I agree, though, that the purchasing power is nowhere near 1987 and that the plateau comes earlier. I suppose it's what makes saving earlier and saving more ever pertinent for the younger generation. If I can get to 200k before I plateau, I'd be happy. If I have a working spouse that makes at least 100k, I'd say we could probably keep the American dream alive for us.
At least via my 401k, there are few poor options to choose, thankfully. The worst you could probably do is pick a fixed income class (and get no growth) or go too risky with international funds (if you for some reason went 100% international). But the target-date funds and index funds provided (SP500, etc) are diversified and generally considered good investments.