I haven’t checked the veracity of the numbers, and the cans in question are obviously of the industrial-brewed lager sort, but I thought it was worth a chuckle.

I think this refutation is funnier than the original joke:

The major problem I see is that this retirement advice works best with cheap beer.

Also, the math only works out (approximately) if you live in a state that has a large redemption value, or if beer is much cheaper than it is around here. At a local shop, the cheapest beer in cans is $12.50 for a 30-pack (all taxes and fees included). So, with $1000, you can buy 2,400 12-ounce cans (allowing you to drink 6.5 per day). At that price, if the redemption value were 10 cents (Michigan), you would get $240 back. However, my local redemption value is 5 cents, so I would be left with only $120 after drinking a lot of cheap beer. If you live in a place where there is no redemption value, selling the cans for scrap would only leave you with about $50 (value would vary by place, and on any given day).

The stock comparisons are a bit dated, but even with current information, they still don’t exactly show the positive side of investing in the stock market. Enron sold off its last business in 2006 (and anyone who invested in them post 2001 would have to be crazy).

If you bought $1000 of Delta Airlines 1 year ago, you would have $347 - pretty abysmal, but more money than you would have with the beer strategy.

Worldcom became MCI Worldcom, and later MCI. MCI was purchased by Verizon in 2006. $1000 of Verizon 1 year ago would be worth $964 today. Again, not a good return. Better than the beer strategy, but still less than you would have if you just stuffed the money under your mattress.