Adjusted for inflation, the cost of going to college went up by about 350% from 1985 through 2010. The constant increasing costs of going to college became a major burden for both students and their parents. Many parents sacrificed an early retirement to help put their children through school and many students left college saddled with thousands of dollars in student loan debt.

In August, Fidelity announced that it was launching a couple of index funds that would be free to invest in--that is, their expense ratios would be 0%. Between Fidelity Zero Total Market Index (FZROX) and Fidelity Zero International Index (FZILX) funds, you get globe-spanning passive equity investments with no fees attached.

The recent tax law and changes to the tax code was pretty dramatic in terms of how it impacts most taxpayers. Not only did federal tax rates go down across the board, but the law regarding tax deductions changed a lot as well. Many people who used to itemize the taxes now will simply use the standard deduction of $12,000 per person, which is double what it used to be.

This example shows just how important stock returns are to a retirement plan. The power of compounding cannot be underestimated when we are talking about long periods of time. On the flip side, one should not underestimate what a long period of stock market stagnation can do to a portfolio either.

Because the cost of living varies so much across the country, retirement savings will go a lot farther in some places than in others.