Actually the stock market is an excellent vehicle for long term investments like retirement savings. The market will go up and it will go down in cycles, but over the long term it goes nowhere but up. It has provided a better return than any other type of investment in every 10 year period going back to the 1920s.

Since the market can go down -- which it is doing now and which some unsavvy investors were apparently unaware could happen -- I wouldn't recommend leaving your retirement savings in stocks right up until the day you retire. Start phasing it into stodgy but safe investments like money market funds a few years before so you don't get nailed by a down cycle. But for most of your working career, the stock market is the way to go.

Also, probably stating the obvious, we are talking about a broad range of stocks such as an index fund. It took Enron and a few other major meltdowns, which wiped out the retirement savings of thousands, for people to realize that putting all your eggs in one basket is tremendously risky.

I am sorry to hear about your experience with Ampex. What a bummer.