I've been self-employed for about 6 years now, and my return on my original invested capital is hundreds of % a year. My potential losses are highly limited by being incorporated- I can always just close the business and walk away. I think it's ridiculous to compare my little company with an index fund, but I also think it's pretty silly to make sweeping statements comparing public stock markets with private investments. It's OK to say that 2 completely different things are apples & oranges