
Okay, saddlebags might not be, but the retainers definitely are. More retainers mean you get more slots to sell items. More slots to sell items means you can get into many more markets. More markets mean more gil. You also have the luxury of being able to fail or not profit from being in certain markets since you have footholds in other to make up for it, which someone with only 2 retainers don't have the benefit of doing, meaning they have to be more cautious in their investments.

Just cause it isn't battle content, doesn't mean that you aren't getting an advantage over others. Yes, gil is almost useless, but it's the principal that's the main concern, not the end result.
You left out the part where you have more retainers to send on ventures as well. the more retainers means the more items you can collect passively.