If you invested at the worst time in the past century that would be bad. If you invested in T-bills or CDs you'd have gotten murdered by inflation in that perio

If you invested at the worst time in the past century that would be bad. If you invested in T-bills or CDs you'd have gotten murdered by inflation in that period too. NYT piece you're referencing says the average annual return over 20 years is 4.1% net of taxes, fees, and inflation. Not too bad.