Ha! Reminds me of ALL of those valuable stocks that I saw go from hundreds per share to nothing! Worthless. Garbage.
Sure, you *Might* retire by investing in stocks, mutual funds, etc.
How about all those folks now who are in absolute poverty after a lifetime of investing who *knew* what they were doing.
In 2000 I was a stock broker working for a major secuties firm. I literally watched wealthy people lose massive fortunes in their paper investments. Fortunes that heirs couldn't have spent fast enough.
So, "conventional" wisdom isn't so conventional afterall. There are no sure things. But tangible property at least retains inherent value, as long as you're buying it at smart prices and don't chase values up, like gold or real estate.
Sure, if you can look back in time and cherry pick your eras of when which investments outperformed others, then that's a game. Reality is that if you "retire" during a huge collapse, and your assets are tied up in paper or companies that are down 50%, then you are in financial ruin. Those of you that have investments in equities, imagine retiring in 2001, 20002, or 2009 when yours were down 30-50%.
In May of 1999 the Nasdaq was around the same value as Feb 2012, 13 years later! And the swings were WILD. Sure, you might have gotten lucky and made a killing on the way up; more likely you lost your butt on the way down, and the market was south for many more of those 13 years than up! Most people have not faired well in their investments since around 2001, when the markets have been mostly down or flat.
