I suppose it depends on what you consider "better off". If you are or were able to set up a 401-K or some sort of retirement tied to a series of numbers based on selling pieces of paper in a building on Wall Street, then maybe you are better off — on paper.
And even then, you need to look back at what happened in 1929 when the over-inflated share prices collapsed and wiped out a helluvalot of 'paper millionaires', and remember that it can and most likely will happen again.
But if you weren't able to, or are of an age where you will not be able to pile 40 years worth of earnings into some such financial instrument, or if you're not a sixty-something boomer who has pretty much gotten everything they need by now — a paid-off house, no mortgage, credit cards that aren't maxxed out, and empty-nesters who aren't trying to raise a family — or a senior citizen who can live off the government dole (Social Security), then the picture looks pretty bleak right about now.
-"BB"-
Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?