A 2015 study by Ernst & Young’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST) practice shows that private employee stock ownership retirement plans (S ESOPs) outperformed the S&P 500 in terms of total return per participant by an impressively large margin (62%), net assets increased over 300%, and distributions to participants totaled nearly $30 billion from 2002 to 2012. The EY study also found that the total return for S ESOP participants from 2002 through 2012 was $99,000 for an 11.5% compound annual growth rate, 62% percent higher than the S&P 500 Total Returns Index’s 7.1% and paid significantly more benefits per participant than 401(k)s.