[nostromo95]

Well, to be fair an equivalent statistic for baby boomers wouldn’t be as alarming as it is for millenials:

1. A higher percentage of the population back then were working towards a pension and didn’t necessarily have to save.

2. The long-term health of social security wasn’t as much in question back then. Contrast that to today’s conventional wisdom of “plan like your SS payout will be $0.”

And there are probably several other factors that suggest millenials should be more eager to save than their parents—rising costs of college for children, rising costs of end of life care, ever-increasing lifespans suggesting longer retirements, etc.

[ghaff]

>Contrast that to today’s conventional wisdom of “plan like your SS payout will be $0.”

In all fairness, people have been saying that for decades.

You're right though that a lot more people used to have defined-benefit pensions. I'll even have a modest one from a long gone tech employer. Certainly don't see that much these days.