Opening the stock market to the common person through individually-controlled retirement vehicles (401ks, IRAs, and the like) has done much to damage the dream of retirement for several generations. While the theory of being personally resp...onsible for my own retirement investments sound great, my plan is to take the number of different types of funds (large cap, small cap, international, etc.) and invest in each type as equally as possible. Then, under each type, I try to invest in each fund as equally as possible. My theory is that I am not smarter than the market as a whole, so I try to invest in each thing as equally as I can. Is this the right approach? While do I feel like I'm not getting richer, it's the rich that are getting richer? When there is such a disparity between the haves, have nots, and those of us in the middle (ranking much closer to the have-nots), I succumb to the dream of putting $5 in the pot to win the jackpot.

I don't know what the solution is. In a few generations, I think the market will get accustomed to 401k's and the like. I am always shocked by the statistic of how many Gen Xers that don't have a retirement fund.

*Obviously* there is a problem. Care to suggest how to solve it? For one thing, admitting to the fact that we aren't all cut out to be our own financial planners is a start.See More