Some food for thought - a career civil servant with a defined benefit pension plan will be making on average anywhere between $50k and $90k as pension for the rest of their lives. They also will have RRSPs and other personal savings to draw upon for retirement as a supplement. An employee in the private sector upon retirement (even with a defined contribution plan) will have a good amount of cash to utilize in addition to his/her RRSPs and other personal savings for retirement. Our shopkeeper upon retiring with $750k (at the stupendous rate of 7%) in his/her corporation is not so well off now eh? Assuming he/she holds $750k in personal assets, they will be able to enjoy a pension comparable to a retired civil servant after taking far greater risks over their career. But of course, you feel that at $50k/yr they are still getting too good a deal. It is possible to accumulate $750k in a small business - but in almost all cases, it can only happen after a lifetime of hard work...