Compound interest seems insignificant when framed as the author has framed it, but consider all the people held hostage by the compounding interest on their cre

Compound interest seems insignificant when framed as the author has framed it, but consider all the people held hostage by the compounding interest on their credit card debt. For the normal working people the author describes, it's fairly unlikely that they'll end up "rich" using such a risk-averse investment strategy. On the other hand, it's also fairly unlikely they'll end up poor, which is the actual motivation for most retirement saving. Some people end up seeking more risk and in some cases it pays off. Others happen to retire when the historical rate of return on their retirment portfolio averaged 8-10% per year and feel rich because of that. Still others die earlier than expected and will the money to their kids who now have a $1M nest egg from an early age and stand a chance of turning it into real wealth. It is interesting to think about the extremely high value of public sector pensions, which are an under-the-radar transfer, extracted via the power of public sector unions and kept strong thanks to state-enforced monopolies.