>>I think one of the least understood concepts of saving/investing is the time value of money. I have been contributing 10% of my salary (with a 5% employer match) to a personal retirement account for about 15 years now. At the rate it has been growing plus all my future contributions, it would be worth around $1,200,000 (US) in about 20 years. Even if I stopped contributions at this point, it would still be worth about $1,100,000 in 20 years at its current growth rate. No rate is guaranteed and my memory is a little fuzzy right now on thos figures, but they are close, but you should look at what some amount of your savings would be worth at different annual growth rates (5%, 7%, 10%). I never assume more than a 10% per year growth rate, but I have been getting about that now for all these years.
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>The crash of some years back (when was it? 2002?) must be a warning to us all. Maybe, in 20 years we must conclude that afterall the growth rate was only 1% and the actual amount only, let's say, $80,000. Or even negative. It is a dilemma that can only be avoided by saving at a fixed percentage.

Our retirement accounts are usually a mix of mutual funds, tax free municipal bonds, etc. I would never dream of investing retirement funds in the general stock markets. These types of funds are for the most part safe investments, but do some research first.