>> Stock market? Check out the inflation adjusted returns in the US market between 1966 and 1982.<<
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It makes better sense to check out the market over a 40-year period, which approximates a person's working career. Even a 40 year period containing the depression of 1929-1933 has a positive average annual return for the full 40 years.
Regular periodic contributions to a private retirement account also give the benefit of dollar cost averaging.
Of course, the real benefit of private retirement accounts (as some people already know via IRA, 401k, and Keogh plans) is that the money is yours from day 1 that it get placed in the plan. No matter what, the assets in that account belong to you and your heirs with no political strings.
