If he'd have bought wal-mart back then and stashed that, he'd be WAY WAY better off.
Let's just say he spent 13K on Walmart stock vs. that chebby.
13K in the summer of 83 would buy you roughly 289 stocks @ roughly $45 per share. Even if you missed that summer's 1983 stock split, there was a 2:1 in 85, 87, 90 and 93 and finally in 99. So that's five 2:1 splits at least.
You would end up with 9,244 shares of Wally World stock. This is NOT including any dividends rolled back into the account.
Now, today at 146 and change, you'd have a paltry. $1,349,624 in your retirement account. More if you reinvested dividends.
That's just rough math, but it shows you that some investments end up worth more than others. But you can't drive a piece of paper.