Depends on your luck.
If I had been mining solo, I would have paid for my hardware several times over by now as I have found several blocks.
But since I was in a pool, the earnings were shared, so I'm still behind the curve on equipment payback.
Over the VERY long haul, it's the same minus the pool fee (or pool theft)
Also, pools usually have more downtime than solo mining. Assuming your internet connection is solid and you keep the coin client running 24/7.
Found blocks when pool mining do not mean found blocks if you had been solo mining. Work assignment to miners is different when solo'ing.