I am an especially great one to comment on this thread because I have been an investor with the Vanguard Group since 1981! Vanguard built its success on passive investing. There is no investing without risk but spreading assets between stock, bond, cash mutual funds and real estate has worked well for me and many other people. I haven't been drawn to annuities-you are going to pay a lot for what you get and there's evidence that gains in the markets will compensate more than sufficiently for periods of decline.