LONDON -- The last five years have been tough for those in retirement. Portfolio valuations have been hammered, annuity rates have plunged, and uncertainty has ruled the roost. There's no sign of things improving anytime soon, either, as the eurozone and the U.K. economy look set to muddle through at best for some years to come.

A great way to protect yourself from the downturn, however, is to build your retirement fund with shares of large, well-run companies that should grow their earnings steadily over the coming decades. Over time, such investments ought to result in rising dividends and inflation-beating capital growth, especially if you keep the shares within a tax-efficient ISA or SIPP.

It's no coincidence that the world's most successful investor, Warren Buffett, prefers such companies. He recently invested in a large FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) company that fits the bill perfectly. You can find full details in this free report.

In this series, I'm tracking down the U.K. large caps that have the potential to beat the FTSE over the long term and support a lower-risk, income-generating retirement fund. Today I'll take a look at Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB.L) , whose 140 billion pound market capitalization makes it the largest company in the FTSE 100 and one of the world's five "supermajor" oil companies.

In this article I've focused on Shell's class "B" shares, which pay dividends in pounds and are most commonly held by U.K. investors. Shell also has class "A" shares -- Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSA.L) -- which are virtually identical but pay dividends in euros. The total value of these two types of shares gives Shell its 140 billion pound market cap.

Size matters Shell is an integrated oil company, which means that on top of extracting oil and gas and selling it on the open market, it also sells refined products like petrol and diesel to consumers. This means that it is not solely dependent on a high oil price to make big profits -- although that certainly helps! The link between profitability and the price of oil also explains why Shell's yearly performance is not directly linked to the FTSE 100:

2007

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2010

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Is Shell the Ultimate Retirement Share?