Well each person is different and what people want out of life is different

Some will want to ensure they are saving for retirement and others just want to work until they’re dead

Some like the passive investing of throwing some money at their mutual funds each pay or whatever, and others like to actively get involved with stock picks or real estate, etc

There is stability in making regular steady deposits into some funds and, while you sometimes do better on your own picking out the right stocks or property to buy, not everyone wants to do that and sometimes those picks aren’t so hot and you would’ve been better off with your average mutual fund

Buying stocks on your own usually means you’re paying trading fees with each transaction, and for people who want to make regular deposits those fees add up

Worth mentioning at this point that once you attain a certain dollar value in your funds then maybe the annual fees you’re spending on the MER is now pretty rich and the savings on transaction fees and reporting isn’t worth the cost and so you want to do something else with it at that time

Going it on your own means that you’re now doing all of your own tax reporting and value tracking your gains and losses versus when you buy funds the investment firm/insurance company/whoever you’re buying through is doing your tax tracking and reporting for you

Statements, someone to call for customer service, etc

Worth comparing those details to the other options you suggested when considering what to do with your savings money

Was the 401k or mutual funds in general a scheme to make the bankers richer? Not on its own, as you could just go to the guy next door if the fees were too high at your current place

Competition usually takes care of ensuring your costs stay low or else someone else will come in and do the job for less and scoop up the business

Everyone is owned by the same handful of companies now in 2022 but that wasn’t the 401k or mutual funds doing that on their own

You mentioned you’re getting a matching contribution from the employer and NOBODY out there is giving you free money on top of your deposits like that, so, for retirement savings, you should likely be maxing out your employer match and then after that yeah do your own thing

Well each person is different and what people want out of life is different

Some will want to ensure they are saving for retirement and others just want to work until they’re dead

Some like the passive investing of throwing some money at their mutual funds each pay or whatever, and others like to actively get involved with stock picks or real estate, etc

There is stability in making regular steady deposits into some funds and, while you sometimes do better on your own picking out the right stocks or property to buy, not everyone wants to do that and sometimes those picks aren’t so hot and you would’ve been better off with your average mutual fund

Buying stocks on your own usually means you’re paying trading fees with each transaction, and for people who want to make regular deposits those fees add up

Also, you’re now doing all of your own tax reporting and value tracking your gains and losses versus when you buy funds the investment firm/insurance company/whoever you’re buying through is doing your tax tracking and reporting for uou

Statements, someone to call for customer service, etc

Worth comparing those details to the other options you suggested when considering what to do with your savings money

Was it a scheme to make the bankers richer? Not on its own, as you could just go to the guy next door if the fees were too high at your current broker

Competition usually takes care of ensuring your costs stay low or else someone else will come in and do the job for less and scoop up the business

Everyone is owned by the same handful of companies now in 2022 but that wasn’t the 401k doing that

You mentioned you’re getting a matching contribution from the employer and NO BODY out there is giving you free money on top of your deposits like that, so, for retirement savings, you should likely be maxing out your employer match and then after that yeah do your own thing