I don’t agree with you David, 6% barely even beats inflation. I didn’t use the term conservative but rather realistic. With decent equity exposure, you can get a 12% (at least before tax) return. If you’re talking about conservative mostly-safe debt-oriented investing then yes, maybe 7 to 8 percent would be the figure.

But for someone in their 20s, taking the risk of equity is TOTALLY worth it, as the stock market works in cycles and no 20 year period has ever returned negative returns.